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Beatitudes 4 – Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness

(This article is part of a series that begins here.)

The fourth beatitude is, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matt 5:6, NIV)

The word translated “filled,” or in other translations “satisfied,” is always used in the context of food, not some sort of spiritual satisfaction. The word literally means filled with food, to have enough to eat, or even to be gorged with food.

This means Jesus was pointing to a real physical satisfaction coming from hungering and thirsting not for food, but for righteousness. Moses also wrote about this.

He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. (Deu 8:3, NASB)

We cannot live without food and water, but God provides our food and water, therefore it does makes sense to desire him more than physical sustenance. However, Jesus was not telling us how to get our food and drink, rather he wanted us to look beyond our physical needs and toward what truly satisfies.

When Jesus spoke to a Samaritan woman, he was directing her attention from the immediate physical need for water to the eternal need of salvation, as well as to an active and dynamic relationship with our Heavenly Father.

“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14, NIV)

The woman responds, “give me this water,” but instead Jesus tells her to call her husband, exposing her sin. This will always happen when we approach the light, because we must deal with our sin when we come to God (1 John 1:8-10).

The Good News is that Jesus died for our sins, but everyone knows this already. So many songs and teachings speak about the magnificent and far-reaching grace of God. Not so many speak on the need to repent, though. This is a great loss! The message of Christ in all the the gospels is, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near!” (Matt 3:8, 4:17, Mark 1:4-5, 14-15, Luke 3:3, 7-8, 5:32, John 3:19-21).

As I mentioned in my post on the mourning beatitude, sin separates us from God. The repentant heart knows this and seeks reconciliation with God by asking for forgiveness and turning away from our sin. Jesus did not die so that we can live for ourselves and embrace our sin, but so that we can live for him (2 Cor 5:15) and become the righteousness of God (2 Cor 5:21).

This hunger and thirst for righteousness will express itself as a desire for God that will permeate our whole life, our every thought and attitude, and this will lead us to a true physical satisfaction surpassing even our basic human needs. This makes it clear that walking with Jesus is not an experience of a vague feeling of love or a vain appreciation for his sacrifice on the cross. It means we truly love who he is, his righteousness and holiness, and have a deep and powerful desire to be like him. Desiring to be like God makes repentance a natural and beautiful part of our relationship with God.

And if we desire the righteousness of God more than food and water, where is our complaining about jobs and spouses and money and every other issue that upsets and stresses and depresses us? Getting there is not easy, we must train ourselves to desire righteousness on a daily basis. Did you miss that?

There will be moments when what we truly desire will force its way to the surface and expose our heart’s condition. David set us an example in this when he had to flee from his home after his own son took over his kingdom. David was in the wilderness between Jerusalem and the Jordan, a refugee in his own kingdom, when he wrote this:

God, You are my God; I eagerly seek You. I thirst for You; my body faints for You in a land that is dry, desolate, and without water. So I gaze on You in the sanctuary to see Your strength and Your glory. My lips will glorify You because Your faithful love is better than life. (Psalms 63:1-3, HCSB)

In a moment of crisis, there is great urgency and we respond with whatever is truly in our hearts. David’s response was to recognize the terrible situation he was in and turn to God, remembering what he had seen and experienced, remembering who God is and what God does.

Our daily life prepares us for these real tests of our faith, where we may have to choose the righteousness of God over our basic needs (would you lie to avoid getting fired?). We must not wait for the urgent moment, we must live today with a proper sense of urgency! What are we doing to develop a hunger and thirst for righteousness that is completely confident in the provision of God?

Maybe we should get up a little earlier so we can read the Bible for 30 minutes in the morning, instead of sleeping in and speed reading the little paragraph of a “morning devotional” that is a product of someone else’s time in the Word. Maybe we should take notes during our pastor’s sermon and try to do what we learn during the next week, so that we actually change and become like Jesus, instead of putting on a face of faithfulness week after week. Maybe we should deny ourselves and take up our cross daily and walk with Jesus, instead of living for ourselves.

Blessings! – Shamar Covenant

(The next article in this series is Beatitudes 5 – Mercy)

Beatitudes 3 – Meek

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Matthew 5:5, Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

The word meek literally means to be patient under persecution or to be overly submissive, and it is also translated as gentle and humble. We need more than a definition, though.

One analogy says meekness is like a wild horse that has been tamed, which has all the strength but is under control. I do not like this comparison. It seems that human nature will always focus on having the power rather than seeing the submission required to be “under control.” We put on a face and pretend we have denied ourselves, but inside we hold onto our status and strength.

