[Steve Myers] Well, you don't have to look at the church for too long to realize that Christians aren't perfect at all, at all. Unchristian Christians. In fact, it's not so secret secret of Christians that actually, at times, we're not very good followers of Jesus Christ.

Have you ever been hurt that someone acted in a way that just seemed wrong? That's just isn't right? That's unfair? Or maybe you watched a situation from a distance and you saw them act that way. And that wasn't right. What were they doing? What were they thinking in acting that way? Or maybe you just heard of an issue. You heard of a situation that just was wrong. After all, they're fellow church members. What's their deal? Shouldn't they know better?

I mean, obviously, they're not living up to the standard. Does that happen? Absolutely, it happens. You're not perfect. I'm not perfect. And we know when we don't measure up to the standard, it can be pretty obvious, especially when we fall short and when we're challenged with those types of situations. Because the truth is, there is always going to be difficult people. It's always going to be that way.

What do you do about that? What do you with a fellow member of the body of Christ who just rubs you the wrong way? They're just irritating. And maybe you work together, maybe you live together, perhaps you study together, serve together, maybe you play volleyball together. Well, that's the way the circumstances are, you're stuck together.

So how do you react to those kinds of situations when you experience unchristian Christian behavior, especially when you don't particularly like them? They shouldn't be acting that way, right? So what's the appropriate response? What do we do? How do we handle that?

I think, to begin with, we have to recognize that I can't make it my excuse. This is not an excuse for me. And oftentimes, it seems that's the way I have a tendency to take that. What do I mean by that? "Well, I saw that. I know how they are. I know why they did that. I saw them do something like that a couple of weeks ago, that's obviously who they are. And, you know, I might forgive them, but let me tell you, I'm not going to forget what they did. I'm not going to forget what they said. And after all, that justifies my attitude towards them, because just look at that. I can obviously criticize them because they deserve it. They deserve it, after all, right?"

Well, does that wrong behavior, if it even is, does that justify my unchristian attitude? You see, the challenge is I'm accountable before God for what I'm supposed to be doing regardless of what anyone else is doing. And I can't let my feelings, I can't let my emotions, I can't let my decisions be ruled by somebody else's actions.

I ran across a meme that maybe you saw on the internet as well. They're all over the place. But when we think about it, don't make their behavior my excuse, when we think about that, I think this meme comes into play. This one's been shared hundreds and hundreds of thousands of times. And it goes like this, "Life is too short to spend time with people who suck the happiness right out of you."

Have you seen that one? Maybe you gave it a thumbs up? "Yeah, that's right. Don't let them do that to you." Well, wait a second. What is that really saying? I mean, that's saying, "I deserve better. I deserve better than that. I deserve to feel good all of the time. That's my right that I should always feel good. And so I can gauge somebody else's behavior. And if I don't like it, they're out. I mean, I'm the umpire, right? I get to choose, I get to decide, I can label them. And I don't like that. And I want to feel good. So forget them. Forget them. I don't like that. And I'm not going to hang out with them."

So what do you do? What do you do when it's a difficult friend? Maybe it's your annoying neighbor. Maybe it's that needy person right here in this room. They just kind of get under your skin. Yeah, they're a fellow church member, but, boy, it's a trial. So what do I do with that?

And the Bible is pretty specific. And it gives us instruction after instruction that it's not really hard to follow. It's not difficult to understand. It's not overwhelming. Pretty crystal clear when you get right down to it. And it doesn't just tell us once, it tells us the same thing over and over and over and over again.

One place, Romans 14, let's take a look there for a moment. You see, all too often, I make it my excuse for putting the finger on somebody else and absolutely understanding their motivation and why they did what they did so that I can blame them. And I can treat, at least in my mind, I can come to some conclusion about what a lousy Christian they are.

But instead, God inspired Paul to remind us that's not the way to be. That's not the way to be. Romans 14, right at the beginning of the chapter, we're reminded, "Receive one who is weak in the faith." Now, that's assuming they're the weak one. Maybe I need to turn that mirror around and think, "Well, maybe I'm the weak. Maybe I'm the one that's weak." And it can mean a little one, no doubt.

But it doesn't say kick them out, label them, destroy their character, talk about them behind their back, assume that you understand everything about why they did what they did. No, it doesn't say any of those things. It actually says welcome them.

When you look up this word to receive, some of the other translations say, accept them, don't put them off, don't refuse them. You see because so many things go along with that. When we make an excuse for our behavior, what is that really doing?

If we skip down to verse 10, this is exactly what we're doing, "Why do you judge your brother?" "Oh, I'm not judging. I'm just discerning their wrong behavior." Well, we like to get away with that, don't we? No, this word here is krino in the Greek, that's not discernment, that's condemnation. That's pointing to the put-down. That's pointing to the label we place.

"Why do we judge our brother? Why do we show contempt?" Because do we really know the whole story? He says, "For we all shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ. As it's written: 'As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, every tongue shall confess to God.’" Don't make it an excuse for wrong behavior. He says, "Each of us shall give account of himself to God."

And so, when I see unchristian Christian behavior, what's my first reaction to that? Is it to step back and own up to my own life? Or do I tend to get sidetracked because somebody else's may be sidetracked a little bit? Or do I really understand that everyone, every one of us is fighting our own battles? Everybody's going through something, every one of us.

Can we say that "I've never had a bad day?" Everybody had a bad day. And over and over and over again, God's Word tells us to receive one who's weak in the faith. And maybe uses different words at different times, but the message is clear.

Just a page back in my Bible, Romans 12:10 is another one of those passages that says much the same thing. Romans 12:10, "Be kindly affectionate to one another,” receive one, same concept, isn't it? "Be kindly affectionate… with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another."

So instead of making an excuse for my wrong behavior, I'm supposed to receive them, I'm supposed to be nice to them. I'm supposed to honor them, I'm supposed to, well, sometimes, it says esteem them better than myself. Isn't Philippians say that? That's what I'm supposed to do, and it tells us that over and over and over again, instead of making an excuse for why I do what I do.

I mean, do we really get it though? And that's the challenge. Do we really get it? Okay, I've heard that. I understand that. But have I really learned how to apply that to my own life?

I was taken back a little bit. A while ago, when I read an article online, it was at GQ.com, and a little notification caught my attention because of the title, you know, the clickbait that's out there sometimes that gets your attention. Well, you know, the line that got my attention? It said, "21 Books You Don't Have to Read." It's, like, cool. I'm in the saving time. That's great. I don't want to have to, I don't like reading that much anyway. So what do I have not to worry about? So it got me.

So go to GQ.com, 21 books I don't have to read. I start going down the list. One, yeah, I don't care about that. I don't care about that. I get to number 12. Guess what number 12 of the 21 books that you don't have to read was? The Bible. The Bible. I said, “Whoa, wait a second.” I mean, it even took it a step farther in the little description of why you don't have to read it. It said, "It's probably the most overrated book of all time."

When we go, "Oh, wow." Why would they say that? And should that really take us back? See, that doesn't sound right, because I'm supposed to be a Christian. But the article went on and it said, the Holy Bible is rated very highly by all the people who supposedly live by it, but in actuality, have not read it.

Now, you might say, "Yeah, that's their opinion. You can't believe everything you read." It's a fact. It's a fact. They've done studies after studies after studies. American Bible Society, they did a survey, how many American households own a Bible. What percentage? 87% of American households own a Bible. Okay, the Bible is revered in America, right?

Now, wait, not so fast. LifeWay Research did a survey not very long ago. And that survey found a number of interesting things that I just want to bring to your attention. Well, we think we know what the Bible says. And the disconnect there is between what we think it says and actually knowing it, reading it, and then applying it to our lives becomes a whole different thing. LifeWay Research found this, they said “Americans have a positive view of the Bible and many say Christian scriptures are filled with moral lessons for today.”

But we'd agree with that, right? Of course, the Bible's valuable. There's so many lessons we can learn and apply its moral teachings, no doubt about that. But you know what else they found? When it came to actually how many people have read it, more than half of Americans have read little or any of the Bible. None of it. None of it. Except it also found in the survey that 4 in 10 Americans say it's a book worth reading. In fact, not just reading once, it's a book worth reading over and over and over.

But do we? But do we really? And here's the kicker. Talking about religious people, the survey said, almost one in five churchgoers… How much do you think they read the Bible? One in five churchgoers say they've never read the Bible. It's kind of a scary thought.

Now the challenge is, if it's out there, is it in here? I mean, could this be us? You see, when it comes to feelings about the Bible and actually reading it, then putting it to use, and applying its teachings, I think it's fair to say that there is a major disconnect. We have a cognitive dissonance in the church when it comes to the Bible, especially if we say, "Well, society, they're so terrible. The culture today is so awful, they should recognize that the Bible is a relevant book."

I mean, isn't it our responsibility to actually act like the Bible is a relevant book? And yet, when it comes to dealing with each other, when it comes to dealing with unchristian Christian behavior, do we really put the principles of the Bible into effect? Honor one another, esteem one another, give preference to another. How many times do we have to be told to do that and actually get it and understand it?

I mean, 1 Peter 2:17 is one of those that really should cause us to pause and maybe step back just a little bit to see the significance of what God is reminding us of in this particular passage. I mean, it's another one that reminds us, "Okay, we got to treat each other kindly."

Yes, we have to do that. Peter puts it in terms of honoring one another. Notice what he says, 1 Peter 2:17, he begins, "Honor all people." Okay, not just the ones I like, not just the ones I get along with, not just the… no, even the ones that irritate me, even the ones that may not act properly all the time.

"Honor all people." He says, "Love the brotherhood." Take honor to the next level, take it to love. Love your brothers and sisters in Christ. He said that demonstrates the fear of God, fear God. And then he says, "Honor the king." That's kind of, "Huh? Really?" kind of a statement, isn't it?

I mean, put yourself back in the first century, what king are we talking about here? We're talking about the Roman Caesars. We're talking about the emperors. I'm supposed to honor them? Talk about unchristian behavior. They're slaughtering us. They're killing Christians. And yet here is God directing the early church to honor the leader of the known world who's persecuting and murdering Christians. And I'm supposed to honor that? I'm supposed to find anything to honor in that? I'm supposed to honor a wicked leader.

That's what it says. We're supposed to honor everyone we come in contact with. Can we find a way to do that? Because, after all, it's a lot easier to put people down. Maybe we don't do it directly. Maybe we don't say it out loud. Maybe it just goes around in our minds. But if we've been doing that, we've got to stop. We have to stop that and we have to truly repent. We have to stop making excuses, "Well, because they did that it gives me the right to do this."

And God is telling us it is possible to honor people. Even if you've been mistreated, even if they haven't acted like a Christian, even if I disagree with them, I can find a way, even if they've misbehaved. God says, "Yes, it's possible." And if we don't show honor, if we don't respect one another, if we don't give preference to each other, we are not representing our great and honorable God.

And that's the challenge that lies before us. How do we react? How do we act when we experience unchristian Christian behavior? Can't use it as an excuse. So what's the right response?

We've got to keep in mind, I don't see everything. I don't see the whole picture. Could there be a side that maybe isn't obvious to me that I don't really see it? I mean, how many times does the Bible tell us about another behavior that should be on our mind constantly? I mean, it tells us don't judge by appearances, right? We got this saying, "Don't judge a book by its cover." Don't judge by appearances.

Well, hard not to. I mean, do I really believe the best in people? Do I do have a tendency to believe, "Well, I saw it with my own eyes. That must be the case, it's got to be that attitude, it must be." Or do I believe everything that I hear? Is that my perspective? Should it be?

I got to remember, I don't see everything. Colossians 3:13 is certainly a reminder of this principle. Colossians 3:13. Here's another one of those passages. Wow, it's straightforward. It tells it straightaway. It's not anything surprising, you know or would send earthquake waves through my thinking. It's just a practical everyday Christian point of view that has to be how I should think and how I should behave.

Colossians 3:13. You see because God knew we're people, and we have issues and we have problems. No wonder He says this. Colossi, the church had that, and so Paul reminds them bear with one another, we should be “bearing with one another, and forgiving one another." And that bearing, we've talked about this before, it means putting up with each other, putting up with people. And then taking it to the next level, and forgiving them.

