Gadfly's Muse

A Hurting Husband...

[Natural Beauty, 2009, DCJohanson]

Hosea 3:1  Then the LORD said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the LORD for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans."

There is a sculpture in Vigeland Sculpture Park, Oslo, Norway which perfectly embodies the thoughts that occurred to me today.  I could not find a photo of it... it is the one which has the lone woman, trapped in the coils of a sleeping serpent, bound fast by its hold on her until the time when it awakens and consumes her.

This image from my friend Dave Johanson is a stylized photo which can be seen in a similar light.  The ferns in which the woman is immersed and her posture and gesture can be taken as despair.  She is being sucked into the binding tentacles which grip her body... she struggles but cannot escape... she knows it is hopeless.  The "things" which God designed for good have been transformed into evil... in their perversion they ensnare and feed on their prey.   Such is the character of compulsive sin.

Hosea's life calling was not an easy one... He was set aside by God to experience just a taste of what God Himself goes through with His people.  How miserable it must have been.  Hosea was given a wife to marry and to love.  His heart was to bind to her.  They had children together.  There was a movement of his spirit toward hers.  Yet, from the beginning he knew that she was ensnared by sin.  There was a fundamental weakness in her... a fatal defect.  She lusted after pleasure... after other men... she was a harlot by inclination if not by profession.  She sinned because she wanted to sin.  It was not external circumstances... the pressures of providing for her children... the absence of a loving and generous husband... that moved her.  It was the clinging tentacles, the sucking, crushing grip of obsession that kept her eyes wandering and her feet chasing after the flesh. 

Hosea knew all this going in, just as God knows the wandering heart of His bride, His Church.  Hosea experienced the gut wrenching jealousy... the shameful rejection... the very, very personal and intimate pain that goes along with this type of rejection.  She longed for something that was not him!  She despised beauty, righteousness, honesty, integrity, constancy, and faithfulness.  She interpreted patient loving kindness as weakness and despised it.  How clearly she embodies and portrays us.

Yet, Hosea also is given the task of loving her back to himself.  The love that God gives him to express to her is a type of the self-sacrificing power with which He draws us, His wandering Bride, back to Himself.  His power withers the power of sin... the radiance of His person shrinks the voluptuous foliage that requires the dark and damp jungle to support its vigor. 

God's love is greater than our sin... it is the scalpel which gently scrapes away the leeches draining our life.  God is the perfect Husband because He loves us even when we don't love Him.

My heart goes out to my brother Hosea.  But what a wonder God accomplished in him... and, in retrospect, what a privilege he was given.  May we be as faithful... and even more, may our lives be used by God to such glorious ends... though I tremble at the idea of what that might entail.

Babylon Under Ominuous Skies.....

[Sailboat & Island, Bar Harbor, 2009, JAVanDevender]

Ezekiel 26:15-17  " Thus says the Lord GOD to Tyre: 'Will the coast lands not shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded cry, when slaughter is made in the midst of you?  16 'Then all the princes of the sea will come down from their thrones, lay aside their robes, and take off their embroidered garments; they will clothe themselves with trembling; they will sit on the ground, tremble every moment, and be astonished at you.  17 'And they will take up a lamentation for you, and say to you: "How you have perished, O one inhabited by seafaring men, O renowned city, Who was strong at sea, She and her inhabitants, Who caused their terror to be on all her inhabitants!

Ezekiel Chapters 26-28 are a fascinating glimpse into an intriguing and little discussed ancient civilization.  Tyre was a mercantile city built on a geographic island and on economic might of its sea-faring merchants.  In these chapters we hear of their wealth, the fabulous trade for exotic goods, the sensuous commerce and cultivation of money as the source of power.  Strategically positioned she was the natural intersection of land & sea for trade from both East and West.  Here was sophistication and hard-edged business.  Here was elementary 'capitalism' and the idea that 'business is business.'