My pastor had a better explanation. We cannot be meek if we do not have power: a homeless person can be humble toward me, but not meek, since I have all the advantages over him; he can, however, be meek to another homeless person. To be meek, we must first have power, status, or privilege, then we give it up. When I am meek, I approach the homeless person as being above me, not below.

But then I thought about the wild horse analogy further and realized that when a horse is tamed, it is called broken, and a well-tamed or broken horse does only what it is told to do. In other words, it is a slave to the rider, doing everything it is directed to do and nothing that it is not. This is the better part of the analogy, one I have never heard spoken of in church. We are meek when we give up our power and serve others, the way Jesus said in Matt 20:25-28.

“and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life — a ransom for many.” (Matt 20:27-28, HCSB)

Jesus set the example when he entered Jerusalem on a donkey, and in Matt 21:5 it uses the same word meek (translated “gentle”) to describe him doing just this. Does this example impact us as it should? Jesus is God, and yet he came into Jerusalem not as a king, but on a beast of burden, denying all the rights owed him as our Sovereign. He came gently, submitting himself to his own creation all the way to the cross.

Another example of meekness in action occurred when Jesus washed the disciples’ feet in John 13. He took the role of a lowly servant, a slave even, not their king, and certainly not God Almighty. He had all the power and authority, and gave it up to serve them. Jesus told a story that may help clarify my point, since I do not believe we understand the relationship between master and servant:

“Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.'” (Luke 17:7-10, NIV)

That servant was more like what we would call a slave. How many of us think and act like a slave toward anyone? Are we truly willing to give up our status and be a slave to others? No. We set our hearts on a nice home, a nice car, and a good, respectable job, we look down on those who have less, and we completely miss the importance of becoming like Christ in this way.

In Luke 9:23, Jesus said we must deny ourselves, meaning we must give up all our desires and what we feel we are owed. If it feels unfair when a co-worker gets the promotion we worked for, we are claiming the right to the promotion, but Jesus said to give it up. We ought to be happy for them and wait patiently for what God has for us, which could mean losing our job rather than getting a better one!

Do we feel a right to a peaceful home, comfortable living, and good health? I have seen a pastor horribly offended at God after becoming terminally ill. He felt he was treated unfairly, and he was a miserable man because he thought he had the right to a long life and a peaceful death. Instead, he should have said, “I am an unworthy slave; I have only done my duty,” and accepted the circumstances that God allowed.

My truck broke down recently and the question was raised, do I have a right to a car? Is taking the bus beneath me? Nope. I am no better than those who ride the bus, and I had to be ready to continue making payments on a disabled vehicle. I made a choice to refuse to be upset by my circumstances. I realize that taking the bus is far from slowly dying. However, if I cannot handle losing my vehicle and riding the bus, how can I handle losing my life? Am I too good to ride the bus, or too gifted a minister to warrant a slow, uncomfortable death? Jesus said I am an unworthy slave.

We must prepare ourselves for greater struggles by meekly accepting our circumstances, refusing to be offended or hurt, and treating others as better than ourselves. We must joyfully look forward, not to what we can gain in this world, but to our place in heaven, where there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain (Rev 21:4). The beatitudes are about a change of perspective, a heart change, becoming like Jesus by changing the way we think about everything.

But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word. (Isa 66:2, NASB)

The meek will inherit the earth, which means that for God, only those who deny themselves any status and privilege are fit to exercise authority in the kingdom to come. God waits to give true power to those who prove their faith by living as slaves without rights, and who are not offended by the struggles that come their way.

Yet, meekness is not a means to power, rather it is how we draw near to Jesus by making us like him.

Blessings! – Shamar Covenant

Beatitudes 2 – Mourn

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The second beatitude is, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” For weeks I struggled to understand what Jesus meant by mourning. Finally, though there are many great examples of godly mourning in the Bible, it was Psalm 51 that made it most clear to me.

David wrote this psalm after Nathan called out his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah, events recorded in 2 Samuel 11-12. The psalm is David’s beautiful repentance for his adultery and murder, sins we can all relate to.

Yes, that is a true statement. All of us should be able to relate to David’s sin! It was no accident that Jesus mentions adultery (Matt 5:27-28) and murder (Matt 5:21-22) in his sermon on the mount as being sins we commit in thought and word, and not just deed. Lust and anger are equivalent to adultery and murder in the eyes of our perfect and flawlessly righteous Heavenly Father.

If only we felt the sting of adultery with our lustful thoughts, realizing that we are cheating on our spouse (or future spouse) when we flirt with or consider someone else lustfully! If we could see ourselves stabbing a knife in someone’s chest when we get angry and then say, or even think, insulting things about them, would we be so inclined to allow these thoughts and words?

These sins are wickedness that separate us from God because he cannot be in the presence of sin (Isa 59:1-2). David recognized this, and it caused him to mourn his sin.

Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. (Psalm 51:8, NIV)

What are we mourning, though? If we avoided sin and pursued righteousness as acts of obedience to a harsh Master who decides whether we go to paradise or hell, the only love in our obedience would be love for ourselves, since we would be seeking our own good.

That is not why David obeyed. The object of his love and his strongest desire was not for himself.

One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. (Psa 27:4, NIV)

David adored God! He had a deep love for who God is, so full of righteousness and love and mercy and power, and he found more beauty in God than anything else. When David sinned, he recognized it as separating himself from the one he most loved and desired.

Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. (Psa 51:4, NIV)

Do we feel this way about our sin? Do we feel this way about Jesus?!

With this in mind, the way we pursue godly mourning is not by looking at our sin, but looking at Jesus, seeing how lovely he is, and falling deeply in love with him. We must adore Jesus. To do this, read his word and see his beauty, meditate on his truths and understand his purity, obey his word and experience his righteousness.

Then, we will mourn when we recognize our sin, because we feel it separating us from what we most adore, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

What follows mourning is comfort, as Jesus says, which David also understood. Our sin separates, but repentance restores. David knew that God would forgive his sin completely.

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. (Psa 51:7, NIV)

David knew the way to God’s forgiveness was repentance, a contrite heart that was broken and mournful over the sin, a heart that desired to be right with God.

My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. (Psa 51:17, NIV)

First, we fall in love with Jesus, then we recognize the separation our sin causes and mourn this experience, and finally we experience the comfort of God’s restoration resulting from our broken and contrite heart. This cycle continues throughout our life because we can always love Jesus more, and we will never cease to sin and need to mourn that sin.

David’s wickedness with Bathsheba and Uriah occurred when he was about 50 years old, twenty years after he first became king of Judah, when he should have been well established in godly disciplines. That is why godly mourning is foundational to our faith, and something critical for every Christian to understand.

Blessings! – Shamar Covenant

Beatitudes 1 – Poor in Spirit

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The beatitudes begin the sermon on the mount, found in the gospel of Matthew, chapters 5 through 7. This sermon starts with Jesus saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” What does “poor in spirit” mean, though? We cannot obey the Bible if we do not understand it, and I must be honest, I read this for years and years without knowing what Jesus was telling us to do!

To understand this, I first looked into what the words actually mean. The word translated “poor” means beggar or pauper, referring to the state of poverty not the act of begging, so it refers to a condition of need. Spirit is more difficult to understand. It is similar to soul in that it can refer to our mind, will, and emotions, but the clearest difference is that animals have souls but not spirits, because spirits are the part of us that is eternal. Our human spirit is what makes us special and different, it is what connects us to God in a way that animals cannot.

Therefore, one who is poor in spirit is one who draws near to God with their inner being from a condition and perspective of need.

This state of need implies we understand that God is our Creator and the highest authority in our life. He is also our source for everything: provision for daily needs, protection from physical and emotional and spiritual harm, wisdom and guidance, happiness and satisfaction, and especially for our salvation from our sin and wickedness.

We must appeal to Jesus for every single thing we need. For most of what we do, this means giving God the credit, such as thanking God for the strength to do our jobs, the faithfulness we give to our marriage, and the wisdom to make good choices. This seems simple, but I do not believe many of us do this, because most of us do not realize that we cannot do anything for ourselves without God’s help. It takes humility to recognize how much we truly need, that we are completely helpless without God.

Our core nature always wants to believe that we are sufficient either in our self or something other than God, like our work or society or money. This is the nature that Jesus commanded us to deny within ourselves before we follow him (Matt 16:24), because our flesh will always lead us away from God. It is impossible to reach God if we are following something going a different direction.

We also need to understand the meaning of “blessed” in “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” The word blessed is also translated as happy in other translations. This word is used throughout the beatitudes, so understanding it is key to understanding this whole introduction to the sermon. This word refers to what we seek for happiness and fulfillment, to what satisfies us.

Another way to think of it is by asking what gives our lives meaning and purpose. Compare the beatitudes to what we spend our days chasing after to make us happy. For most of us, this would be family, money, career, recreation or the like, and church is something we use to feel okay with ourselves about what we have done. Jesus wants to realign our thinking on happiness.

Blessed are the poor in spirit is like saying that we are seeking satisfaction in giving up our self sufficiency to come to God in humility and seeking happiness in embracing a state of need, dependence and struggle. This could be very austere if it ended there, but it does not.

The verse concludes with the result of coming to God in humble need, and that result is the promise of a place in heaven! This is the ultimate desire of a Christian, to live in the presence of God in his kingdom of heaven. This is where we belong (Phil 3:20).