It says if anyone has a complaint against another… Oh, of course, that never happens. I never have any complaints about anybody. I love all people. Well, sometimes we kid ourselves and like, "Yeah, I'm a whiner. I'm a complainer. I'm going to be honest with myself." Well, if I do, “even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.” Not, "It would be a nice if you tried to do…" No, if I claim to be a Christian, I must do.

You mean I have to make allowances for other people and their problems and their issues and their behavior, their faults? That's what He's saying. But that's a hard thing to do because it doesn't come naturally, does it?

You see, we have a tendency. Do we do this? We have this tendency to put people in a box. We put people in a box. And I've got to admit to myself, that's what I do. Because I have my perspective. I have my opinion. I have my prejudices. And if I'm going to deal with those things, I got to recognize the fact I do that. That's what I do. I want to frame people and put them right there because I want to boil down exactly who you are and bring it down to that characteristic, that trait, that attitude and categorize you, and put you in this box because then I have defined you. This is who you are. This is who you are.

And we tend to do that because it makes it simple. It makes it simple that way. And, you know, I kind of like to do that. I have to admit that. But that's wrong. And it might not be that box, but maybe it's this box.

People love boxes. People build boxes. And boxes are simple and they're convenient because I don't have to look at the whole thing. I can look at that little action, that thought, that assumption that I made. That's them. That's who they are. That's what they're all about. Nice, neat, little box.

Let me give you an example. Okay. I got aggravated, I got upset. It was a difficult situation. Someone was watching and, all right, maybe it wasn't very Christian, but, boy, I found out that's who I am. And that one issue became my identity in their eyes. That problem defined me in their eyes.

I mean, was that fair? Was that fair to judge me? Was I accused unfairly? I mean, I'd like to think so. I mean, obviously, that individual didn't know the full picture. They didn't know everything about me. I was judged by one circumstance, okay, one piece of evidence, but suddenly, that's who I was. That was the definition of my character being defined by that one issue.

And they didn't know the full picture. They didn't really know much about who I am. But I was reduced to that one flaw, that one issue. That's who I was. And that's where they were going to keep me. And that opinion was just imposed right upon me. But what about the rest of my character? What about these other things that I'm made of? Ignored, put aside, really taken away from me.

And you see, these kinds of circumstances come up fairly often, don't they? And how do we handle those things? I mean, that kind of hurt. It kind of hurt. Okay, maybe I wasn't that perfect. But to frame my life as that, that's not who I am. That's not who I want to be.

Another example. It wasn't told to me by the person, but it came from another person who was told this very thing. You know, what they were told? Steve Myers couldn't give a serious sermon if his life depended on it. It's true. It was said. It was said.

Now, the interesting thing is the person that they said this to said, "Oh, have you listened to some of his sermons?" And you know what the answer was? “No. No.” All right, I like to joke around, I tell jokes here and there. You know, I like to have fun. But am I that person? No, I just was taken, put into the nice little box. That's who I am.

And you see, that happens to all of us. And sometimes we're the ones putting the people in the boxes. We're the ones recognizing this misbehavior that we assume is misbehavior, maybe we don't even really know or we saw this and assume that or label this. And we say that's who they are. And these boxes, they push us aside and they divide us. They divide us.

And we've got to come to the conclusion that this is what we do. This is what we do because it's our natural tendency, isn't it? Or maybe you can think of it a different way. This is human nature. This is human nature to do this very thing. Our brains, in a sense, are hard-wired to categorize people and minimize them. And our human nature gets the best of us at times. And we want to reduce those people to that one quality or those two things that they did, and put them in that box. It gets smaller and tighter and more of a ring around who they are.

And when we reduce someone to that level, we've defined who they are, at least in our minds. Is that their best moment? No, do we do this? What about those offhanded kind of things we say? I mean, I never reduce people into a box, do I?

I mean, I couldn't help it, but that jerk on the highway cut me off. I just reduced them, didn't I? Oh, I never do that. I've never cut anybody off. Have I? I wouldn't do that. They're just a basket case they couldn't handle it. You know, they could…

Well, wait a second. Do we say those things? Do we think those things? Nah, they couldn't organize their way out of a paper basket, right, a paper bag?

Yeah, we do those things. And we take the low points of a person's life and then we assume that's who they are. Well, have we done that? Do we continue to do that? I mean, if we're honest with ourselves, I think we have to say, "Yes. Yes."

I was reminded of this a while back by doing something I really don't like to do because I put these things in a nice box myself. You know what that was? Watching a chick flick. Okay, guys, you got to admit it, you probably done it. You probably done it. I had to watch this chick, at least the first time anyway. And you know what that flick was? Legally Blonde. Legally Blonde. Talk about categorizing people.

This was kind of an interesting movie in that regard because, of course, the star of the show is Reese Witherspoon, blonde. It was definitely a chick flick. And she is the ditziest girl at the beginning of the show, and you just put her in that box. Yup. Of course, all blondes are like that. You know she's just wacky, don't have it together.

And her boyfriend dumps her because, "You know, if I'm going to be a senator and a big shot, I can't be married to some ditzy blonde." So he dumps her and he goes to Harvard. Well, she decides she wants to go to Harvard. He's like, "Oh, yeah, what a joke. No way, that's not possible."

Well, she goes there. And she comes to the conclusion, "Boy, people have put me in a box." At one point in the show, she says, "All people see when they look at me is blonde hair." And yes, she was into fashion. And she carried around a little doggy and different kinds of things that…

But you know what? She gets into Harvard. And she doesn't quit. And she proves herself and she's perceptive and her teachers are shocked because they had her in a box too. And then, this boyfriend who she used to have is a real loser and he ends up being on the other end of the spectrum. But she answers the hard questions in class and she's pretty amazing with her intuition.

And she gets into the courtroom because she becomes a lawyer. And she ends up winning the court case. And everybody's impressed with her. And yeah, she's blonde and her voice is kind of squeaky and kind of high and definitely girly, girly. No doubt about that. But she was smart. You couldn't really put her in a box. In fact, she breaks out of that mold and becomes the valedictorian of the class.

I think it's just such a good reminder of just our human tendencies. And we do that to each other. We have this superficial judgment that we've concluded things and this must be right because I pass judgment on them. And what is it based on? "Well, that time, they did that, and did you hear what? I heard about that."

When we pass judgment on appearances, what does the Bible say about that when we don't see the whole picture? John 7:24, here's an example of Christ. We're familiar with this. We know what He says here. Just to remind ourselves, in this scenario, of breaking out of the box, and not placing people and forcing them into this label that we've created, Christ says very clearly, same thing that He told Samuel way back when he was going to anoint a new king. We see this over and over again through Scripture.

Verse 24, Christ's own words, "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment." So when we do this, and we come to our conclusions, it's sinful. Don't say it's just my opinion. It's not that big of… No, it's sin. It is sin. It's not fair. It's not right. That's unchristian. That's unchristian. And especially when we see these situations, and we assume this or we've made this defining issue the overriding character trait of this individual.

Well, that's not the case. And if that's not the case, what is it? It's a lie. It's a lie. Your interpretation is wrong. And it becomes a lie. When we accuse someone, whether it's even only in our own mind, "of that's who they are, that's what they do, I saw that one time they did this," that is an outright lie. And you've made an accusation against a fellow brother or sister.

Who is the accuser of the brethren? We know that. We know that's Satan and that is sinful to do that because we put them in this box. And that gives them no opportunity to change, no opportunity to grow, no opportunity to really even be themselves, to be who they really are.

Aren't you glad God isn't like that? God's not like that. What a blessing that is. And I've got to catch myself when I start categorizing people in that way. I've got to recognize the fact that they're on a journey too. They're on this grand journey to the Kingdom. And I've got to recognize that fact that the story's not done yet. The trip isn't over yet. And I can't label them in that way because I don't see the full picture.

And that's a reminder, who does? Who does see it all? Who sees it all? Well, God, the Father, and Jesus Christ see it all. So I've got to step back and recognize, "Yeah, they're under construction. So am I. So am I." You've probably seen that sign, “Christian under construction” and the subheading is, “God's not done with me yet.”

You see, we've got to keep that picture in mind because that's how I hope people would view me. I hope people see me that way because it really comes down to treating others the way that I want to be treated. It's being merciful, showing graciousness, especially when we need it because we do need it. We do need it.

Even though we're all on this journey. We're heading to the same destination. We're heading to the Kingdom. And yes, we fall short. Yes, we're sinners. And that's part of the reason we're here. Probably, the reason we're sitting here at church today so that we can stay on task, we can have the right perspective, so that we don't give up on each other because we know God's not giving up on us. He's not giving up on me. And so I need to continue to love and continue to serve even if there's unchristian behavior.

It is interesting when you consider how we deal with that, how I react to unchristian Christian behavior. I mean, when we consider the fact that it's not my excuse, I can't use that as an excuse. I don't see the whole picture.

But a third thing that comes to mind is also working against the inclination to distance ourselves from them. Don't we have that tendency? Don't decide to distance yourself from people in those kinds of situations. "Yeah, but I wouldn't want to deal with them. They're obviously in a bad attitude." Or, "How could they do that thing?" Or, "Why did they say that?" Or, "It seems like they acted that way?"

Well, think about it for a moment. Our ultimate example is Christ. What did Christ do? How did Christ react to unchristian Christian behavior? Well, who did He hang out with after all? Okay. He had the 12 disciples. Yeah, the guys that became apostles. Yeah, those guys He hangs out with them.

But other than that, who did He hang with? Sinners, prostitutes, maybe the worst of all, tax collectors. That's who Christ hung out with. And when we consider His behavior, it wasn't just that He thought that was a good idea or He was making up for their deficiencies. He wasn't just talking the talk, He was living it and showing it. In fact, He went the full distance that He girded up His loins and He gave His life and died because of that kind of behavior. And it's such a reminder.

I mean, people would look on and criticize Christ for doing that very thing. And they see, "Oh, that's terrible. How could a righteous man be with these kinds of people?" And we find ourselves in that same frame of mind at times, don't we? That we find the faults, and we see the problems, and we see the bad attitudes. "Well, I saw that action." And we look for it. I mean, what are we looking for? What are we looking for?

I was reminded of that when I was reading an article about racing. We just had the beginning of the race season, just about a week or so ago. And I was reading this little article about Mario Andretti. And for those of you who are not into racing, he won all kinds of races: Indianapolis 500, the Daytona 500, the Formula One World Championship. The guy was amazing, you know, many, many years ago. In fact, he was only one of two drivers to win Formula One, IndyCar, World Sportscar Championship, and NASCAR as well. So the guy knows how to race, right?

So they asked Mario Andretti, "What would be your one tip for success in race car driving?" Now, if you think about that, I can think of all kinds of things. Keep your hands on the wheel, you know, and finish the race faster than everyone else. That would be good. Right? Yeah, that'd be a no brainer.

But he didn't say any of those kinds of things. You know what he said? He's number one tip for success in racecar driving. Mario Andretti said, "Don't look at the wall." Don't look at the wall. He said, "Your car goes where your eyes go." Your car goes where your eyes go.

And so he went on to say when young drivers are starting to race, this is one of the most critical lessons that they learn, when you're driving 200 miles an hour, you better focus on the road in front of you because if you look at the wall, you're going to end up hitting it. It makes sense. That makes sense, doesn't it? You start looking at the wall, you're going to see it and you're going to hit it.

Doesn't that apply to us in the spiritual sense? You want to look for faults? Why you think you'll find them? Yeah, easy to find that wall. I mean, we all have those kinds of walls in our actions and our attitudes and our behaviors. And we sure don't need a magnifying glass to find those faults right here in the Body of Christ. Get that magnifying glass out too much?

Maybe we can flip it around a little bit. Take that magnifying glass. But instead when we're examining others, is it possible to look for the evidence of God at work? God at work in their life? Can we look for that instead of seeing, well, the obvious thing that's just not Christian? Do we find evidence that God is at work? I mean, no matter how messed up my actions might be, is it possible to detect God's doing something in their life?

"Yeah, okay. Maybe He is working there." If I really look for it, can I find it? Would I see it especially if I get out that magnifying glass? Absolutely. I mean, after all, how many of us have entirely put on the character of Christ? I mean, the Bible says that a lot put on Christ. Is that like getting this gigantic spiritual jumpsuit, "[Vocalization] I've got it."?