Thus, in many ways, Tyre had much in common with the modern United States.  As an intersection and way point for goods... as a commercial power unequaled (still, though losing fast) in the world... our culture hinges on "the Almighty Dollar" and its range of impact.  We, like those of Tyre, have grown accustomed to always coming out on top... that the economic dependency on our markets by other nations will mean that we are "too big to fail.' 

But aside from false optimism, the sensuous culture inherent in a warped "commerce" mentality separates people from the truth of their own deviancy.  As goods and comforts increase there is less and less satisfaction in them.  The human spirit is restless... always looking for its eternal home.  Thing purchased with money never satisfy and when that hunger drives a spiral of ever increasing sensuousness, it is not too far down the path to where the true spirit, not of Tyre, but Babylon emerges.

In Rev. 18 the words of Ezekiel are not repeated verbatim, but so closely paralleled that their interdependence seems obvious.

Revelation 18:9-13    " The kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her will weep and lament for her, when they see the smoke of her burning,   "standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, 'Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come.'  ¶ "And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their merchandise anymore:  "merchandise of gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen and purple, silk and scarlet, every kind of citron wood, every kind of object of ivory, every kind of object of most precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble;   "and cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and bodies and souls of men.

Tyre was "Babylon" in her day... Babylon became "Babylon" in hers...  Rome became "Babylon" in her time... and we may be living in "Babylon" today.  If so, the hand of judgment will come upon us in the same manner as it came upon our predecessors.  Only a wholesale turning to the Lord our God can offer hope.  He is faithful and just to forgive, both men and nations.  May He show mercy on us.

I Will Give Them A New Heart....

[Ladies, Prayer Garden, National Martyrs Memorial, RK, 2007, JAVanDevender]

Ezekiel 11:19-20  "Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh,  "that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.

What an incredible miracle is this whole business of conversion... "regeneration" to the more technically precise among us!

No one who has been present at the birth of a child, under normal circumstances, can deny the sheer wonder of it, especially if it is your own baby.  The seemingly ever renewing earth presents similar miracles to our senses in magnificent array.  A dead pond, full of scum and mud, the product of rain falling upon recently scorched earth after a forest fire, may in time, begin to tremble and stir as life is born into it.  The self-correcting actions of micro-organisms begin to filter the water and make it inhabitable and attractive for larger creatures.  From death, life will rise triumphant and a cycle will begin anew.  It is the ordinary miracles which are most astonishing when we pause and consider.

It is easy to pass over the miracle of conversion also.  It is seldom remarked by the world, it usually does not occupy the minds of the news media, it happens and the ripples spread, but other than by those closely affected, it is not is deemed very important.

But, if we pause and consider, .... if we let our minds and hearts dwell on the true nature of the event, what a different story is told.  In conversion / regeneration, God creates a whole new person out of the dead, dried up husk that previously went through the emotions of existence.  As the surface of a muddy pond begins to stir with implanted life, so the inner and outer workings of an individual begin to vibrate and resonate with hidden stirrings.  Where life was once preoccupied with idols, as existed in Korea for thousands of years, suddenly a new idea and new emotion begins to push those previous assumptions right out the window.  There is a real change ... a new "heart" begins to beat.  It is not a repair job that is being done... the old heart was dead... it is a transplant that is accomplished.

And what results accrue?  In the very place where the idols of the world around once reigned supreme, now ladies on their lunch break gather to eat, share their lives and pray.  Astonishing!   What a transformation!  What a supernatural event!

It is a modern fiction which treats this radical change in psychology, sociology and emotional nature as a mere foible, an amusing anecdote to be smilingly noticed as the world's notice moves on to "bigger" things.  This work of God, made possible only through great price, should be of supreme importance to all.  To those who have not experienced it, it should be the object of great longing and desire.  To those who know it and the One Who caused it, it is a pearl of great price, the value of which is such that a man would sell all he possesses to own it.  It should be a portion of our daily prayers of thanksgiving.  It is the glory of God to save men... not by a bare forgiveness of their sins... but by transforming them into new beings, fit for eternity with Him.  We should daily remark on this, notice it, express our gratitude for it, and live in its aura all day.  How can we grumble and complain in the face of this great gift we have received?  How different would our lives become if we simply gave this miracle the recognition it deserves and appropriated the attendant promise it conveys: "I am your God... and you, as evidenced by this gift I have given you, belong to Me!"