As Christians, we believe that God is all good and without any evil, and our desire is to exist with him where there is no sin, no death or mourning or crying or pain (Rev 21:4). We renounce this world as our home, claiming to be strangers here and citizens of a heavenly kingdom (Heb 11:13-16). Many of us would agree, yet we still do not approach God poor in spirit.

I believe most of us fail to commit to changing our thinking and working on living differently. If we want to be with God, it is because we value who he is, which means we should want to be like him. Here, in the sermon on the mount, Jesus explains who God is and what it takes to be like him, and it is not an easy calling! We will never complete this task in this life, but we must desire it and strive toward it, every day with all our heart and mind and soul and strength (Mark 12:30).

Blessed and satisfied are the poor in spirit, who approach God in a state of dependence on Christ, in humility and full submission to him, for this is the foundation of any genuine relationship with Christ, and is the only way to secure a place with him in his kingdom of heaven. I encourage you to think about what you seek in your heart for fulfillment and joy, and compare it to what Jesus spoke of in his sermon on the mount.

Blessings! – Shamar Covenant

Manifesting the Glory of God

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I was reading John 17 when the word “glorified” struck me. Jesus says it here:

I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. (NASB) John 17:4

The word “glory” has to do with value, worth, character and nobility. Jesus demonstrated and made known the value and worth of God by obeying him, and said we also can do so:

I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing….My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples….If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. (NASB) John 15:5, 8, 10

I had to include a few verses to point this out: We can demonstrate and make known the value of God! Does that strike you as amazing? If it does not, then I think you should look for this in the Bible. One of the most important things for any Christian to understand is just how magnificently glorious our Heavenly Father is. Having this knowledge will be a humbling experience, and humility is the first step toward bearing much fruit and bringing God glory (Matt 5:3).

Once we are struck by the incredible value of God, it should be an amazing thing to realize we can connect directly to that glory, we can manifest it and demonstrate it and make it known in this life!

I desperately want to connect with the glory of God. What could be more magnificent? What could be more valuable? Is there anything more meaningful that I could do? I think not. And these verses tell me exactly how to do this: obey God. However, we cannot obey commands that we do not know, which points to what I have already mentioned, that the first step is studying the Bible.

I feel intimately connected to God when I study his Word, but I have never felt intimately connected to my Savior after hearing a sermon or reading a great book about him. Never! The experience of directly studying the Bible is entirely different for me. I have often heard many excuses for not reading the Bible, but nothing replaces it because Jesus is the Word (John 1:1, 14).

When we read a book about Jesus, we are disciples of the writer. When we listen to a sermon, we are disciples of the preacher. But every great teacher will always point us to Jesus, who is the source of anything good they have to say or write. Paul did this:

Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. (NIV) 1 Cor 11:1

I admire my pastor and his teaching, I think very highly of it and respect how much time and effort he has put into knowing Christ, following him, and helping others to know him. However, the true value of this is how he points us to the Word and to our personal responsibility to study it and do what it says.

My Savior has tremendous value to me, more than anything else. If this is a true statement, it will show in my life. It will be reflected in how I choose to sit with him in the morning, studying his Word, considering who he is and how to be like him, then choosing to live that way. This is being a Christian, a disciple of Christ. This is how I manifest the glory of God.

Blessings! – Shamar Covenant

Fetters of Debt

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My debt used to feel so oppressive and I let it dictate so much of what I did and how I felt. Previously, I believed debt was extremely evil, a tool Satan used to control me. As a Christian, I felt I had a duty to get rid of it quickly.

This perspective caused me no end of stress and worry, which also affected those around me and caused friction in my marriage. I now see the Bible offering a different perspective, one that is more freeing.

Debt is like slavery in that it limits options, is very difficult to overcome, and feels quite oppressive, thus it makes a great analogy. Slavery was legal in New Testament times and was addressed in the epistles. It may be surprising that Christian slaves were told to serve even oppressive masters well.

“Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh.” (1 Peter 2:18, NIV)

This is not what I would expect to be told if I were in an oppressive situation! Yet Peter makes it clear that oppressive circumstances do not excuse bad behavior. Rather, we are blessed if we do good despite harsh circumstances.

“For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God….To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps….But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed.” (1 Peter 2:19, 21, 3:14, NIV)

Peter says there is a blessing in these humbling circumstances, and I believe we can apply this to being in debt as well. I want to qualify all this before continuing, though. The New Testament writers did tell slaves to gain their freedom if they could:

“Were you a slave when you were called? Don’t let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so.” (1 Corinthians 7:21, NIV)

And Paul also makes it clear to not let yourself be enslaved:

“You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings.” (1 Corinthians 7:23, NIV)

This definitely applies to debt, we should avoid getting into it and do what we can to get out of it. However, having gotten yourself into an unfriendly situation, there is no need to go crazy trying to free yourself from it. “Do not be anxious about anything” (Phil 4:6).