No, you put on clothing. You put it on a piece at a time, don't you? Pull-on your socks, you know get on your shirt, put on your… And that takes time. It takes time to put it on and yet we want to catch someone that went, "Oh, look at that. Look at that." Well, do we see the spiritual socks and the spiritual shirt that are there?

I mean, even using that, magnifying glass to find even a glimmer of hope rather than seeing the negative, rather than seeing the problem, maybe it's just a flicker. Maybe it's just a hint of the fruit. But can we highlight the hint? Can we focus on that and appreciate that and even thank God for that?

You see, I think that's exactly what Christ did. He did that very thing. He focused on those strengths that people had. And that takes away then our ability to criticize and condemn others. And we can't let what someone else even did to me linger. If that's been a hurt, I can't let that hurt stay because then I'm going to become bitter. And it's going to take root. And I've got to find a way to let that pass thing be in the past.

No matter how tempting it might be to say, "You know, what they did? You know what they said? You know, how they acted? You know, what they did on the basketball court? You know, what he said? I overheard him do that." You know, it's easy to say, "Well, I could just tell other people, I could smear their name around the congregation. I mean, people do it online all the time, don't they?"

We've got to resist that temptation and we can't act the same way that they may have acted. And yet, we have kind of this little desire to want somebody else to hear about it, somebody else to agree with me, and then join me in commiserating about how unreasonable or how immature so and so is? You see, we have that tendency to want to spread the pain.

But that's not the answer. I mean, even if it might make us feel better for a little bit, that is definitely not the answer because gossip damages our relationships. God says love is forgiving. And if we repeat that offense through gossip, through sin, yeah, we got them in that box, and we're not going to let them grow right out of that. And so, we've entrenched this person in our mind, in this negative image. And ultimately, we deny the gospel through our actions.

And we're told very clearly, Proverbs 17:9, just a short, little insightful comment that really gives us the direction when we have that temptation to label, to categorize, to put people in a box, to forget that I don't have the big picture, to try to distance myself rather than to build bridges, Proverbs 17:9 comes into play. I mean, just the beginning of this passage, it reminds us, it says, "He who covers a transgression seeks love," seeks love. So what's our view? What's our view?

Have you ever had a caricature done? Anybody ever have a caricature done? We used to live in New Orleans, and they used to make money, artists would be out on the square and they would do caricatures. Yeah, it can be kind of fun, kind of interesting.

So one day, Kathe and I went to get our caricature done. What could be more fun than that? Now, I know, I don't have the smallest schnoz in the world. But why did that guy have to make it like three feet long? It's like, "Come on. That's not who I am." And then to add insult to injury, down at my foot, he drew a little doggie. And it was lifting his leg on me.

It's like, really? Is that who I am? Well, we do that to people, don't we? We see that glaring thing, that issue, that problem, that thing that I can't avoid looking at because look at how big that is. But we got to get rid of the… We were not godly artists when we do that kind of thing. I mean, we've got to make a conscious choice not to see the caricature, don't we? We can't look at others in that way.

God reminds us that He doesn't look at us that way. A beautiful passage over in Isaiah 43. Let's take a quick look there. Isaiah 43:16. Here we have God's perspective. Well, you talk about the opposite of caricature and putting in boxes and labeling people, here God says that is not the way that He is. It's not the way that we should be. And He uses His own perception as our ultimate example.

Look at verse 16 in Isaiah 43, "Thus says the Lord," so here's God Himself talking. It says, "He makes a way in the sea and a path through the mighty waters.” He says He “brings forth the chariot and the horse, the army and the power (they’ll lie down together, and they won't rise."

Okay, that takes us right back to ancient Israel, escaping out of Egypt, God took care of the Israelites and caused the sea to come back together and wipe them out. Right? They weren't going to get out of that. It says “They're extinguished, they're quenched like a wick.”

But then He says, "You know, you guys were in a box. You guys are slaves. Your identity was an enslaved people. But you know what? I don't see you that way. That is not who you are. That is not the entire picture."

He says, verse 18, "Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old." “I don't see you that way because that's not who you are. That bad experience, that awful categorization of who you thought you might have been, who Pharaoh wanted to put you in that box.” He says, “That's not the real way it is."

He says, verse 19, "Behold, I will do a new thing." Let's talk about our potential. Let's talk about what's on the horizon. Let's talk about what should be and what can be, and you rely on me, what will be, what will be. So we've got to forget, the things of old. That's what God wants us to do.

And ultimately, then, we are His people. Because He says, verse 21, "I've formed this people for Myself." So we can be godly in our perception, godly in our opinions, godly in our character. And so we could put those things behind and quit distancing ourselves from others.

And certainly, as we consider how we react to unchristian behavior…  Boy, Israelites are a great example. How many times could God have said, "Wow, you guys are awful. Really? You got to have manna? Really? You got to have some quails? Come on, can you rely on Me? Am I going to take care of you or not?"

You see, God didn't put them in that box. And God blessed them in spite of who they were. And when we are faced with those types of things, I think it should always remind us the right response is to pray. We've got to pray about these things. I mean, sometimes, "Whoa, look what they did. That's the kind of last thing I want to do. I want to get even instead of pray for them. Are you kidding me?"

But you know, once you turn to God, you put it into His hands. We talk to God. We don't talk to other people. We layout the situation before Him. I think it should cause us to step back and not just point the finger and pray about them, but pray about me, pray about my words, pray about my actions. God help me to continually show kindness to reach out for others, to be a generous person, to try to put on the kind of forgiveness that You have for me. Help me. This is hard, to show love, it's hard to do that, it's easy to see the issues and the problems and hold grudges, but help me to do that.

And as we turn to God, and we explain it to Him. I mean, do you think Christ understands what we're going through? I mean, at least we know, He was never mistreated. He never… Oh, man, He was the ultimate example. "Father, forgive them. Forgive them. They don't know what they're doing." I mean, no wonder He could set that perfect example for us and then give us the strength so that we could do the same.

There's that interesting section of Luke 6, I'd like to turn over there. That's familiar? A good reminder, when we have to deal with one another. And I've acted unchristian and, yeah, you have to, you have to. What's my response? Well, as I pray about this, and I put it into God's hands, it makes this possible because otherwise, it doesn't just seem to make any sense. I don't. How could this be? How could this be? Because He says “love your enemies.” Are you kidding? I hate my enemies. I'm supposed to love them?

Well, yeah, remember I said, honor the king? It's possible to do that. It's possible to honor Nero? Really? Well, yeah, because we've got a Roman Empire, it makes it possible that the gospel could even be spread to the entire world, it makes the Word of God go forth so that individuals could be called and come into the Church. Yeah, it's possible to see the good. It's possible even in this way.

I mean, if we look down to verse 32, Luke 6:32, it says, "If you love those who love you," yeah, hang with my buds, we all agree, I don't like them. They rub me the wrong way. They're no fun. He says, "What credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them." He says, "If you do good to those who are good to you, whoopie, big deal, so what? No credit for that since sinners do the same. You lend those who you're going to hope to receive back, well, what credit is that? Even sinners lend the sinners to receive as much back."

He says, "Love your enemies, do good, hoping for nothing in return." Maybe they won't change, maybe they won't get it, maybe they won't understand, but when I focus on me and ask I God and petition Him to help me to see me, the way I really am. He says, "Your reward will be great and you will be sons of the Most High." There's an identity. There's a distinction. I mean, talk about a defining point of view, “you will be sons of the Most High.” I mean, what an awesome identity that is. And these are the kinds of things we can do.

And so, when these situations arise, that's when I step back, I look at myself, and I've got to remind myself to pray all the harder for God's guidance for me. And yes, praying for others, praying for those who, "Well, I have a hard time getting along with them. Yeah, I could pray for them." But maybe I'm the problem. Help me to see it right, God.

And I shouldn't pray just that they'll quit doing the thing that they're doing and quit acting that way. That's not the only thing I have to be concerned about. That's God's job. But how about praying that I'll be more fully committed to following You? How about helping all of us God to be that much more convicted so that our commitment shows on how we treat each other, how we act towards one another, how we build bridges between each other, how we solve problems, how even we can get along with each other, even though they rubbed me the wrong way.

Asking God to help me to have my heart and my mind filled with His love, which is probably going to lead me to, "God, you're right. I need to repent, I need to change. Give me the help to do what's right."

You see, after all, when we consider the other side of the coin, what would please Satan more than for me to hold the grudge, than for me to condemn somebody else, to put them in that box, to characterize them, to gossip about them? You see, we know who the accuser of the brethren is. It doesn't have to be that way. And that's the good news. It doesn't have to be that way. In fact, it won't be that way. When we really humble ourselves, when we see ourselves, who we are, and seek to do His will.

Hebrews 12 is kind of a summary of this whole aspect of how we deal with unchristian behavior. Hebrews 12:1, some pretty powerful words that we find when it comes to our everyday behavior, to our mindset, when it comes to those who, well, they don't seem to measure up. Hebrews 12 is such a good reminder for us. You know, as it begins in this chapter, it reminds us that we look to ourselves, "lay aside every weight,” and when I characterize and when I put people in a box, that's sin, that's sin. "Lay aside the sin which so easily ensnares us," and it says, "run with endurance the race that's set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."

And it's such a good reminder because the bottom line is when these things happen, and people don't act in a way that that they should, and we expect them to, we've got to understand, I have a choice. I have a choice to respond in the right way. I have a responsibility to remember this isn't the whole story. This isn't the big picture of things. And I have to resist the urge to put them into that box.

And I want to decide I can't distance myself from them. I want to be a peacemaker. And I'm going to pray about this and lay this out before our God because, ultimately, we can do this. God has given us this beautiful gift of His Church, the Body of Christ. He's given us the blessings of a relationship with Him and with each other. And ultimately, with His help, we have the power to be Christian even when we experience on unchristian Christianity.

[Mr. Steve Myers]: Sometimes our minds can get to working overtime, and maybe you have wondered at times what God's thinking about you today. What has God got on His mind? “Is He really interested in me?” Maybe you've wondered. I wonder, where is God? He seems to have forgotten about the situation that I've been in. Maybe you've even gotten to a point at times you've felt that God abandoned you or that God gave up on me. I mean, perhaps you've prayed and you've prayed for days, for months, maybe even years for God to resolve a situation. And yet it seems like it's only gotten worse. Hasn't gotten any better. Perhaps you're dealing with a health crisis. Maybe you're dealing with a challenging marriage, perhaps a wayward child, or maybe even just a family situation that just doesn't get fixed. It seems like it's never going to be resolved. So where are You, God?

And those thoughts tend to come to mind and maybe even we think, “Wow, what's wrong with me? Why am I thinking that? I must be the only one that thinks this way.” Well, that's just not the case at all. You're not alone. In fact, if you turn with me over to Psalm 42, we find King David actually writing down, not only verbalizing, but making a song from some of those very same thoughts. Now, you're familiar with Psalm 42 because we sing some of these words in our song service. The hymnal has the song “As The Deer,” and that is taken from Psalm 42. Very beautiful, beautiful melody. But notice what David is dealing with in Psalm 42. Look at verse 3. David says,

Psalm 42:3 - “My tears have been my food, day and night.” Verse 4, he says, “My heart is breaking as I remember how it used to be.” Verse 5, he says, “Why are you cast down?” Some translations say, “Why am I so discouraged? Why is my heart so sad?” Verse 6, “My soul is cast down. I am deeply discouraged.”

Verse 9, “ ‘O God my rock,’ I cry, ‘Why have you forgotten me? Why am I so discouraged?’ ” In fact, verse 11, he says it again, “Why are you cast down, O my soul? Why are you disquieted within me? Why is my heart so sad?” And so that kind of thinking we see pervades much of the Psalms. In fact, if we look across the page, well, at least in my Bible, Chapter 43, some of the same thoughts are here once again. Verse 2, “You are the God of my strength, why do You cast me off?” “What are You doing,” - in other words – “God? I don't understand. Have You forgotten me? Have You overlooked me?” Verse 5, he says it again, “Why are you cast down, O my soul? Why are you disquieted within me?” And, of course, when we consider the circumstances of our life, maybe it's a job issue, maybe it's my work, or maybe it's my finances. I just don't have enough to stretch long enough and far enough to be able to make it. And perhaps we begin to lose hope, and it begins to feel like maybe God's left. And those thoughts of God, where are You, begin to come to mind. Have You overlooked me? Why? Why does it seem that You've ignored me? Why does it seem that You've disregarded me when I need You most?