Ah, the magnificence of it all...  and of the joy that attends it.

One Way.....

[One Way, Harper's Ferry, 2010, JAVanDevender]

Jeremiah 33:14-17 ' Behold, the days are coming,' says the LORD, 'that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah:  'In those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David A Branch of righteousness; He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In those days Judah will be saved, And Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this is the name by which she will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.'  "For thus says the LORD: 'David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel;

The juxtaposition of "friendship" (shaking hands) and the "one way" sign was just too intriguing to pass by.  They seemed to be aligned, both in horizontal directions (though vertically displaced) and in general philosophical congruence.  There is only one way to peace on earth and that is through the way of friendship, of respect (especially in disagreement) and especially of mutual civility.  The plaintive cry "Can't we all just get along" is cynically scorned, especially in the life context of the one who made it famous, but yet, at the same time, it lies at the heart of that which is perhaps the deepest human longing.

But it is tough for us to get along... it is tough to find common ground for respect... it is unusual for men and women to abide each other for very long without friction rising to near intolerable levels.  The barriers between us are so huge.  There is self-focus and pride.  There is jealousy.  There are lustful desires.  There are thousands of instances that get blown all out of proportion and become raging tempests overflowing their teapot.  How can such a thing as "friendship" (Biblically = "Fellowship") be established on earth?  How can we not only abide in mutual respect but discover the reality of true love for those whom otherwise we would not tolerate for more than a moment?

There is only "one way".  The sign is elevated vertically above the shaking hands and so is the "one way" of God above all of man's endeavors to find 'utopia' or 'human culture' where true fellowship, true friendship can control and direct man's society.  That "one way" is the direct intervention in human history, both personal and corporate, wherein God takes the initiative to breach the walls precluding  wide ranging fellowship built on inclusive love.  That "one way" is the transforming grace that was burst through the floodgates at Pentecost and which now is working throughout the whole world uniting people to each other as it unites people to Christ.

It is this work which the Lord foretells to Jeremiah.  "The days are coming when I will do a good thing..." God says.  In those days, which the Lord Christ ushered in with His perfect life, death and resurrection, all of the barriers to true human society were breached.  Through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit redeemed humanity, gathered together in visible and structure community, can not only truly love each other, truly respect each other, truly abide with each other - in the very face of social distinctions of race, status, gender, ethnicity, or any other such classifications, but must. It not only is it possible, it is commanded.  The King of Righteousness not only loves but calls us to love in return.

There is no earthly or heavenly reason why God's people cannot fulfill the message of this image.  Under the sovereignty of their living Lord, through the power of the Holy Spirit, the community of God's people must not simply be a Sunday morning social gathering.  It must be the witness to God's reconciling grace.  If it fails in this it fails in all things.  It becomes only a dry husk, useful for preserving the orthodox truth of God's Word, but falling far short of His glory.  "By this shall they know you, by the love you have one for the other" our Lord reveals (John 13:35).  It is "by this" and by no other avenue, by no other street, taking no other direction, can true witness be obtained.  It is the "one way" to peace on earth.

There Is Hope In Your Future....

[Moler Cemetery, Harper's Ferry, 2010, JAVanDevender]

Jeremiah 31:15-17 Thus says the LORD: "A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, Refusing to be comforted for her children, Because they are no more."  Thus says the LORD: "Refrain your voice from weeping, And your eyes from tears; For your work shall be rewarded, says the LORD, And they shall come back from the land of the enemy.  There is hope in your future, says the LORD, That your children shall come back to their own border.

On one hand I was happy to see that later generations memorialized their ancestors with representative tombstones. Yet, on the other hand, they seemed to detract from the hallowed ground of the site.  After all, they did not mark the actual burial site (if there was one, knowing how many folks died in those rough years in places and conditions where their bodies were not found) and their modern appearance did not conform to the dates they represented. 