For Christians, there is freedom. The circumstance of debt is humbling, and we should respond to it obediently and with joy, the way the New Testament writers instructed us.

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds.” (James 1:2, NIV)

Trials bring us closer to God because they force us to rely on his strength rather than ours. A slave who fights or rebels against a harsh master does so in their own strength and gives up an opportunity to see God work in their life, and any victory will bring pride in oneself.

But a slave who is obedient, refusing to give into anger, resentment or worry, this one is forced to cry out to God for strength. In submission they are able to see God do the work for any relief that comes, and in humility and sacrifice will identify with Christ’s journey to the cross. For a Christian who desires to draw near to their Savior, such a trying circumstance leads to this unexplainable joy.

This is a challenging perspective to grasp, but one every Christian should spend time considering.

Regarding debt, I have given up worrying over it. I do my best to make good decisions, but I trust that the circumstance is well within God’s powerful and merciful hands. When it seems insurmountable, I cry out to God and feel joy! Because the only way I get through it is with God near me, something I long for, and I know he is near me in this. I do not pinch every penny or track every expense or refuse myself every small pleasure. Yet, time and time again, I have seen my finances go further than they should, and I continue to tithe and be generous with my tips and find other ways to give to others.

While I am still trapped in the fetters of debt, I am free and full of joy in the Lord, and I feel closer to God than ever before in my life.

Blessings! – Shamar Covenant

A Hard Teaching for Americans

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Slavery is a hard word for Americans to deal with.
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Americans have a thing about slavery. It is offensive to us, it is an embarrassment, it is something hateful, it is a dark past that has never fully unlatched itself from our present, and it is completely and absolutely not-good! It is in opposition to the motto we sing, “Land of the free, home of the brave,” and goes against our founding document that states our belief in the “unalienable rights” of every human being.

This is probably why many Bible translations today changed the word “slave” to “bond-servant.” I have heard pastors explain away Biblical teaching directed to slaves, saying the word really refers to someone who voluntarily submitted to their master. Kind of like an employee.

It makes it sound not so bad that way.

As far as I can tell, when the New Testament writers used the word slave (or bond-servant), they were writing about what we would consider slavery, or human trafficking: a person who was property with no rights. This distinction is important because what the Apostles wrote to slaves is a beautiful expression of how deeply a Christian’s commitment to God must be.

This is from the Holman translation of 1 Timothy 6:1

All who are under the yoke as slaves must regard their own masters to be worthy of all respect, so that God’s name and His teaching will not be blasphemed. (HCSB)

Now, read that again. The Greek word translated to “respect” means either value or honor. This is an instruction for Christian slaves to not only treat their unbelieving masters with “all respect,” but to consider them worthy of all respect! This has nothing to do with deserving it, either, since these masters were likely quite harsh. Rather, the reason is to protect the name, or reputation, of God.

Who would tell a slave to give their harsh master a high value and deem them worthy of great honor? No one in America, I think. But if you get caught up in the slave/master relationship, you may miss that this has nothing to do with those harsh masters. It is about God, how glorious he is, and how important he is to us.

I asked myself if I take God’s name that seriously. Is the reputation of my Lord and Savior so precious to me that I am willing to honor those who have taken away my rights, abused and oppressed me, bullied me and harmed me? Do I value those who have made themselves my enemy so that I can ensure God’s name is held in high esteem?

How many Americans are willing to hear this? How many Americans who go to church every Sunday actually live this? We Americans believe in our rights, we cling to them and champion them and demand laws protecting them. We even protect the rights of criminals, those who have grossly violated others’ rights. The thought of a loving God wanting a slave to give honor to a vile master is unthinkable to us.

This, however, is what the Bible tells us to do. And it goes much further than teaching us to be good employees. This shows us how far the command to love our enemies must go, and that our Heavenly Father is worthy of so much respect that we give honor to the unrespectable.

I heard a story on the radio of a woman whose daughter was bullied. They responded by praying for the bully and by the end of the year the daughter and the bully were good friends. That is loving our enemies, giving the oppressors enough value to spend time in prayer for them.

Can you think of an example of how to do this in your life?