And it may be stress. Are we stressed in our lives today? Maybe it's anxiety. Maybe it's a panic attack. In those situations, have you ever wondered, “Why have You not heard me when I need You most God? Have You abandoned me? Why don't You seem to be there?” And, of course, as those thoughts come, there is a solution. I mean, we're not alone in that kind of thinking. And yet God has a solution that we can have comfort. We can have encouragement. We can have hope, even though sometimes it seems overwhelming. I mean, it wasn't just David. If we turn the page a little bit and go to the book of Isaiah, it seems that the whole first half of Isaiah, up to about Chapter 27 deals with that kind of thinking. And, of course, Israel and Judah were faced with the results of their sin. And it seemed that same way to them.

If you look at Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40 beginning in verse 27, we see this same thought. Now this isn't just an individual saying and thinking these things, here we've got a whole group of people that have kind of come to that same conclusion. And so, in Isaiah 40:27, God asked the question,

Isaiah 40:27 – “Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel?” So here we've got the whole people, the country. What are they saying? “My way is hidden from the Lord.” God doesn't see me. “And my just claim is passed over by my God.” And so that frame of thought is pervading their thinking and they can't get out from under the idea that somehow God isn't there. God isn't concerned with them. God isn't paying any attention to their life. In fact, we see that same thought continue to come to mind if you turn a few pages to Chapter 49. Chapter 49:14, we see a similar expression. Now said in a little bit different way, the people expressing this, not just Jacob and Israel, notice the way they're referred to here in Isaiah 49:14. It begins by saying,

Isaiah 49:14 - “Zion said...” Zion, of course, that's Israel, God's people. And we recognize that applies to us today as well. We are Zion. We are the church of God, Zion. We are His people, spiritual Israel. We know this applies to us as well.

And what does Zion say? “Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me and my Lord has forgotten me.’ ” And sometimes life circumstances leads us to think that way. And we might feel bogged down like we're in quicksand, and we just can't get out of it because the adversities continue to mount up. And the afflictions that we have to deal with seem to be rising. And those hardships that we face in life just seem to start covering over our mouth and we can't breathe. And it seems to keep dragging us just deeper and deeper into despair. And sometimes life feels that way. And what we find throughout the Bible is we're not alone. It's not uncommon for us to think at times that, “Well, maybe God has forgotten me. Maybe He's not really paying attention to me.” “I mean, why is it that I can never seem to catch a break? I mean, what happened, God? You know I've been praying about this, and those thoughts come to mind. Why can't I get that job so I can provide for my family? You tell me I need to provide for my family, why doesn't it seem to happen? Where is that godly spouse that I've been praying for? I want to serve You. And I want a family like You want a family. Why can't that happen?” And we wonder about those things.

And, in fact, the number of ways that discouragement can just continue to mount up seem endless. And so, it begs the question, is God really that concerned about me? I mean, can we be reassured that God has actually got me in mind? Is He really thinking about me? I mean, is He really interested in my puny, little life? Well, to answer the question, let's look at the way God responds in Isaiah 49:15. God poses a rhetorical question as He answers that. Isaiah 49:15, this is like God speaking, and God says,

Isaiah 49:15 – “Can a woman forget her nursing child and not have compassion on the son of her womb?” And, of course, we ask that question today, and we look at our society, we look at our world, and we know it's a horrible place. It's a horrible place. People turn their backs on their children. They abuse their children. It's everywhere in this culture today. God recognizes that as well. Yes, it goes against what God intended, but all too often, that is the case where people turn their backs on their families and abuse takes hold.

And so, God answers the question honestly, “Can a woman forget her nursing child?” He says, “Surely, they may forget, but remember that's not Me.” He says, “Yet I will not forget you.” I will not. They might, but I am your God. I will never forget you. I will not. And then He says something interesting to emphasize that very point. Notice what He says in verse 16, “Can a woman forget her nursing child? They might forget, but I won't.” And here's one way I won't forget. Verse 16, “See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands.”

We are right there on God's palms. He's inscribed us on His palm. This is the Hebrew word kaph. And it's an interesting word because it's not only a word, but it's also a letter in the alphabet. And if you go back and you look at the ancient pictographs of what that letter would've looked like, guess what it looked like? Like an open palm. It's shaped that very way. It resembled the palm that is opened up. And, in fact, today, that word is still used. Kaph is used in Modern Hebrew. And do you know what the word means today? It means spoon. And think about a spoon for a moment. What is a spoon shaped like? It's shaped like the palm of your hand. It's something used in serving, keeps that idea going. And so it's upturned and it's cupped. It's capable of holding or carrying something. And it's very closely related, if you study the language, it's closely related to the word kavanah. And that word means to focus. And it's also related to another word, kaph is related to the word kal, not to call out, but it means to carry. So to focus, and to carry, and to be open, to serve. That begins to reflect the kind of God that we have.

And that's what God is showing us. How much He really does care about us. What's a reflection of God's love? I mean, it is hard to grasp it sometimes. It's hard to really hold onto it, but He's saying we are His and He created us, and He breathed life into us. And it was His breath that gave us the breath of life. And we're made to be in His family forever. It's not like some human family, but nope, instead, He's creating a spiritual family and that means He doesn't want us to stop existing. He wants us to exist for eternity. And so imagine what's happening here. I mean, what's more valuable than something that lasts forever? Never wears out. And that's the image that God wants us to see that we, as God's created beings, we're the only ones that have that kind of value. In fact, you could say your name is inscribed, it is etched, it is engraved into eternity. In fact, when you look at verse 16, if you were to read this in the Amplified Bible, just follow along for a moment. In the Amplified Bible, it says this, it says, “Behold, I have indelibly imprinted you on the palm of each of My hands.”

So here's God speaking, saying, “You're indelible.” Indelible, meaning you can't get this erased. You can't remove this. You can't wash it away. You can't blot it out. You can't cancel it. You could never forget it because it's pointed to something that's lasting and you can't lose it. You can't annul it. Cannot be forgotten. And that's us. And here's this beautiful expression of the grace of God that He favors us just because He is God, because that's who He is. And this beautiful metaphor, this beautiful expression of God's amazing love is one that we should never forget. In fact, it brings us back to maybe an actual custom that this is also bringing to mind. In fact, if you study some of the ancient cultures in Jewish practice, many of the scholars feel this is a reference to some of those practices. And what would they do? Well, back in ancient times, some of the Jews would actually tattoo their hands with, I guess, what you call a painting or a tattoo of Jerusalem or a tattoo of the temple.

Why would they do that? It was for remembrance. It was so they wouldn't forget. They were taken into captivity and they were to never forget Jerusalem. So some of them went to that extent. In fact, they actually called them “Ensigns of Jerusalem,” signs, signs of Jerusalem, and they put them right on the palms of their hands or their arms. In fact, it's very interesting the way that they actually did that. They would start by taking a block of wood and they would carve that image of the temple, let's say, into that piece of wood. And then once that was all carved, they would take charcoal or a dark powder. And they would it on that image that's on the block. Then, of course, they would take that block and they would stamp it, stamp it right there on their palm. Now, of course, the powder or the charcoal would just wash off. And so then they would take little needles and begin to dip them in certain kinds of ink, and then outline that image, trying to be careful not to draw blood, all along the edge of that image until finally they were finished. And then they would wash off the charcoal and there it was. They'd wash it off interestingly with wine, and that would finish the project. And the purpose was so they would never forget, never forget the temple, never forget Jerusalem.

And so this harkens back to that very thing. And yet we know tattoos don't cut it. That's not what it's about. Here we see there's something much more important that is being brought to memory, and it's God Himself remembering us. Remembering us. And He says, “We are inscribed.” And that's another very interesting word that's used throughout the Bible. It sounds like a kind of a unique word here in Isaiah 49:16, but actually, it's used over 200 times throughout the Old Testament. And it's used in a number of different ways, always related to writing down a message. And that message, I mean, if you studied the word, it could be written in stone. I mean, it could be written on paper. It could be written on plaster. Or it could be written on sand. And sometimes, you have it even written on skin. But you know what's interesting about that word, is that it means more than just recording a message. So much more than just that. What those cases refer to is the fact that what that is written, how that's written down is something that is unchangeable, something that cannot be altered. And usually, it's in connection to the binding nature of the Word of God, God's promises. Because God said it and we're recording this and we're writing this down and it is fixed. It is sure. It is absolute. It is written. And it will be done.

And it emphasizes that surety of God. And so it's very interesting the way that this word is used. In fact, sometimes it's even translated, portrayed, which kind of leads us to this idea of an image or a picture that might be drawn, or a likeness. But it wouldn't be just a general kind of an image, but this is something that's very specific. Something that's very precise. Something that's a detailed image of what's written down. And that's what's drawing us to this very thing. No wonder the Amplified Bible says, “You are indelibly imprinted on the palms of God.” And I think it's also important to recognize what it doesn't say. What doesn't it say? I mean, it doesn't say, “Behold, I put you on the palms of My hands written with invisible ink.” I mean, it doesn't say that. Disappearing ink, no, not that. Dissolvable, no. None of those things. He doesn't say, “Behold, I've written you on My hands with pencil so I can erase you later.” He doesn't say that. It's not something that's fleeting. This is something that's lasting. Something that will not...in fact, cannot fade away over time.

So if you were to think of it in that way, it's almost like God is using a spiritual Sharpie, right? He's using something that is a permanent marker, permanent. I mean, have you ever done that yourself? Anybody ever written on their hand? Any of you remember our marriage seminar, we wrote on our hands some things during that time that we didn't wanna forget, but you write on your hand. Why do you write on your hands? Because you wanna remember something. Why? Well, you look at the palm of your hands throughout the day. So you go to grab your morning coffee, there's your palm right in front of you. You begin to fix your hair before church, there's your hands. Your palms are facing you right then. You go to open a drawer. All those ways, our hands, our palms are right before us. And then, of course, for some of us, we can't help talking without using our hands. And there they are right before us throughout the day. And so, as we think about that, writing something on your palm, it's almost always a sure proof way that you won't forget, that you are going to remember.

So think about that in terms of Isaiah 49:16, imagine you are engraved on God's palm. And that's not just our name, there's a few translations that say our name is on His palm, but most translations, the majority of translations say, “I have engraved you.” You, not just your name. And that gets to the fullness of who we are. “I've engraved you. I've inscribed you. I've imprinted you on My palm. Your person, your image, your cause, your cry, your case. That includes your worries, your fears, your temptations, yes, your anxieties, depression, weaknesses, your needs. They're inscribed with you on My palms, your personality, your wants, your desires, your circumstances.” See, God is telling all of that in Isaiah 49. He's reminding us of that very fact. He's saying, “I've inscribed everything that concerns you and it is before me all the day.” Everything about you is on My palms. It's on My mind. So it's amazing to think about that we have an awesome God. We have such a graceful God, the God of the universe, the Almighty God, the all-powerful One, the One who knows everything, the One who created all things has us imprinted right there on His palms.

David understood that. But if you read all of Psalm 42, where we began, he begins to recall those very things that God certainly wants us to keep in mind. In fact, you might just write down Psalm 31:15. That's where King David recognized that very fact. And he said, “My times are in your hand.” In other words, “Everything about me, my life is in Your hand. The course of what's going on with me every single day is in Your hands. My future is in Your hands. My every moment is right there in Your palms. My circumstances, the happenings in my life, nothing escapes You. Nothing gets beyond You. Nothing's beyond Your control. There are plenty of things, God, that I recognize are beyond my control, and I can't fix it, I can't deal with it. And I'm tired and I'm worn out and I'm weary, but You know and You understand. And it is in Your palms, and You understand those circumstances that I have to deal with. And what do I find? Security. I find hope. I find reassurance in Your hands.”