That being said, in spite of the bitter cold (chill factor around -10) and wind the solemn dignity of the little place touched my soul.  The star marker (upper right) next to the ancient tombstone bore the numbers "1776".  Here lay a patriot... though I cannot speak for their relative worth, whether scoundrel or saint or more likely, a mixture of both, yet they lived and breathed and passed their days in the midst of tumultuous events.  The names, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, General Sir William Howe, et al, were as common to their daily conversation as the latest contestant on American Idol is on ours.  They did not perhaps appreciate just how great the works that were happening in the land actually were.... they were too close in proximity to see beyond them... but they probably knew that there was an importance to those works that put their own lives, their troubles, their accomplishments, their joys and their sorrows in perspective. 

There were those who stood around weeping when these folks were laid to this temporary resting place.  The times in which they lived was over... the dusk of the American Rebellion had transformed into the dawn of the Republic.  The world they knew was over... a massive convulsion approached... history is never stagnant.  Yet the tombs and their remains link us to their lives and their times and we honor them for the heritage they won for us.

So also we see the truth of Jeremiah's words to the people of Israel and Judah in his day.  Thus says the Lord!  You individually shall go to your graves... you shall endure a time of weeping... there will be heartaches and difficulties.  But, there is hope in your future.  There will arise a nation from you... a nation which will be special in my sight and which I shall preserve to Myself forever.  A nation under a King, a Son of David, a Son of Man, the Son of God.

And in this nation the works that I have done in you and through you and by you will be honored.  Your faith shall bear witness to My might.  And when that day dawns in which there will be no more weeping, no more tears and no more terrible struggles... when all convulsions and strains are behind .... then shall the graves yield their fruit and all flesh shall see the dawn together.  I will bring you back, and your children, and their children, from wherever they have been scattered and we shall be united, you and I, forever.

I wonder how those sleeping in those graves will react on that day?  What stories will they tell?  What stories will we have to tell them?  It's worth pondering... perhaps it even might help us understand what's important in our lives and our times also.

Grow Where You Are Planted...

[cliffdwellers, 2010, Harper's Ferry, WVa, JAVanDevender]

Jer. 29:4-7 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon:  Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters—that you may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the LORD for it; for in its peace you will have peace.

It's not really a mountain; more of a high hill, though sharp and jagged in texture and inhospitable on every aspect.  Looking up it appears formidable.  Yet, even with all that stern texture, life abounds.  The trees grow straight and tall up and down the facade and the crowning glory is that at the very top one particular tree surpasses the crest of the hill.  There has to be a story there.

It was a stern time for the people of Judah also.  They alone had remained in the land after their brother tribes in the Northern kingdom had been carted off to God knows where by the Assyrians.  They were the remnant, the elect of God, His witnesses to the nations.  But they had forgotten their calling and they had forsaken their God and now they were feeling the rough hand of their Father's chastening.  There in Babylon they had a hard time remembering that they were the fortunate ones.  It was those who remained back in Judah that would be dispersed by God's own unrequited wrath.  Though they were in a difficult situation, they were the conquered people, they were the bottom of the social order, yet they were being preserved for the future God had in mind for them. 

Thus their orders were clear....  consider yourselves blessed, no matter what you face.  Put down roots, no matter how rocky the location or how thin the topsoil, grow where you are planted.  And not only grow, but bear fruit.  Bring forth praise to your Maker in that place.  And one day, you will remain where the people who subject you will be forgotten.  One day, you will surpass even the glory of Babylon and stand higher than the king.  

Pray for the peace of the land so that the benefits of peace will enable you to prosper.  But first and foremost, grow straight and tall, put out limbs and stand against all the winds that blow. Your future is in My hands and I will be in it even as I am in your present.  Know and understand and be comforted.  I am your God and I will not desert you.

