Grace and Deception

Abraham got away with lying.  At least it seems like he did.  When he thought his life was in danger because Sarah was so beautiful. In the time and day he lived more powerful men could kill him to take her as a wife, he lied twice.  He said, "She is my sister."  That was a half truth.  Disgusting in our day but not taboo then.  He seems to get away with it and come out better off.

Isaac lied and seem to get away with it - same situation of being married to a beautiful relative, same situation of danger, same half truth. He seemed to walk away blessed too.

But after that, we begin to see the consequences of an unbroken generational sin.  Isaac's son, Jacob, lies to him.  He steals Esau's blessing, runs away from Esau's rage and the family breaks up because of the deception and betrayal.  Esau and Jacob reconcile years later, but so much is lost never to be recovered.

Then Jacob's sons deceive him.  They tell him they found Joseph's torn, bloodied coat of many colors.  A wild animal must have eaten him, when in fact they had sold him into slavery.  Again, by the grace of God the family is later reunited and reconciled but so much is lost of life.

What are the lessons here for us?  You could say it was grace that God gave Abraham and Isaac in a time of danger when they lied and seem to not have to pay for it.  Perhaps that would be so, but look at the power of that sin that took its toll on later generations. We can look and see how playing loose with the truth will always come back on you.  You cannot escape a lie.  

I know it was God's grace that reconciled Jacob and Esau.  I know it was grace that led Joseph to forgive, save and reconcile with his brothers.  We must be careful not to presume upon grace when we have messed up and then don't see immediate negative consequences.  We need to recognize grace when we see any reconciliation in broken relationships and broken families.  We need to see the power of an unbroken generational sin and the power of God to reconcile and redeem.  It still happens in our day and in our lives.

For the journey...

Why My Dachshund Wore Cologne

A while back I told you about my beagle, Bailey.  Now I need to tell you about my dachshund, Buddy.  (Don't worry I only have two dogs, not many more stories are coming). My wife and daughter took the dogs on a walk along the path near the retention pond by Airline.  Buddy got off the leash for a bit and after he got close to them again they smelled a strange odor.  Judith thought it must be the hogs in the barn near them, then as they got further from there, they realized it was Buddy.  He had apparently found something really stinky, like hogs, in his freedom from the leash.

I wonder now if he found some hog manure.  For all of you who did not grow up on a farm like me, if you ever are around hogs, you realize they have a very unique and long lasting odor to what they leave behind.  I raised hogs for a while.  Once, after cleaning a pen and repeatedly washing my hands to get rid of the smell, I tried washing my hands in Listerine.  That did not work either.

After several baths, Buddy still smelled like a little pig.  Did I say he is part long haired dachshund?  It was my turn to give him a bath with another form of soap.  It helped but he still smelled like something Jimmy Dean would raise.  So I tried a spray or two of some old cologne I had.  It helped some.  He went from smelling bad to just smelling strange.  Fortunately, for us and Buddy, even the worst smells fade with time.  He smells like a dachshund today.

As I was giving Buddy another futile bath, a thought came to me.  Sometimes we treat our sin like a really bad odor.  When we have really messed up so that life is unpleasant, we can try to wash and wash ourselves and do whatever we can think of to undo what we have done.  And if it is still unpleasant we put on some thing to make things "smell" different.  We often believe it will just get better in time like a bad odor.  But there is a difference between stink and sin.  Stink will go away eventually. Sin, unless God does something with it, stays.  That is why we so desperately need to get grace - to understand how and why God forgives us and cleanses us and changes us.  We work on that more this Sunday as we journey through the truth of Galatians.

For they journey...

The Job of Reading the Book of Job

Let me address this week's blog to everyone who has tried to read through the book of Job.  It is not an easy undertaking.  For most of the book it is a tragic story of cruel suffering and unanswerable questions. Three friends come to comfort Job but only confound him more.  They argue and debate but never seem to get anywhere.  It is a lot like real life.  It is real life.

This time as I am reading through Job in our challenge at Northside to read through the Bible chronologically, I have found some things that help. Job and his friend's perspective on life and suffering is, 'If you suffer you must have done something wrong because suffering is punishment on wickedness.'  Today, some might call it  'bad karma.'  Job struggles with this because he has done nothing wrong; his friends argue that he must have done something really bad to be suffering so much. 

In the end we find out the truth -  good people suffer too.  The world is not fair, it is a fallen place.  Too bad Job and his friends did  not know what happens in the first few chapters about what goes on in heaven before his suffering comes.  Then they would have known an even greater truth - we are all involved in the great struggle between good and evil,  the power of life and the power of death, God against Satan and Satan against God.  No one is immune.  It involves all of us.  Not all of us are like Job but all of us find ourselves involved nonetheless.

Another thing that helps is reading through Job like we are on a treasure hunt.  There really are some great lines in the middle of all the human debating.  Yes, a lot of the debating back and forth can be confusing.  There are elements of truth in what each person says but at the same time they are not seeing 'the big picture' either.  But there are some things to underline and hold on to.  Treasures like -

"I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth...yet in my flesh I will see him with my own eyes - I, and not another.  How my heart yearns within me!"
Or
"But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold."

Look for these and you may find even more.

For the journey...