Now that's definitely not saying once saved, always saved. We have to stay close to God. We have a part to play. We can wrest our way away from the grasp of God, but God's not letting go. He holds us in His hands and in His palms is such a beautiful, protected place. He holds us in those hands. And He carries us during those times, even when it may not seem like it, He is there and He promises to do just that. And, of course, as you think about that, it doesn't take much. When we need protection to bring those hands in, and now we've got a fist. And God's gonna protect us and He can hold onto us. And when we are threatened, He's there to watch over us. And He's there to guide us, because He not only holds us and carries us, He leads us, and He guides us, and He keeps us in His hands. And so what a beautiful reminder, we're never out of His hands, never out of His mind. And there's not a single moment when He takes us out of His hands, when He takes us off of His mind. And so imagine, He's so unlike us, that He's never distracted. He's never caught off guard. His attention never goes anywhere else. His phone never rings and then He says, “Hang on just a second there...”

No, that's not God at all. And so it's such a great reminder, when I feel abandoned, when I feel discouraged, when I feel left out, when I feel, “Where are You, God,” I got to step back for a moment and recognize, yeah, that's exactly what they are, feelings. They're feelings. Feelings are just that. They're feelings. They're not reality. I mean, yeah, we've gotta deal with our feelings and we gotta recognize feelings can betray us. Feelings can take our minds the wrong way. They can overwhelm us. They can beat us down and they can cripple us if we allow that. But the reality, what God is telling us here, the reality of the fact is that God has made a covenant with us. And in old times to make a covenant meant to cut an agreement. To cut an agreement. And so imagine how that reflects in God inscribing us on His palms. The reality is that a covenant has been cut on our behalf, and whether I feel it or not, that's not the point, I can trust God. He says, I can trust Him. In fact, He reminds us, we are in perfect hands with God. Now, maybe that reminds you of an Allstate commercial or something like that. You're in good hands with Allstate. Well, we're not in good hands with God, we are in perfect hands. The ultimate hands. We are in His spiritual grasp.

And He is not about to let go, no matter how we feel, no matter what it seems like, the reality is God loves us and cares for us and would never, never, couldn't abandon us. And He keeps reminding us of that fact over and over and over again. And if you're like me, I was like a little more proof. Any more proof of that fact that that's really the case, that we're always on God's mind. I mean, what's another proof of God's love for me? Well, think about it for a moment. Look at the hands of Jesus Christ. Think about that for a moment. He Has engraved you on His palms. Think of Christ, He wears the wounds of the crucifixion. He was crucified for us. And when we consider that, if you ever wonder if God really loves you, “Do You really pour out Your grace on me? I don't deserve it.” And yet here we're told over and over again, by the power of the Resurrection, when we think of the pierced hands of Jesus Christ, it is such a reminder that we are inscribed on His palms.

In fact, just a chapter or two from here in Isaiah 53, we're reminded of that very fact. Notice Isaiah 53, we'll begin in verse 5, here's a familiar passage we read every year. Hopefully, we read it more than that. But it's a reminder at the time of the Passover because it reminds us of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and how much He truly does care about us and how He could never leave us forgotten or lost or abandoned. So, in Isaiah 53:5, He reminds us,

Isaiah 53: 5 – “He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised...” In fact, if I personalize this, He was bruised for my iniquities. The chastisement for my peace was upon Him. And by His stripes, I am healed. I am healed. Yes, we've all gone astray. I've gone astray. I've turned to my own way. And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of all of us. And so we see He was oppressed. He was afflicted. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter. So He opened naught His mouth and He took what I deserved. And so, we recognize Isaiah 49 is pointing to this very event. It was a precursor to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The wounds that He suffered were for me. He was bruised for me. He was nailed to the tree for me.

The wounds in His hands is a clear message of the love of God for me that hits back even to that ancient custom. And it cements that lesson that God always cares. That God always loves us. That He always protects us. That He always cherishes us. I mean, how could He forget? It's right there on His hands. He wears the marks. He wears those marks as well. And we think about how He appeared after the crucifixion, remember how He appeared to the disciples? And they recognized Him immediately. Yeah, but one of them wasn't there when He appeared to the others. One of them wasn't so sure about that. Maybe I don't know if God really cares. I don't know if it's possible. I don't think it could be, “Boy, unless I see it, I'm not gonna believe it.” Yeah. We all remember that guy. Don't we? But when Christ finally appeared to Thomas, what did He tell him? What did He tell him? He said, “Look at My hands.” That's where He began. Look at My hands. So John 20 reminds us of that. Yeah, He said more than that, but don't be unbelieving, be believing. And when Thomas looked at His hands and saw His side, what did he say? “My Lord and my God,” proof of God's loving mercy, and His care, and His grace poured out on all of us.

And, in fact, the story doesn't end. It doesn't end just with the crucifixion and then Christ resurrection. It goes on. And Christ continues to show us the depth of God's compassion and love and mercy for us. If you turn with me over to Luke 12:31. Luke 12:31, it's an amazing passage that builds on this beautiful metaphor. Here in Luke 12:31, you'll recognize a very familiar passage. Probably more often than not we read it in Matthew. Matthew 6:33 is a parallel passage to Luke 12:31. In fact, we sing the words of this song in our hymns. Don't we? If you're already there, Luke 12:31,

Luke 12:31 – “Seek the Kingdom of God, seek ye first the Kingdom of God,” we sing those words and it says, “All these things shall be added to you.” And so it gives us our marching orders. We've gotta stay close to God. We've gotta seek His Kingdom. And as we do that, do we have to be fearful? Do we have to worry? Do we have to wonder, does God really care? Does He really love me? Is He really there for me, even when it seems that He's not?

Well, verse 32, it says, “Do not fear.” Don't have anxiety. Don't have depression. Don't worry about these things little flock. He says “It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.” You see, because God knows we can't earn it. It is gift of God. Eternal life is the gift of God. We can't earn it. And so we have a loving Father who gave His Son so that He can give us eternal life. And it is amazing how this story just ties together so beautifully from what He wants us to recognize. Because when all this is said and done, when it's all over, in fact, Luke records what's gonna happen. If we skip down to verse 37, here we are. Christ has returned. The Kingdom is established. And notice this beautiful illustration that is to reflect the great wonderful mercy and grace of God. Verse 37, Christ says, “Blessed are those servants, whom the master when he comes, will find watching.” Okay. We've gotta be doing our part. Christ is our Master. He is our Lord. He is our Savior. No doubt about that. But when He comes, notice the image that it paints, He says, “Assuredly, I say to you that He,” the Master, Christ, “will gird Himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them.” And so here we have a beautiful prophetic picture. And what do we see? We see the returning Jesus Christ humble before us, caring before us, loving. We have our Savior. We have the Messiah, Christ Himself, our Servant Lord giving.

We have our Savior. And what is He doing? What does this image picture? He's waiting on us. He's waiting on us. He's like the returning barista. Isn't He? Well, He's like the butler, the waiter, the assistant. He's the attendant. He's...wait a second. Isn't that all... That's kind of wacky. That's all turned around. Isn't it? Masters don't serve and wait tables. And yet here, we find the returning Christ, the master girding Himself, having us sit down to eat and it says, “He will come and serve us.” Boy, that brings us right back to the palms of His hands. It identifies with that inscription on His hands. When you think about it, it's all reversed. It doesn't make sense humanly speaking. And you think back to ancient times, boy, that sure would not have been the case because, who were the ones that were inscribed? Who were the ones that had the marks on them? Who were the ones that were branded? Who were the ones that were owned by others? The slaves. The slaves were the ones that were branded with the mark of their master. And yet here, the picture is turned all around.

This isn't talking about a slave bearing the marks of his master, here Christ is demonstrating God's overwhelming love and grace and mercy. And on the master's hands, the servants are inscribed. We are on His palms. And it's such a beautiful story because we think what He's gonna be doing in the future, it does bring us back to the past as well. Can you think of a time that this passage comes into play as well? Christ says, “I will gird Myself, sit down to eat with you, and I'll serve you.” Can you think of another meal where He had the servants sit down for a meal and He girded Himself? The Passover. That Passover that He longed to celebrate. The Passover where He gave the symbols of His body and His blood. He girded Himself and He washed feet, and He served, and He proved Isaiah 49:16. And so imagine that picture in the future. Imagine a scene like this, where Christ is serving us a meal. And as He passes us the bread. We can't help but think of those passages where He said, “I'll never eat of it again until it's fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” Remember that's what He told the disciples. And I'm sure it would come to mind as well when He said, “I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now until that day when I drink it anew with you in the kingdom of My Father.” That will certainly come to mind.

And I can only imagine, as He serves us and He reaches His hands out to give, and to help, and to serve, what will we see? Will we see the scars, the marks of indelible grace, unchangeable mercy be right there in front of us. The marks of that eternal covenant that is cut into His hands. And that reminder will always be there in that sense that we are safe. We are in the safest of hands as He assures us and He gives us protection and He promises and He's given us a guarantee of His love and His mercy. And so no wonder, over and over and over again, He reminds us, when those feelings of abandonment, when those feelings of discouragement, when those feelings of doubt come to our mind, He wants us to recognize He is our Master and He is right there for us no matter what. In fact, in the Book of John, John 10:27, He reminds us of that assurance a little different way, but it ties in with this exact same idea. And He says it as our Master, as the One who watches over us. And here He uses this idea of a sheep-fold because we are His sheep. And in John 10:27, Christ talks about His sheep. We're familiar with this verse. Notice how it ties in with this concept of being inscribed on His hands. Christ says, “My sheep, hear My voice.” And I don't know who they are, no, “I know them, I know them and they follow Me.”

And He very positively says, “I give them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” But it doesn't stop there, He says, “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. And no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and my Father are One.” And so we are reminded by the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, we are in the Father's hands as well. And so what God has indelibly inscribed on His palms is something that cannot be forgotten, and as He says, for eternity. And so we can take safety, we can take security, we're given shelter in Their hands. And so when those doubts come, when those questions come to mind, whether God's really interested in me, or if I feel like maybe He lost track of me, maybe He's forgotten me. Or if I worry that I've gone too far and He's given up on me, and whether or not I wonder whether God's thinking about me today, remember these passages. Never forget. We are constantly before God.

And in a sense, He is consumed with our care. We're on His mind and He's consumed about providing for us, and helping us, and giving to us what we need for life. And what we need to be successful. What we need for godliness. And what we need to grow spiritually in a closer relationship with Him. He wants to continue to give us exactly what we need so we can always endure. And so if those thoughts of doubt and discouragement come, remember Isaiah 49:16. Praise Him, help that lead us to worship Him, and to thank Him. Help those doubts and those discouragements to drive us to praise, and worship, and prayer. And thank Him for being intimately aware of who we are, that He knows exactly how much we are facing in our life. And He knows everything that's going on. Thank Him for knowing the details. Thank Him for recognizing our lives and what's happening even better than we do because He knows.

Thank Him, praise Him for caring for us, and giving us this beautiful representation of His grace and His mercy. And we can pray and we can ask God for the help that we need so we overcome those negative feelings, so we can live now, we can live in the moment. And as we walk through our days, and as we live our life, we can ask Him to help us with the negativity, help us to draw closer to Him, and we can ask and pray for Him to help us to realize what a special place He has for us. What an exceptional position that He wants to give us. And so we can pray and ask Him to continue to help us to live with confidence and assurance, because we know God Has inscribed you on the palms of His hand.

[00:45:42]

[Music]

 

[Steve Myers] Now, you may have heard the story about the passengers that were on this small, little commuter plane. They were on the tarmac. They were waiting, ready to go, getting a little impatient. The pilots hadn't shown up. As they're getting more and more impatient, here come these two men down the aisle. One of them has dark glasses on and is being led by a seeing-eye dog. The other one, also dressed in a pilot's uniform, has a cane, and he's tapping back and forth on the aisle as they head down toward the cockpit.

The passengers started talking to each other, kind of nervous about this little thing and wondering if it's some kind of a practical joke or something. Well, they walk into the cockpit, they shut the door, the engines fire up, and all the passengers are getting a little bit nervous. They're wondering, "What in the world is going on?" Before they know it, the plane is moving down the runway, and they just cannot believe this. They're looking out the window as the plane is picking up speed and it's getting faster, and it's faster and faster.