Seventy years later, a particular tree, a man by the name of Nehemiah, arose and led his people back to rebuild the city of Jerusalem.  He and Ezra together reconstituted the city and the temple so that several hundred years later, the gates would be thrown open to receive their true King. 

Virtually no one remembers the name of the king who sent Nehemiah on his way... many remember Nehemiah... and the whole world knows the name of Jesus, the Christ of God.

Grow where you are planted... the promises of God appear to tarry but they will arrive in due time.

You Can Run But You Can't Hide....

[Roadside, 2009, JAVanDevender]

Jeremiah 23:23-24   " Am I a God near at hand," says the LORD, "And not a God afar off?  Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?" says the LORD; "Do I not fill heaven and earth?" says the LORD.

It's pretty amazing the lengths we will go to deceive ourselves.

We think that if we keep cool, put on a face, act like stuff never happened, that the stupid things we do will not get noticed and we will get off Scot-free.

It doesn't work that way.... it has never worked that way... and the whole attitude constitutes that which Samuel Johnson called "the triumph of hope over experience."  "Be sure your sins will find you out? (Num. 32:23) God told Israel at one point and our common heritage certainly bears it out.  Yet we keep stuffing and squashing, we keep seeking to avoid the painful necessity of confession, we want to "just put the past behind us and get on with life...."  As I said... it never works that way.

It doesn't even work that way with people, much less God.  Ralph Waldo Emerson said that there is this  common Uber-Soul that connects all men together.  One of the side effects of this linkage is that there is a near infallible capacity in us to discern another person's character even when we can't put our finger on exactly what it is that give us the grounds for judgment.  We say of one person "I just don't trust them." Of another, though our acquaintance is slight, yet we are immediately comfortable with that one and would be prone to trust him or her in matters small or great.  Emerson's idea of the Uber-Soul doesn't thrill me very much but his observation is right on.  When we seek to hide behind a mask of some sort it will sooner or later become apparent that we are. 

How much more is God aware of our hypocrisy.  How much more does He before whom the hearts of men lie completely revealed know the things we do in secret.  We hide from the world's eyes but we can never hide from His.  What we do when no-one else is looking is not done in private after all... it is public knowledge in the Spiritual Realm.  He fills heaven and earth.  There is no depth beyond His gaze nor any height that is above His reach.  He sees all.  He knows all.  He is perfect in knowledge and perfect in discernment.

So what should we do?  Well, it's pretty apparent.  Stop hiding in plain view.  If our character is in doubt in one area, where we have sinned in some way, then why add the sin of deceitfulness and hypocrisy on top.  Confession before God and to those whom we have harmed brings with it the opening of our soul, the transparency that comes with sincerity.  It works in us to change us and to make us such that our life's witness is of a different, more noble character.  To hide our sins fools no one and hinders our own progress.  To acknowledge what is already known starts the process of healing.

God knows..  you can run but you can't hide... so why expend the energy uselessly?

One Of These Days....

[GlacierApproach, 2009, DJohanson]

Jeremiah 23:5-6   " Behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.  In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

"The days are coming...."  What power can reside in those words! 

I remember as a young boy that my mother would say something similar... usually in a not very hopeful context.  "One of these days, young man, you'll learn...." and then she would go on to fill in the specifics of that impending enlightenment that surely would either straighten me out or do me in entirely. 

Of course it was not always bleak.  There were those times when the "one of these days" speech foretold of the joy that lay on the other side of .... high school, .... college.... a well paying job... marriage.  It was usually framed as the apodosis following some form of "if you work hard... then one of these days..." 

Whatever the particular context... the idea that "the days are coming..." framed the current circumstance in terms of the future.  It made the present understandable as because the "now" was connected to the "then".  It may not have been an exact cause/effect relation.... there were variables that remained unaccountable... but there was a sense of inevitability to it... timing may be longer or shorter, the degree of attainment might be more or less.... but the essence never in doubt.  The days are coming... the will come.... this present will be past and the future will be now.