Blessings! – Shamar Covenant

Poetic Justice

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The poetic prophet Isaiah
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Based on Isaiah 28:1-13

What is good poetry? It is beautiful, has a depth of meaning, and expresses a truth that we can see at work around us. The prophet Isaiah is so poetic! Let me show you:

Woe to the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim,
And to the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
Which is at the head of the fertile valley
Of those who are overcome with wine!
Behold, the Lord has a strong and mighty agent;
As a storm of hail, a tempest of destruction,
Like a storm of mighty overflowing waters,
He has cast it down to the earth with His hand.
The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim is trodden under foot.
And the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
Which is at the head of the fertile valley,
Will be like the first-ripe fig prior to summer,
Which one sees,
And as soon as it is in his hand,
He swallows it. (NASB) Isa 28:1-4

It stands out to me in this passage that those who are against God are described as beautiful and having glory. God gives us such incredible ability to create beautiful things: buildings and compositions and organizations. He made us beautiful and placed us in a world that overflows with magnificent beauty. He also gave us a choice to pursue and enjoy this beauty for his glory or ours, to serve him or ourselves. Too often we serve ourselves.

What concerns me most is not how non-believers serve themselves, but how the church and Christians are doing this very thing, which is what this chapter in Isaiah is all about. I wish I could play the audio from the dramatized NIV audio version, it does a great job of expressing it. But the word will have to suffice here:

And these also stagger from wine
and reel from beer:
Priests and prophets stagger from beer
and are befuddled with wine;
they reel from beer,
they stagger when seeing visions,
they stumble when rendering decisions.
All the tables are covered with vomit
and there is not a spot without filth.
“Who is it he is trying to teach?
To whom is he explaining his message?
To children weaned from their milk,
to those just taken from the breast?
For it is:
Do this, do that,
a rule for this, a rule for that;
a little here, a little there.” (NIV) Isa 28:7-10

At first, I wondered why the priests were drunk. Were they depressed? Is the drunkenness symbolic of their self-indulgence and abuse of their position? The way they mock the prophet explains it, I believe.

I have seen Christians, friends as well as church leaders on television and in print, make excuses for the standard in the Bible. They make excuses for their pursuit of pleasure, for their sin, and mock the Bible by saying it is outdated or misunderstood. Like these drunk priests Isaiah describes, in order to validate our pursuit of pleasure we must discredit the Bible’s teaching. Discredit is too small a word for what is really being done, though. Malign is more accurate, and honest Christians would agree.

The pleasures we pursue sinfully are not ugly and sinful in themselves. God gave us beauty and pleasure in our wine and sex and art and music and the ability to build and create and organize, and he wants us to use and implement all these things. But he wants us to do it to his glory, not ours, because he created them and gave them to us. It is simply a matter of respect. We are created and we ought to hold our Maker high esteem. We do this by enjoying the beauty and pleasures of this world within the confines he gave us. Drink in moderation, sleep only with your spouse, build in prayer, compose the beauty of God’s truths, organize and lead in humility and meekness.

The Bible is clear about what will happen to those who, like these mocking priests, malign God’s truths:

Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues
God will speak to this people,
to whom he said,
“This is the resting place, let the weary rest”;
and, “This is the place of repose”—
but they would not listen.
So then, the word of the Lord to them will become:
Do this, do that,
a rule for this, a rule for that;
a little here, a little there —
so that as they go they will fall backward;
they will be injured and snared and captured. (NIV) Isa 28:11-13

Notice, the poetry they used to mock God is used against them. Observe as well that before God’s judgment came, he reached out to these mockers, even using the same words Jesus spoke years later, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (NIV) Mat 11:28 (italics added)

The poetic prophecy continues with what I believe is the most important part. When we enjoy and exercise God’s beauty appropriately, he offers a promise:

In that day the Lord Almighty
will be a glorious crown,
a beautiful wreath
for the remnant of his people.
He will be a spirit of justice
to the one who sits in judgment,
a source of strength
to those who turn back the battle at the gate. (NIV) Isa 28:5-6

See how God wears the crown, not us. If God is our glory and not ourselves, if we pursue his beauty instead of ours, he promises to be our strength at the gate where our enemies come against us to mock us and hurt us and tear us down. This is truly poetic justice in every sense of the phrase, with beauty and irony and depth and truth.

Blessings! – Shamar Covenant

God’s Creatures

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My mom’s adorable bundle of playful energy, Zippy! Zippy © Photos by Terri

Do you have a pet? The picture above is my mom’s dog Zippy, and she loves that little guy. Do you have an animal you love? I wonder about what God thinks of our pets. Do dogs go to heaven? Will my mom get to enjoy the company of Zippy in the big upstairs? What about the animals we eat and use for clothing and such, does God care about them and how we treat them?