They're looking out and they see there's a gigantic pond as they're approaching the very end of the runway. Just as they're getting to hit that water, they just scream in this blasting, just blasting scream. The plane lifts off right at the last moment, and everything is calm and peaceful. They just, "Ah." They're so at ease then, they kind of look around a little sheepishly that they got that nervous. They feel very secure in this flight now that everything is fine and they're in good hands. Up front, the co-pilot turns to the pilot and he says, "Bob, you know, one of these days they're going to scream too late and we're all going to die." [audience laughs]
 
Now, fortunately, that's not the way that God sees. God has different kinds of eyes than those two pilots, and we're sure glad of that. He has a different perspective. He has insight, He has oversight, and He has amazing vision. But I wonder if we've really thought about the way that God sees things. I thought it might be helpful to take a little bit of time this afternoon to think about the way that God sees. I thought we could do that by two stories, two stories that involve H's. Their main characters begin with the letter H.

The first one, it's not the story of Abraham or Sarai. It's the story of Hagar. Of course, she's involved with the others as well. But in Genesis chapter 16, the first H story we're going to look at is the story of Hagar, and it is intricately involved in the way that God sees. So if you turn over to Genesis chapter 16 and verse 1, the backstory to this, of course, is that God had promised Abraham an innumerable multitude of offspring. But how is he going to have them? He's old, his wife is old, so Abram isn't quite sure how this is going to play out.

Instead of trusting God, he and… I guess Sarah, she comes up with a plan. "Well, if I can't have them, maybe my handmaiden can have them." So as you begin chapter 16 in Genesis, that's where the story begins, "Well, take Hagar and perhaps that's the way we'll have offspring." So sure enough, she conceives, and what happens? Sarai's perspective changes completely. Suddenly she feels bad that she came up with this idea.

Verse 4, after she's conceived, Sarai sees that she's pregnant. Then, what happens to her perspective? It says, "Her mistress became despised in her eyes." So now she hates Hagar. Verse 5, “Sarai said to Abraham, ‘My wrong be upon you. I gave my maid to your embrace. When she saw she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. The Lord judge between you and me.’" So Abraham says, "Okay, well," verse 6, "indeed your maid is in your hand. Do to her as you please."

So what do you think Sarai did? It says in verse 6, "She dealt harshly with her." Now, what would your reaction be in being dealt harshly with? Well, maybe it would be like Hagar. Hagar runs. End of verse 6 it says, "She fled from her presence." She fled. Now, verse 7, "The Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to shore and he said..." So now she gets into a discussion at a well with the Angel of the Lord. This is the one who would become Jesus Christ.

He says to Hagar, "Where have you come from, and where are you going?" Well, He probably already knew the answer to that, but wanted to see what she was going to say. So what does Hagar say? She says, "I'm fleeing from the presence of my mistress, Sarai." He probably knew that was going to happen. In fact, there's an interesting connection between the name "Hagar" and what she did. Do you know what "Hagar" means? It means, to take flight. It means to run, to flee, and that's exactly what she did.

So here she is. She's in what seems like a wilderness, without hope, running away, and then she encounters the Angel of the Lord. What do you think He did? Well, because she's fleeing away, He intervenes. So in verse 9, it says, “The Angel of the Lord said to her, ‘Return to your mistress. Submit yourself under her hand.’ Then, the Angel of the Lord said to her, ‘I will multiply your descendants.’" So we have another promise made, not the one made to Abraham, but a different one that He makes to Hagar.

So He gives her advice. It seems that He definitely has her best interest at heart and He says, "Behold, you're with a child." In verse 11, "You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has heard your affliction." So He pronounces a blessing on Hagar. It's kind of an interesting one, because her reaction to this blessing seems to add to the big story, to the big picture of who God is. What's her reaction when He gives her directions, gives her guidance, tells her what's going to happen?

Her reaction is this, verse 13, "Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, 'El Roi'." In other words, "You are the God who sees." There is a little bit of wordplay going on here, because this Lord who sees just got done telling her to name her child, "the Lord has heard." So you've got hearing and seeing coming together in the life of Hagar. Hagar, who ran, who fled away, now is given direction. She's given guidance by God, by the God who hears, and to her the Lord who sees.

I mean, it's kind of an interesting thing. You might check Scripture a little bit, because I think this is the only person in Scripture who actually names God, comes up with a name for God. "You are El Roi, the God who sees." So she gives God that name. In fact, down in verse 14, they name the well. The well is then named "Beer Lahai Roi". In translation, that means “the well of the Living One who sees me.” Now, it may not seem that that's much at all, but there are some amazing traits of God that are shown in this particular story.

I wonder if we really understand how God sees. Do we really grasp the intricacies and the way that God looks at life, that He looks at us? Because it's a challenge to have this God and recognizing that He does see. When is it challenging? Well, when we claim to have God on our side, we do what's right and others criticize us, do we wonder if we have a God that sees? When they talk about us behind our back, when they gossip about us, do we recognize we have a God who sees?

When we're going through difficulties and we're struggling with our circumstances, and the trials just seem never-ending, do we have a God who sees? Or when we struggle trying not to be a workaholic, spending all of our time on the job and the pressures are getting to us, do we recognize that we do have a God who sees? Or as a parent, we're trying to train our children, maybe we're trying to potty-train our child, that's a difficult job. It's so frustrating and you're going through the actions over and over, and over again. Does God even see that circumstance? I mean, we're running out of potty treats. Now what do we do?

Well, God does see and He sees when we're angry without a cause. God sees. When we deal harshly with others like Sarai did, we do have a God that sees that as well. When we feel like we need to run, when we need to hide, when we need to get away like a Hagar, and we're tempted to flee the circumstances around us, do we recognize that God sees? Or even when those closest to us hurt us, when our mate angers us or hurts us, do we recognize that we're still to love and to forgive because we have an all-seeing God?

Well, in Hagar's story I think we begin to see an aspect of God that is so vital. Scripture, over and over and over again, reveals this aspect of a seeing God, that we do have an El Roi, an all-powerful, all-seeing God. Now, you could probably sit down and come up with all kinds of examples of the way that God sees. One of the things that's interesting that jumps out in this story is that we see there's God even in the wilderness. Even when Hagar ran away, God was there, and it's certainly a reminder that God sees every place maybe first and foremost.

If we'd start to break down this all-seeing God, God sees every place. There's no place you can be that God isn't. The book of Job deals a little bit with this. If you look over to Job chapter 28, it reveals a little bit more about our all-seeing God in this particular aspect. Here, Job himself is doing the talking by the time we get to chapter 28 and, I think, in a way he's wondering about this all-seeing God. How could an all-seeing God allow Job to go through all of those difficulties and struggles that he was going through? How could he give him friends that didn't seem to care about him and just criticized him?

So Job, in a way, wonders out loud, Job 28:20, "From where then does wisdom come? Where is the place of understanding?” Verse 21, Job 28, "It is hidden from the eyes of all living and concealed from the birds of the air." But does that mean that God doesn't see it if people don't see it? If we as individuals don't understand it, does it mean that God doesn't see? Verse 22, "Destruction and death say, 'We have heard a report about it with our ears.'" Wow. Even when we're facing destruction and death, even when the gossip is going out, “They're not going to make it. They won't survive.” Even though it looks terrible, God sees. God sees every place.

Look at verse 23. "God understands its way. He knows its place. For He looks to the end of the earth and sees under the whole heavens." So God sees every circumstance. He sees every family. He sees every workplace, every school. He sees every home. There isn't anything that God doesn't see. There is no place that you can run to hide from God. So God was there for Hagar. God does see, even in our lives, every place.

Yet, it doesn't stop there. A little farther on in Job, we see another facet of this El Roi, the seeing God that we have. Chapter 34, look at verse 21. In chapter 34, verse 21, we see Elihu expounds a little bit about God, as we see God not only sees every place, God sees every action. Every action, God is aware of. He knows it. Verse 21 of Job 34, "For His eyes are on the ways of man, and He sees all his steps." Well, does that mean just those of us who are trying to be Christians? Or does God see every action, every person, every individual?

Well, he says in verse 22, "There's no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves." So whether we're striving to be Christians or whether we're lawless—we're sinners, we're not any part of God—he says, "Nowhere to hide. Nowhere to run. God sees every single action." Verse 23, "For He need not further consider a man that he should go before God in judgement. He breaks in pieces mighty men without inquiry and sets others in their place. Therefore, He knows their works."

One of the things that's interesting about this section is it's not just that He knows it, but He understands it at every level of human consciousness. He understands everything. In verse 21, where it says, "His eyes are on the ways of man," some of the translations say, "He watches everything. He knows everything we do." So there's no getting around it. No getting around it. So you can't hide, because He sees every place. There's nowhere to go, because He knows every action.

In fact, more than that, He understands it. He understands it at maybe even a level we don't quite understand, even though we might be the ones doing it. He knowingly sees, or He sees and He understands. That maybe takes it to another level, shows us another facet of God's all-seeing capabilities. In Psalm 33, it illustrates this fact that God knowingly sees and He understands, a third aspect of God's all-seeing nature. That He does see every place, that He does see every action, and he knows it and He understands it thoroughly.

Look at Psalm 33. We'll pick it up in verse 13. In Psalm 33, verse 13, if we can just imagine this. It says, "The Lord looks from heaven. He sees all the sons of man. From the place of His dwelling, He looks on all the inhabitants of the earth." So that's kind of easy to envision. But imagine this, verse 15, it says, "He fashions their hearts individually and considers all their works." So it's not just that He's out there somewhere kind of watching and going, "Huh. Look at that. I didn't think they were going to do that. I wonder why they did that."

I mean, you might get that impression when you read it in the New King James, but in other translations it shows exactly how God understands and knowingly sees. It's implying that God understands why we do what we do. He understands why we live the way that we do, why we make the decisions we do, why we act the way we do. He knows it and He understands it. Some of the translations, when we see this aspect of verse 15, "He fashions the heart individually," in other words, He's the Creator. He's the one that formed every individual, every heart, and in relationship to that, He understands everything we do.

You might look it up in other translations, and quite a few of them bring that aspect out. It's not just that He thinks about it and considers it. But He gets it, He knows it, He understands every aspect about our thinking, and so He knows why we do what we do. So when we think about God seeing, that's part of what should come to mind as well, that He understands every aspect about us and why we do the things that we do.

Now that also means He's seeing things that aren't even seeable. He's seeing... Where are our thoughts? I can't see them. I know they're there somewhere. Maybe they're not very positive thoughts. Maybe they're not very reasonable thoughts. But God knows. God understands. So God also sees the unseen, or the unseeable. He sees what's hidden, doesn't He? I mean, we might try to hide it from others, and we can hide it from our friends. Maybe we can hide it from our mates. But we can't hide it from God. God's all-seeing nature unveils it all.

There's an interesting positive aspect of this. Over in the book of Matthew, if you turn to Matthew chapter 6, verse 4, Christ is expounding a little bit about prayer, a little bit about our actions and our relationship with God. In Matthew chapter 6, He comes upon an aspect of our all-seeing God. Notice what it says here in Matthew chapter 6. Just as He's getting ready to give this model prayer, He's talking about the things that we do and the reasons why we do them.

So in verse 3, He says, "When you do a charitable deed, when you do something good, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing." So we should do good things, and we don't have to brag about it. We're not doing it because we want the pat on the back. We're not doing it because we need the "atta boy." We do it because it's the right thing to do, and others might not even know about it. So He says we're doing those things in secret.

Verse 4, he says, "Your charitable deeds may be done in secret." So they're hidden. They're hidden from most people. But what about God? So then He says, "Your Father, who sees in secret, will Himself reward you openly." So God knows what we do, why we do it. Even the things we keep secret, even the good things that we do, God notices those and He says He rewards us. He rewards us for those good things. So that's a very powerful, positive aspect of our all-seeing God. He blesses us even in those things that some don't see, which is very, very good.

Now, on the other hand, when we turn over to Hebrews chapter 4, we see another aspect of our all-knowing God, who sees the unseen. Hebrews chapter 4 expounds on this just a little bit. We'll pick it up in verse 13. Hebrews 4:13, it says, "There's no creature hidden from His sight." "Nothing in creation" is also the implication not just animals, it's not talking about creatures in that sense. "There's nothing in creation hidden from His sight. But all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him, to whom we must give account."