That perspective of "now/then" that she so diligently impressed upon me has never left my soul.  I honor her for her love, care and wisdom even now that she has past on these many years ago.  How much we need that same sense to reawaken in our collective hearts in this bleak, "now" focused age in which we live. 

It appears to me that our society is characterized by a certain bleakness about the future.  We seem to simply accept that the best days are here, that things cannot get better, and that what we have is not all that great.  The future will be more of the same at best and quite possibly a lot less.  "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die" is not entirely apropros to the general sense... sadly because there is not much joy and feasting in the "now".

Christians however have no right to buy into that lie.  The days of Jeremiah were truly bleak.  The people of God did not face a happy future at all.  "But", God said, "One of these days, there will come a day when the King of Righteousness will arise".  There will come a day when there will be a new prosperity, a different kind of prosperity... a flourishing of peace, justice and salvation.  This flourishing will be concomitant with his reign... it will start small, beginning when He ascends to His throne... but it will grow... and spread... and fill the whole earth.  The angels who sing at His birth will weep at His death and shout at His resurrection.  And then they will become His messengers, moving among men and serving those who serve Him.  There will be battles and losses and pain and grief in some quarters, but His invincible advance shall surely overcome all His foes. 

Like the clouds and the rain and the pastel skies, His glory will gently settle on a bleak and devastated landscape.  The promise is true and cannot be denied.  The barren forest will feather it leaves... the muddy river will run clean... and the hills will resound with laughter. 

One of these days... it will be complete.  One of these days .... One of these days.

What Goes Around.... Comes Around....

[Stairs, 2009, JAVanDevender]

Jeremiah 22:13-14   " Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness And his chambers by injustice, Who uses his neighbor's service without wages And gives him nothing for his work,  Who says, 'I will build myself a wide house with spacious chambers, And cut out windows for it, Paneling it with cedar And painting it with vermilion.'

As I mentioned just recently to a correspondent, I have been reading Emerson's Essays and I have been struck with a couple of points he makes.  In the essay "Compensation" he somewhat surprisingly talks about "cost."  To sum it up in my words his point is essentially this:  "Everything has its price."  If you pay the price for whatever you desire, such as fame, or wealth, or artistic accomplishment, or slothfulness, etc. then you are essentially virtuous though you may be judged imprudent as to your choices and your desires.  It is when you seek to attain "something for nothing", in other words you seek "fame" without paying the attendant demands on humility, etc. or the corresponding "costs" associated with the other goals, then you are setting yourself against the "natural law."  This "law" operates such that sooner or later the ledger columns are balanced.  You will "pay" the costs of whatever you attain one way or the other.  "Compensation" is the inevitable product of this balancing.

There are things worth pondering in this idea.  Certainly the "evil" of any worldly object or attainment is the abuse of it or the perversion of its "good."  There is nothing intrinsically wrong with "fame."  The Scriptures called this "glory" as of the "glory of Solomon" being his wisdom.  There is nothing intrinsically wrong with wealth.  We might make the case that there is certainly something morally wrong with "slothfulness" but we would not say the same for "leisure."  What Emerson says, and what I believe we find in Scriptures, is that there are attendant "costs", demands, corresponding requirements that come along with any and every decision we make.  Jesus said that such was the case even when someone is considering the call to discipleship, to following Him.  "Count the cost" (Luke 14:28ff) He said and He knew and we know that the cost can be intimidating in some cases.

Yet it is most often this "cost" business that gets us in trouble.  We want the object but we want it without the hassle that comes with it.  We don't particularly like humility in the best of circumstances and we find it even harder when worldly attainments make it appear that we truly are superior to our fellows.  Riches put many things within our reach which would best be left unattainable.  With great authority goes great responsibility and we can find it to be irritating to bear.  So we seek to keep the goodies and wiggle out of paying the cost.  Truly, as the Scripture teaches, this is attempting to rob God (Mal. 3:8).

In the passage quoted above, God through Jeremiah reinforces this idea.  Those who build their houses by unrighteousness and attain their privileges and comfort through injustice will pay the cost.  "Woe" will come upon them and with much regret they will see that "what goes around comes around."

