Avoiding the Pitfalls

The Bible tells us, “Yes, Lot was a righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day.” (2 Peter 2:8, NLT)  Lot lived in the midst of wickedness that claimed even his family and yet he remained righteous.  There has to be a secret. Psalm 1 gives us that secret. Verse 2 says, “But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night.” (Psalm 1:2, NLT) I want you to consider the meaning of the word “but” as used in this context.  The Hebrew author used two words that are directly translated, “for lo”.  “For” could also be translated because.  So the writer is saying, “Because, look, he delights in the law of the Lord.”  The point is this is not just the contrasting behavior; this is the reason for his happy avoidance of the traps. 

Shelter

"Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty." (Psalm 91:1, NLT)  God is a shelter during times of trouble.  In each generation there are many who attest to this truth.  It defies explanation, and like the taste of honey has to be experienced to be understood fully.

Peace with God

“All we like sheep have strayed away.  We have left God’s plans to follow our own.” (Isaiah 53:6, NLT)  To find peace with God we need to repent of all our efforts to get our own way.  Some of us try to do everything right and in turn expect God to give us everything we want.  Others of us decide to say, “I will do it my own way.”  Both need to repent.  Here is an irony:  We strive to get our own way with God, but for His part God already wants to give us more than we can even imagine and the only thing stopping Him is us.  The greatest thing any of us can have is to be at peace with God, and He has already given His Son to make peace possible.  The only thing standing in the way is us.

Thirsty?

Have you ever been thirsty, really thirsty? 

The desires in our souls are often compared to thirst.  When you are thirsty, the desire for water can override everything else.

We pursue money, sex, entertainment and a thousand other desires like our lives depend on it. Driven by an overpowering thirst, our lives are poured out in a passionate pursuit.

God saw this happening with the ancient people of Israel and said: 

“My people have done two evil things:

They have abandoned me—

the fountain of living water.

And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns

that can hold no water at all!” (Jeremiah 2:13, NLT)

Here in this passage God is using a metaphor.  He is comparing the thirst of the soul to the thirst for water.  Our souls hunger and thirst for God.  Without God we are parched and thirsty on the inside.  God says here that He is the fountain of living water.  There are two evil things God addresses.  The first is that His people have abandoned Him.  The second is that they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns.  The cracked cisterns are a metaphor for things that we pursue to satisfy our thirst.  A cistern stores water so that when the spring rains are finished and the dry months of summer come people do not die for lack of water. We are dying for lack of "living water", because money, sex, entertainment and all our other pursuits can never satisfy out souls.

Fixated

Fixated or Fixation: the state in which an individual becomes obsessed with an attachment to another human, an animal, or an inanimate object. (Wikipedia) Acquire an obsessive attachment to: (Webster)

 What does it mean to be human? The scientific community has given us the Latin name: Homo sapiens: according to Wiktionary this is from Latin homo (“human being, man”) + sapiens (“wise, sensible, judicious”) We consider ourselves wise, sensible and judicious. And yet, Idolatry is part of the human condition. It is as old as humanity itself. Did you have to study Greek mythology? I suppose we all did. It is part of our culture. The days of the week are named after these deities. Tuesday – Mars the god of war; Wednesday – Mercury the god of commerce; Friday – Venus the god of love and beauty. When we think of idolatry, we think of statues and objects. However, consider what the gods we just listed represented. They represent things that even now men and women devote their lives to. When a person devotes his/herself to beauty or Aphrodite, there is no end to the surgery, dieting, exercising and products that can be part of the sacrifice. Aphrodite can be a terrible task master. Some damage their health to look better, taking steroids or harmful drugs. Others become enslaved to the point that the condition known as anorexia develops. When a person makes the pursuit of profit their sole purpose in life, do they not demonstrate what they are willing to sacrifice to Hermes, giving up family and children? The ancients gave names to the deities and we no longer recognize them by their names, but we still serve the same deities. We sacrifice health, family, children, integrity and our souls for the things these deities represent.