In an audio book I was listening to, Myth in Human History (The Great Courses), the instructor Professor Grant L. Voth was discussing the Christian creation myth told in Genesis chapters 1-3. He differentiated this myth from others by pointing out that it makes humans “lords of creation,” and further expands on this by stating that it leaves no room for animal rights. This is what he said:

“This story gives us pretty much carte blanche to do what we want with nature since God isn’t in it, outside it, it exists for our use and he gave it to us to use however we wanted. The ecological consequences of this are obvious now. We can sometimes wish that we had been heir to a tradition that required us at least to apologize to a buffalo when we had to kill it or to a mountain when we had to level it, and do as little of this as we possibly could get by with. There was an 18th century clergyman whose sermon I read once who argued in the sermon that the only reason that animals were given life at all was to keep their meat fresh until we killed it. This is the days before refrigeration. There is no sense of animal rights here. There are no rights except ours, and that is inherent in this Genesis account.” (Part I at 2:33, or 26 minutes into lecture 5, “Hebrew Creation Myths”)

There are a number of inconsistencies with his analysis of Christian “myth,” but I want to focus on the animal rights issue. The Bible does not, in any way, promote cruelty toward animals, nor is it condoned, nor is the Bible apathetic on this topic. The professor quoted a number of verses throughout the Bible during the course, so he had to have read it, and I assume a professor would read it through more than once. He seems to have focused more on the verses that supported his view of it as myth and the paradigms he was using to analyze myths.

First, I would like to cite the verse in the Bible that explicitly states God gave animals to humans for food. This did not occur in the creation part of the story, chapters 1-3 which the professor was discussing, but after the flood that only Noah, his family and his animals survived, which is in chapter 9 of Genesis.

Genesis 9:3, “Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.”

The Bible says we can eat meat. Or animals, rather. But does it say we can treat them negligently or even cruelly? Let’s start with Deuteronomy and the Ten Commandments, the fourth one in particular.

Deuteronomy 5:14, “but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do.”

Notice animals are required to get the same day of rest as humans. That seems rather…humane. Another regulation found in the same part of the Bible is about the agricultural process.

Deuteronomy 25:4, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.”

Animals should be able to eat the grain as they work. There is a very similar regulation prohibiting Israelites from reaping to the edge of their field, or gathering the gleanings of the harvest, or what falls to the ground. Rather they are to leave these leftovers behind for the poor and the foreigners (Lev 19:9-10). God cares for the poor, he cares for the estranged, and in much the same way, he cares for the laboring animals.

Does the Bible ever state explicitly that we are to treat animals decently? To provide for and protect them? To not torture them? Yup.

Proverbs 12:10, “A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel.”

The contrast within this proverb not only points to the righteousness of caring for an animal, but also to the wickedness of cruelty toward animals. Also, from the prophets:

Habakkuk 2:17, “The violence you have done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and your destruction of animals will terrify you. For you have shed man’s blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.”

For me, knowing that God’s justice extends to those who “destroy” animals warms my heart. Once, while working on an overseas military base, I saw a soldier and a fellow contractor murder the puppies of a stray dog living in the gate of the base. In my questioning of the contractor on this, I called him a “puppy-killer.” This title disturbed him, and he quickly became uneasy about what he had done. Too bad he did not think of that before he murdered them.

How does God feel about these animals he has created? Does he care for them like he cares for humans? Or are they simply food he provided for us, carriers of meat? Let us take a look at Jonah’s story. The following verse is God speaking to Jonah, who is very depressed that the city of Nineveh was spared from God’s wrath after repenting of their evil ways.

Jonah 4:11, “But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?”

This verse is the end of a story of a man who was sent to preach to a people he did not want to see saved. Jonah wanted the people of Nineveh to burn in hell for what they had done. The details of their violation against Jonah are not mentioned in the story, but apparently Nineveh at this point in history was known for their violence and lust.

God felt differently than Jonah. Despite the terrible reputation of this city, God calls it “great” in the verse above. What made it great? I do not believe God was referring to their ability in war or trade. Their greatness was due to there being 120,000 of his creations living in it! Their abilities and accomplishments did not matter. This is an amazing point, and deserves its own blog post, but I want to point out the mention of cattle in there. Yes, what made the city of Nineveh great in God’s eyes was not only the 120,000 people, but also the cattle! God did not want to destroy the people or the cattle, but to save the cattle as well. This, I believe, expresses how God feels about animals.

A couple other verses:

Psalm 36:6, “Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep. O Lord, you preserve both man and beast.”

Psalm 145:16-17, “You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made.”

God’s righteousness, justice, provision, and his love are all directed toward the animals of the earth as well as the humans. It seems to me that the Bible makes it clear that we are not to be cruel to animals. Rather, we are to care for them, provide for them, protect them, and love them! Since being a Christian is to be Christ-like, my mom loving her Zippy is a very Christian thing to do.