But it works in a positive sense also.  The payment of the cost affirms the blessings and improves the return on investment.  Paying the "cost" of loving your neighbor brings a return of love in response.  We reap what we sow.  Paying the "cost" of promoting justice will, in God's provision, enable and promote justice in others.  It works both ways because it is God Himself who stands behind the "law" of compensation.  

What we need to do is "study" these things.  We need to ascend to a new level of understanding how life really works and open our eyes to see how it does correspond to this idea.  We need to walk up the steps and arrive at the nice green pastures, the condition of "shalom", which is life in God's Kingdom.

The "cost" of wisdom is study, meditation and practice.  Each is a step up the stairway.

Heavenly Heartburn

[Honeysuckle, 2009, JAVanDevender]

Jeremiah 20:7  O LORD, You induced me, and I was persuaded; You are stronger than I, and have prevailed.

Inherent in the Christian journey is the inevitable sense of struggle.... not only with man, not only with our sinful nature, not only  with Satan... but with God Himself.

In one sense it is a measure of our sinfulness... no doubt about it... but the manner in which it shows itself is the struggle with God.  Jonah struggled by running away.  He didn't want any part of what God wanted so he took the next boat out to Tarshish (Jonah 1:3) and wound up returning in a much different way.  But his words in the belly of the fish were essentially the same as Jeremiah's above.  OK... I give... You win.

Jacob literally wrestled with a heavenly Being...  this is not the place to explore the Person of his Holy Antagonist... but the outcome was a life long limp, a reminder of Who is in charge.  Paul speaks of wrestling with God over a particular thorn in his flesh (2 Co. 12:7).  He wanted it removed.  God said "No!"  Paul had to live with it.

Jeremiah had been called to a difficult, demanding and apparently futile ministry.  God put His Word in Jeremiah's "heart like a burning fire" (Jer. 20:9), a Heavenly Heart Burn, and Jeremiah could do no other than speak it.  Yet he struggled with God over the calling.  Just let me alone... let me have some peace before I die.  There are echoes of our Lord in the garden on the night He was betrayed and just hours before He was to ascend Golgotha - "If it be your will, let this cup be taken from me....."

Wrestling with God is inevitable in the progress of our sanctification.  Sometimes it is the first step we take as we struggle like fish on a line, resisting God's hand drawing us to Himself.  Sometimes it is the character of a phase of our life as we shudder and twist under the gale force winds that blow our little ship about.  Sometimes it is a single big event... a crisis... a command we don't want to follow, a choice we don't want to make... a consequence we don't want to endure.  We see that it is manifestly God's will that such and such be the case.... but we don't want it.... and we want God to make it otherwise... we want what we want... we do not want what He wills. 

And so we struggle.

And always... it turns out the same way... "You induced me, and I was persuaded.  You are stronger than I, and have prevailed."

God always prevails in these struggles because, of course He is stronger.  But it is more than that.  He is stronger in these wrestling matches because He is right.  His cause is right.  His object in our life and the life of the world about us is right.  His purposes are right.  His wisdom is right.  At every point, in the contest of wills, it is the ultimate justice of His plans and His methods that overwhelm our opposition.  We, sooner or later, recognize that the force of our resistance is our desire to sacrifice His good ends, His ultimate benefits, for our temporary relief.  We see that it is essentially our selfishness that is prompting our efforts while He, who needs nothing, who owns the cattle on a thousand hills, who gains nothing for Himself in His doings, is motivated by grace... is moved by His irresistible will to bless His people and cause all things to work together for their good, for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes (Rom. 8:28).

He's stronger because He's right.

It is only when we see this in these terms, against this backdrop, does the flower of God's purposes in our lives stand sharp and clear.  Our eyes are drawn to its beauty... and our resistance crumbles and we are truly and finally fitted for the task at hand.

Beauty, truth, justice, mercy ... all bloom at the hand of the God who overcomes our objections and bends us to His service.  And the end of His beginning is life... and that more abundantly.