We're accountable to God. We're accountable to God. Our all-seeing God holds us accountable, which leads us, I think, to a different aspect as we realize we do have an El Roi, an all-seeing God. Nothing in any way is hidden from Him, and yet we as His people stand accountable before Him. Well, in fact, all people stand accountable before Him. Now, we can see a little bit more of this aspect of God in our second H. Remember, we're talking about two stories that had people with H's in them.

The second is Hananiah the Prophet. Now, you can find his story in 2 Chronicles 16. You want to start turning over to 2 Chronicles chapter 16, we can think about a little of the backstory to Hananiah. King Asa is in Judah. They're in trouble. Israel wants to attack them. So there's these two kings that are rather questionable. They're going to go to battle against each other. Baasha in Israel, Asa in Judah. What's Asa going to do? He's going to be overrun by Israel. They're bigger. They're stronger. They're going to take us over.

Well, what should he do? He has an all-seeing God. Well, he turns to Ben-Hadad of Syria. He makes an alliance with him. You think that's a good move or a bad move? He doesn't rely on God. He doesn't look to God for help. He looks to Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, for help. He gives him... Well, he just doesn't say, "Please come and help me. Oh, by the way, here's some gold. Here's some silver. Here's a whole bunch of gold and silver. It's out of the treasuries of the temple and my treasury." But what do you think Ben-Hadad would say? "It sounds like a deal to me."

So they form an alliance. Guess what happens? They prevail. They defeat Israel. Judah is safe. End of story, right? Wrong. Not the end of the story. In fact, if we look down just a little bit, this is where Hananiah comes on the scene. He comes to see the king. Now, when a prophet of God shows up unannounced, not always the best sign in the world. Maybe you don't answer the door if that's the case, right?

Well, Hananiah is an interesting character, because we know so much about him. Everybody is familiar with Hananiah. There's so much written about him. There's so many of his experiences that are written about. It just seems the pages of the Bible are flooded with examples of the pro-... Who is this guy anyway? I mean, this is about it. This is about the only place in the Bible you'll find this Hananiah the prophet. There's other Hananiahs, but this is the only place.

So we only know this little bit about him. Even though there's just a teeny little bit that's written about him and his experience, he's nonetheless a remarkable man, the remarkable man of God. Because he says one of the most amazing things that are recorded in all of the Bible. We'll get to that in just a moment. So imagine, he shows up at the door of King Asa. Asa didn't do the best thing, had an alliance with the Syrians. Now, Hananiah shows up. What does he say?

Well, look down to verse 8. 2 Chronicles 16:8, Hananiah says to the king, speaking on God's behalf of course, he says, "Were the Ethiopians and the Lubims not a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet, because you relied on the Lord, He delivered them into your hand." He says, "Remember this battle in the past? You relied on God. You sought His instruction. You asked God, who sees all things, for help and guidance and direction."

But what about this time? Well, this time he didn't. He didn't ask for God's guidance and deliverance. Verse 9, "For the eyes of the Lord run to and for throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this, you've done foolishly. Therefore, from now on, you shall have wars." So Hananiah shows up, brings bad news for Asa. In fact, just the chapter before, there was supposed to be peace. It wasn't supposed to be war anymore.

Yet now, because of Asa's actions, because of his inability to understand an all-seeing God, he relied on something he could see. He could see the Syrian army, he could see their power, and so he trusted in their power instead of trusting in the unseen God who sees everything. So the result was this curse. Wars are going to trouble Asa for the rest of his life, because he wouldn't rely on God. So imagine if you were Hananiah. I mean, we don't want to focus on Asa here. There's lots of lessons to learn.

Asa, well, he could've repented. He could've said, "Wow. I'm wrong. I shouldn't have done that." He didn't do that. We'll see what he does in just a moment. But if we focus on Hananiah the prophet and the prophecy, I think we see something that's critical, because Hananiah does what God told him to do. He was sent to give a message. He was to go to a powerful king, and imagine this, going to a powerful king with bad news. How many of us would be ready to step out and go to it with the king? Generally, not the recipe for a long-lasting life when you have to go to the king with bad news.

Yeah, there was a good chance he was going to get it. He was going to get, not just fired from his job—he was going to get the axe, you might say. But after all, Hananiah had God on his side. So what does he have to fear? I mean, after all, the Lord is pictured here with eyes looking to and fro. He's going to bless Hananiah, right? I mean, how could He not? He's going to bless us, because we strive after His way.

So we're not going to have to worry about paying bills. Are we? We're not going to have to worry about our children being disobedient. Certainly, we don't have to worry about really enjoying our jobs and having everything just perfect at the workplace, and our cars never break down. Of course, we never are ill. We never get sick, because we have a God that looks to and fro and is going to... Wait a second. That's not the way it is.

In fact, if we look back to verse 10, what happened to Hananiah? "Asa was angry with the seer, and put him in prison. For he was enraged at him because of this, and Asa oppressed some of the people at that time." So the result of Hananiah obeying God, being true and loyal to God: prison. Now, guess how many times we get to hear about Hananiah after this? This is the last we hear from him. Maybe he was in prison for the rest of his life. We just don't know. He's gone from the scene. Maybe he's in jail for the rest of his life.

Well, did God somehow renig on his promise? I mean, He's supposed to be all-seeing. Shouldn't He have protected him? Shouldn't He have kept this trial from him? Well, maybe we should read what Hananiah was told to say to Asa. Once again, look at verse 9. 2 Chronicles 16:9 says, "For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him."

If you looked up that Hebrew word for showing himself strong, it really means to encourage or strengthen, to strengthen on his behalf. So God looks back and forth to strengthen those. In fact, you read this in other translations, verse 9, in the common English version, the Lord is constantly watching everyone, and he gives strength to those who faithfully obey him. "Good news says the Lord keeps close watch over the whole world to give strength to those whose hearts are loyal to him."

So even though Hananiah got thrown into prison, it seems like the end of the story, nothing more said about it, was he strengthened? Did God take care of him? Well, he brought a good message from God. He was following God, it would certainly seem wholeheartedly, and he gets thrown into prison. You think he was strengthened by the Lord in prison? Any other examples throughout the Bible of people who were thrown in prison that God strengthened and encouraged in spite of their circumstances? I think we can think of quite a few of them, can't we?

Oftentimes, we don't think of them in relationship to our own difficulties and our own struggles and trials. But certainly Joseph was like that, the apostle Paul. Were they strengthened and encouraged? Absolutely. Absolutely. In fact, one of the amazing things about Hananiah is it seems that his son followed in his footsteps and became a prophet of God as well. Imagine that, having your son watch you get thrown in prison, maybe never heard from again, and then he follows in his footsteps.

You think he would've recognized God was going to watch over him, that God would strengthen and encourage him? You see? I think it makes a wonderful point. The fact is God does not lead us out of trouble every single time. He's never promised to lead us out of trouble. But He does promise to lead us through trouble. Those who are completely His, those who are loyal, we're not guaranteed a safe ride in this life. It's just not like that. But instead, He does promise to give encouragement. He does promise to give guidance. He does promise support and encouragement through the difficulties.

Because there's those of you who have done what Hananiah did. Well, not stand before a king and give him the news like that. But you've followed God, and you've stayed maybe in a difficult job, because there was nothing better out there and you worked your way through it. Or maybe you kept your integrity when the other people would've lied. You took the time to be with your family when there wasn't time.

You sacrificed of your life. Maybe you stepped out in faith. You went to college. You didn't have any money. "I took out loans." You stepped out in faith, knowing God would pay your bills? Or God would strengthen you and encourage you? Because in all those circumstances, sometimes we find ourselves in prison. "I stuck it out on my job, and now my job is worse than ever." "I stuck it out in college, I took out all these loans, and I can't even get the job that I was trained for."

But where's God in all those things? "I stuck it out in a difficult relationship, and now it's worse than ever." Has God promised to help us in those things? I think He has. I think our all-seeing God knows. He understands. He sees what's happening and like He helped Hagar, He's going to give us direction and guidance and encouragement. He's looking to and fro to strengthen and encourage those who are devoted to God.

Yeah, He's not devoted to work it out in our lives the way we want it to work out. But He does promise to strengthen and encourage us through the pain and through the suffering. It kind of ties in with what Paul wrote about in 1 Corinthians 10:13. Look over at 1 Corinthians 10:13. "As His eyes move to and fro about the earth," why is He doing that? Why did Hananiah make that remarkable statement to the king?

I think it ties in with what Paul instructed in 1 Corinthians Chapter 10, verse 13. There are difficulties. There are trials. There are temptations. There are challenges that we are going to face in this life. The apostle Paul wrote about that in 1 Corinthians 10. In verse 13, he says, "No temptation has overtaken you, except such as is common to man." Well, there were difficulties and trials that Hananiah had to face. There are temptations and difficulties and trials that we have to go through.

But we have a God that sees everything. Our El Roi is said to be faithful. It says, "God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able. But with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it." Well, Hananiah certainly had no way of escape. He was thrown in prison. They locked the door, threw away the key maybe. What kind of way of escape was that?

Well, sometimes God does miraculously open the prison doors. It happened to Paul, didn't it? Yeah, sometimes those trials and those difficulties, they vanish. God can do miraculous things like that. Can't He? But this passage also points to Hananiah in prison, doesn't it? It says, "Well, He can make a way of escape. But He says also that you may be able to bear it." That's the strengthening Lord, the one who strengthens us and encourages us. In spite of the challenges and the difficulties that we face, we have a God that sees and strengthens and encourages us.

Why do His eyes go to and fro? Well, it says to guide us, to direct us, like He directed Hagar. "Here's what you need to do." It was to lead her and support her, and help her through a really terrible trial, as her mistress was so mean and harsh with her. God wants to do that with us as well, to guide and lead and direct us as well. Now, it's also interesting, there's something else back in 2 Chronicles that ties into this as well.

If you want to flip your way back to 2 Chronicles 16:9, let's notice that eyeing things, that seeing things over the whole earth, looking to and fro. Let's notice something else, I think, that is critical about the way that God sees, the way that God recognizes and understands and has insight. 2 Chronicles 16:9, God makes it very clear as Hananiah the prophet speaks to Asa. Verse 9, he says, "For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth, that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His."

Now, that might read a little bit different than your King James. That's the New American Standard Version. "His eyes move to and fro that He may strongly support or strengthen those whose heart is completely His." The New Living Translation says it a little bit differently. Verse 9, "The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him." "To strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him."

So is God looking over this whole earth, He's looking to and fro, to find people that are loyal? Is He looking for people that are wholehearted? Is He trying to figure out, "Well, whose heart is really on My side?" Is He seeking, trying to figure that out? He's not doing that, is He? He's not. He already knows, doesn't He? Isn't that what this is implying? God's eyes are not searching for the loyal and wholehearted, because He already knows who they are. Our all-seeing God knows everything, and so it's not looking to see the loyal, not looking to see the wholehearted.

Take a look at verse 9 again. He's looking to stand strong for those who are wholehearted. He's looking to encourage and strengthen, and guide those who are loyal, fully committed to Him. So His eyes are moving around looking for ways to strengthen us, looking for avenues to guide us, looking for how He can encourage us. So this is an amazing promise. It's because we're loyal to God, because we're wholehearted disciples of Christ, He will move, He will act on our behalf. He knows our loyalty. He's searching how to give us strength, because we're loyal to Him.

When we surrender every single aspect of our life to Him, when we sacrifice our family, our jobs, whatever it takes to do His will within our families as well, of course, when we do those things, He's looking for ways to strengthen and encourage us. Of course, it's a reminder of how He looks at things.

You might just write down 1 Samuel 16:7. You know the passage, when God sent Samuel to find the next king. Remember, it used to be King Saul, this giant of a man, the best-looking one in all Israel? What does God tell Samuel? Well, in 1 Samuel 16:7, He tells him, “God doesn't see as a man sees. God looks at the heart. He doesn't look at the appearance of things.” So God is looking at our heart. He's looking at our heart. How does our heart stand before God? Now, if we look back to our first H for just a moment, let's go back to Hagar and see if we can tie this together with this whole aspect of our El Roi.