 

 We call ourselves wise, sensible and judicious. We pursue wealth, position, peace, beauty and happiness with all we are. And yet, we live in a world where many of us are Struggling, Hurting, Stressing, Cheating, Spending, Worrying, Medicating and Avoiding? What is the cause of the worry and stress around us? Our world is fixated or obsessed with so many things that promise happiness. Our gods have failed us, and sold us into slavery.

 Jesus taught that the first commandment is the most important commandment. The first commandment is: “You must not have any other god but me.” (Exodus 20:3, New Living Translation) This rule has to do with why we were created. It has to do with who we are. We were created to have a relationship with God. What is more, we do not break any of the other 10 commandments without breaking this one first. I believe that this is the problem; not just a problem, but the problem. I believe that the reason we are Struggling, Hurting, Stressing, Cheating, Spending, Worrying, Medicating and Avoiding is found in this commandment. Therefore, I believe that the answer to finding freedom from the worry, fears and struggles of our present day lies in this commandment. This is the most important commandment. The Bible puts it positively: “You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.” (Deut. 6:5, NLT)

 I have been influenced by two books recently. The first one is “Gods at War”, by Kyle Idleman; and the second is “Counterfeit Gods”, by Timothy Keller. I recommend reading either of these books for a fuller treatment of the subject, and I must give credit to these men for places where I have borrowed directly from their books and for stimulating my thinking on this subject.

As humans we will give our lives to something. For example, if a person makes acquiring wealth their goal, they will end up serving money, fixated on it. If a person makes being accepted their goal, they will end up serving those they try to appease. We have a name for this, we call it codependency. Anything that we cannot live without will end up controlling us. Our hearts become fixed on the object or objects we trust for our happiness, security or success. We end up serving these things that have now taken the place of God. For example if we need to feel secure, and money makes us feel secure, we will pursue money. But, a different person will seek security in a relationship with the opposite sex, so they will pursue relationships. As we look at the heart in each of these scenarios we see we are trusting in something other than God to meet our deepest need. We are looking to this object to be our Savior. This is what idolatry is. Every one of us will look to something or a number of things to meet our deepest needs. Every one of us will serve a god or many gods. It is the way we are created. We each have a soul hunger that can only be satisfied in the one true God, the God we were created for. It is not a question of if we have idols in our hearts. I believe it is a lifelong process of allowing God to show us what our idols are.

 Romans 1:21-25 puts it this way: “They knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles. So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen." (NLT)

He Carries Our Burdens

Are you facing a situation that is beyond hope? Perhaps it is a relationship that you know will never get any better. Perhaps it is a physical condition. Jesus is the only one who can take these burdens for us. When our strength and wisdom have no answers there is still a place to turn. The Bible tells us, “He took up our pain, and bore our suffering.” (Isaiah 53:4, NIV) John in his account of Jesus’ life tells of an incident where a friend of His died. A dead person would seem to be about as far beyond hope as it gets. In the case of this friend, Lazarus, Jesus chose to bring him back from the dead. There are not a lot of cases where Jesus chooses to do this, but He does promise to be with us. He does help us carry the load. He took up our pain, and bore our suffering. God gives us hope even when things seem beyond hope.

Bad Things Happen

John tells the story of walking one day and seeing a blind man. Everyone knew that this man had been born blind. The question came up as to why this person had been born blind. The assumption of John's day was that either the person with the problem or the parents of the person had done something bad. When asked why this had happened to the man, Jesus said it was not that the parents or the person born blind had done anything wrong. But, it was rather an opportunity for God's work to be displayed and then Jesus healed the man. God wants a relationship with beings that like Him can make their own choices. Because of this, He has allowed us to make our own choices even though He is all powerful and could have made us differently. We all make bad choices at times, and and when selfishness and hate take over someone's heart evil choices are made. As a result, there are evil and tragedies in our world. In these there is opportunity for God's work to be displayed. We see God's work in people reaching out to offer healing and help to those struck by tragedy. And, we see His work ultimately in the fact that He has reached out to us to offer healing and help to each of us through His Son.