Do dogs go to heaven? I do not know. But, clearly God wants us to care for them because he cares for them, and if he cares for them, do you think maybe we will get to enjoy our pets in heaven like we did on earth? I believe so. I think my mom will get to enjoy Zippy’s crazy playful energy in heaven. God created animals for his pleasure, and for ours, and it makes sense to me that they would continue giving us pleasure in heaven. This is only my opinion, though.

In Matthew 6:26, Jesus said, “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.”

God provides for the birds of the air, because he cares for them. But Jesus continued, “Are you not much more valuable than they?”

Jesus did not die on the cross for animals, not even the cattle in Nineveh that Jonah apparently preached to. Jesus died for people, and that is the real message of the Bible.

God loves animals, but he REALLY loves us! So much so that he humbled himself and lived as a common man, then let us beat him up, insult him, and kill him. Receiving Jesus as God and believing in his life and death and resurrection (John 1:12) opens the door to a relationship with the most loving, kind, understanding, and compassionate person, Jesus Christ. I encourage you all to be kind to animals, and to get to know this man Jesus.

Blessings – Shamar Covenant

(All Bible quotations are from the NIV84 translation.)

Have Your Way In Me

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Recently, I was trying to get somewhere. As a truck driver working for a company (as opposed to having my own running authority where I find my own loads to pull), I had to get dispatched with a load to that destination. I put in the request for this “home time” well in advance. When the time approached, I could tell that I was not going to make my destination at the requested time, and I became frustrated.

Actually, I was angry. When I contacted my driver leader about this, I was also sleepy. I needed to get rest during the day, normal working hours for most, including my driver leader. My rest was interrupted continually with various dispatches that would not work. I sent a couple rude messages (Via my truck computer! Super-cool high-speed stuff, I know!) to my driver leader until I received a dispatch that appeared to have me sitting at my current location for almost two days, and I sent another rude message to my driver leader about that. When I say “rude,” you should read “angry.”

After this last message, I lay back down on my bed (My truck has a bed in the back! Too cool, I know!) and for some reason a song popped in my head, the song I posted above [Unspoken “Lift My Life Up” @unspokenmusic]. Specifically, my favorite part of the lyrics, “Have your way in me,” were singing in my thoughts. A peace came over my body, which had been tense with anxiety and anger. I got up and responded to the ridiculous dispatch only to realize that it started the next day, not two days away as I thought. Oops. As I was accepting that dispatch, my driver leader sent me a very polite message verifying the start time for the pick-up and asking if I was reading the dispatch correctly. My response was very short, “I wasn’t, just figured it out, sorry. I just accepted the load.”

It was late in the day and my driver leader left work shortly after. Laying back down, I got to thinking about how rude I had been and how wholly inadequate my apology message was, the song lyrics still singing in my head. I needed to give a real apology. Unfortunately, I had to wait till the next morning, but this actually gave me time to think up what I hope was a very good apology. The next morning, this is the message I sent him:

B–, I need to apologize, and I’m sorry I didn’t send this yesterday as soon as I realized my mistake. I was very rude yesterday. I was angry because I knew I wasn’t going to get to my home time destination, and then I was also trying to sleep while the dispatches were coming in and wasn’t paying attention. There’s no excuse, though. The Bible says, “man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires,” (Jam 1:20 NIV84) and I was far from righteous yesterday. I’m doing better controlling my anger, but I failed yesterday. Thank you for helping me as best you were able, I appreciate your work. I hope I do much better in the future. Blessings, Temujin

What makes my angry, rude messages more foolish was before any of those dispatches came in, I prayed with my girlfriend about God guiding where I would get dispatched, because I knew it was up in the air. Instead of waiting for the dispatches with faith and trust, I gave in to the angry response. And I already knew I would not make my home time!

I often say that I am a “bad Christian” because I am so aware of how far short of the mark I fall. But my girlfriend’s pastor recently told me that I am not a bad Christian, I am a work in progress. If I was bad, that would mean God looks at me based on my works, but he does not. He looks at me based on the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, therefore I cannot be a “bad” Christian. I do still sin, though, and am in the process of sanctification, progressing toward the goal of Christ-like perfection that I will not reach in this life.

I really like Unspoken’s song “Lift My Life Up” and always raise a hand while singing it. In context with my rude anger, I realized how I need God to have his way in me. His ways are righteous, and mine are selfish. So I will lift my hands up, lift my life up, and call to God to have his way in me, to work out all my anger and turn it into peace and love and joy, especially toward others. I am, after all, Christ’s ambassador.

Blessings – Shamar Covenant

P.S. If you pass me while driving (not very difficult since I drive at 57-58mph), and you see me with one hand on the steering wheel and the other raised in the air as I sing something with almost distracting enthusiasm, I may just be singing and worshipping to Unspoken’s song. I really like that song.