Genesis chapter 16, verse 13, we skipped over a little part here when we were here the first time. In Genesis chapter 16, verse 13, here's where she names God. She called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, "El Roi. You are the God who sees." Of course, the response from God was like what God wants to do for us. He encourages her. He directs her. He gives her advice. He tells her what to do. He shows her the way to go. He wants to do that in our life as well.

Now, the interesting aspect of this is Hagar's response. She calls the name of the Lord who spoke to her, El Roi, and then she says something amazing. "For she said, 'Have I also here seen Him who sees me?'" Now, why would she say that? "Have I also here seen Him who sees me?" Now, some scholars will say she's saying something like, "Wow. I saw God and I'm alive to tell about it." Yeah, that's pretty amazing, probably part of the implication here. Yet, many of the translations show a little bit different aspect to this question that Hagar poses.

Many of the translations have the idea of, "Have I really seen the God who sees me?" "Have I truly seen the One who sees me?" See, recognizing the fact that God sees it all, He knows everything, she questions herself. "Have I seen the One who's seen me?" She takes an inward look at herself, in a way wondering about her standing with God. Maybe, in a way tying into what Hananiah said to Asa.

He was going to strengthen and support those who were wholehearted, who were loyal to Him, and Hagar thinks this out loud. "Am I wholehearted? Am I really fully dedicated to God?" I think in a way, that's what God wants us to do. "Have I also here seen Him who sees me?" Because this is the time we need to ask ourselves this question. Can we say our heart is completely, fully, totally committed to God?

Of course, we can say, "Yes." If that's our goal in life to honor Him, to put Him first in our lives, to glorify Him, to do His will in every situation, we can say, "Yes. We have a loyal, committed heart and we are wholehearted." Of course, we struggle with that at times, don't we? Yet, God doesn't turn His back on us. But we've got to make sure that it just can't be the outward appearance of things. We can't be like a King Saul. We've got to look at our own heart. We can have the truth. But if we don't live the truth, what good is having it? That's not wholehearted. It's a matter of what our priorities are.

 

I was reading a little bit about this in a book that was written by Chuck Swindoll. He wrote a book called, "David: A Man of Passion and Destiny". On page 6 of that book, he wrote something I think that applies both to Hagar, Hananiah, and to us. Here's what he wrote. "God is looking for men and women whose hearts are completely His, completely. Nothing hidden, nothing swept under the rug. That means, no locked closets. That means, when you're wrong you admit it, and you immediately come to terms with it. You're grieved over it."

You're hurting over wrong. You recognize the fact that these things displease God and you're concerned about those things that displease Him, and you long to please Him in all of your actions. More than that, you care about the motivations behind your actions. That's being wholehearted. That's asking yourself, "Have I also seen Him who sees me?" When I ask myself, "What motivates me?" am I really zealous and wholehearted for God and His way in my life? Do I really desire Him above all things? Do I really understand what He sees when He looks at my heart?"

Well, if sometimes we ask that question and we don't see a wholehearted attitude, there's something we can do. We're not lost. We can ask for it. We can ask God to watch over us. We can ask God for that kind of heart. Psalm 51 is one of those songs that we sing so many times. It's a beautiful psalm of repentance. In Psalm 51:10, there is solution for hearts that aren't whole. There's a solution for you and I as we walk this path of life, and in Psalm 51 we see the solution. We see what we need to seek and what we need to ask for.

In verse 10 of Psalm 51... In fact, you could read the whole psalm for encouragement and guidance and direction. But in verse 10, we can pray, "Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a steadfast spirit within me. Don't cast me away from Your presence. Don't take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore me the joy of Your salvation. Uphold me by Your generous Spirit." With that kind of request, when we petition God like that, what do you think God's response is? He forgives us. He cleans us up. He washes us whiter than snow. He washes us clean. He sees us as wholehearted.

In fact, a couple of pages before this, look at Psalm 32, verse 8. Psalm 32, verse 8, shows us that just like Hagar, just like Hananiah, God is not going to walk away from us. God promises to strengthen us, to encourage us, to watch over us. Psalm 32:8, God promises, "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will guide you with My eye." So we can say God has got His eye on us.

God has got His eye on us. Why does He have His eye... Not to zap us with a bolt of lightning. He's got His eye on us for our good. He's got His eye on us to strengthen and encourage and help us. God is looking for miraculous ways to help us, and He can do that very thing. So we've got to give it up—give up that wayward heart, give up our own ways, and give our all to God so He can fulfill His purpose in our lives. Just imagine God's eyes going to and fro over the whole earth. He's looking over the entire globe in ways to bless you. He's looking for ways, and the earth has no limitation for God to find ways to encourage and strengthen us. He will open doors, and maybe those doors will open halfway around the world, and somehow benefit us and serve us, because He promises to meet every need. He says as we are committed fully to Him, He's going to open doors. He's going to find ways. He will guide us. He will direct us. Even though we may find ourselves in prison, we have a constant hope that He’ll never leave us and never fail us in any way. He will show Himself strong for us.

So let's be fully dedicated. Let's be fully committed to have a heart—not just any old heart, but have a heart that is completely His.

[Steve Myers] Figures of speech are those things we use all the time to describe things in a better way so they're more understandable. Whether you talk about analogies or metaphors, you hear them all the time, don't you? And you probably use them without even thinking about them. I heard one of the other day that said, "If you've got troubles in life, just plow right through them." Well, we don't literally do that. The sea captain doesn't literally plow through the sea. He navigates through it, doesn't he? Or the person that gets irritated when you're trying to give them advice, you know, it's like, "You ought to do this or you ought to do that." They might just say, "Plow your own field. Don't bother me." Now, literally, they're not talking about that. That's a metaphor. Another one for all of you Star Wars fans out there, here's a metaphor. What do Jedi Knights say, to encourage one another to use analogies? "Metaphors be with you." Did you catch that? Yeah. Okay.

Obviously, those are figures of speech that describes something. They describe an action. They describe even an object in a way that's not literally true but it helps explain the idea. You can get a concept. You can get a little bit deeper understanding because of that comparison. And it's something that God inspired over and over and over again in His Word, and sometimes where you might least expect it. When it comes to prophecy, there are many metaphors that are used. In fact, I'd like to focus on one that was used by two different prophets to drive home a point. Those two prophets are Jeremiah and Hosea, Old Testament prophets, that prophesied to Israel and to Judah. I mean, Judah became lazy. They were apathetic. They weren't caring that much for God and His way, so they fell into disobedience. Now, the funny thing is, there were people that were still sacrificing. There were those that were still keeping the Sabbath and some observing the Holy Days.

And then they go home and they'd worship idols. They'd practice ungodly things. They'd do things that were an affront to God. And so, Jeremiah and Hosea come on the scene sent by God to warn them that they have to change their ways. They must repent. And so, in the book of Hosea, we read one of these metaphors, where God makes that very point. Hosea 10, let's notice verse 12. Hosea 10:12 is a figure of speech that God inspired Hosea to write down to really impress on the people that change is absolutely necessary. So, when you turn to Hosea, just past the book of Daniel, we find Hosea, one of the minor Prophets, and notice what he was inspired to record for us. Hosea 10:12, it says, "Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap in mercy." So there's a figure of speech. Then he continues with this idea by saying, "Break up your fallow ground, for it's time to seek the Lord, until He comes and reigns righteousness in you."

Now, that's all a big metaphor. And in fact, a similar one that Jeremiah also prophesies. Turn over to Jeremiah 4:3, and we'll notice this connection between these two prophecies. Jeremiah 4:3 tells much the same story. Now, these are two different peoples at different times, whether here it's Israel, or later Judah with Hosea, we see this powerful word that Jeremiah speaks to the people. And it's a reminder because they've fallen into the same issues, the same problems, the same attitudes. And so, here in 4 verse 3, Jeremiah tells the people much the same as Hosea did. Verse 3, "Thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: ‘Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your hearts." You see, they both use this farming analogy. They use this metaphor of breaking up the ground. What is that? I mean, they're basically telling the people, "You better start plowing. Start plowing."

But they didn't do it. They didn't want to break up that ground. They continued to disobey God. They refused to seek Him. And of course, as we read these messages, we recognize this is not just to Israel. This is not just to Judah. These are prophetic things that apply to us today. They mean something to us today. This metaphor is about us, as well as them, a metaphor that our life, our spiritual condition, is like that field. It's like this fallow field. And the bottom line is, like Israel and Judah, we need to start plowing. I mean, do we even recognize what this is talking about? What is fallow ground anyway? I mean, if you're not a farmer, we may not be familiar with exactly what's going on here. But it's interesting that this kind of ground, this is a field that could be productive. I mean, it could produce, but at the moment, it's not being used. It's just lying there. It's just being wasted. So it's land that right now, it's unproductive. Right now, it's not producing any fruit. But it needs to be tilled. It needs to be worked up. It needs to be prepared for planting. It needs to be plowed because up until now, it's been lying there useless. It hasn't been productive. It's been neglected. It's just been lying there and hasn't been put to good use.

Maybe another way to think of it, it's just sitting there and it's always the same. It was like that last year, and it's like that this year, and it continues just to be the same. It's undisturbed and crops just don't grow there because it's never seen the plow. It's never been planted with seeds that could spring to life and could have growth. And so it just remains the same. Now, fields around it, well, they're being tilled. They're being worked. They're being planted. So, they're changing from season to season, changing from that beautiful brown earth that suddenly is planted with seeds that sprout to life, and it turns green and beautiful, and it's living. And then there's a harvest that's taken from that field. And those fields change, and they grow, and they're prosperous.

But that fallow plot, that ground over there, that doesn't change. The plow hasn't worked the land. In fact, maybe they put a fence around it, maybe they put up a sign, and that sign says "No trespassing." We've seen fields like that. they're just overgrown. The plow can't even get in there, can't even begin to work the land because it's desolate. It's left barren, and it doesn't produce what's needed for life. It's become hardened. It doesn't yield anything except weeds, and thorns, and thistles because that hard ground prevents any seed from getting in there, and penetrating, and germinating, and then growing to maturity. It just can't. And so what the prophets are telling us, as well as Israel and Judah, could it be that a Christian could be fallow? Is it possible that we better think about plowing, not literally but metaphorically? Are there areas of our property, our spiritual property, and our life, is there a field that's laying over there fallow? It's barren. Area that could be productive. This could be put to good use But at the moment, it's just empty. Nothing's happening there.

Many of the prophets spoke to this issue, and prophetically call out to us today. God's calling out to us to say, "Listen, you've got areas of your life that you need to change." Prophet Amos, Amos, 6, I won't turn. Just write it down. You can check it out later. Amos 6:1 says much the same. It says "Woe to you who are at ease in Zion,” because they were taking it easy. It wasn't that critical that everything be productive, is it? You see, they were very prosperous back in the day. They had everything they could want. But they were missing what they needed. Their whole society was marked by corruption, immorality, complacency. Kind of sounds familiar to our time, doesn't it? It sounds like our time. But when I personalize that, and I think about me, are there parts of me that are fallow, that I've become complacent, that I feel, well, I'm pretty satisfied? You know, that's pretty good. It's okay. And okay is pretty good. It's good enough, isn't it? I mean, it's good enough. I mean, we've got 99 acres out of 100 are producing something. So that's all right, isn't it? Do I really have to make it better? Do I really have to address that issue? I mean, there's really not any need to have to go on to perfection, is there?

And so, yeah, there are fallow areas in our life when we're at ease with a false sense of security. Because let's face it, we have everything we need. And then on top of that, we have all the luxuries. We have all these amazing material possessions. And they cause us to be unaware of the danger. Do we really see the danger? Israel and Judah, they didn't get it. They didn't see the danger of God's judgment that was going to be on them. That was coming. And it's no different for us today. God's judgment is pending. And the fact of the matter is, many of us are at ease in Zion, in the Church. Yeah, we can become lukewarm. We can be lulled to sleep. We can be lethargic as well. We can be one-sided. "Boy, if I only had this. If I could just get that. And I absolutely need that 85-inch UHD TV. That would be everything." And we get sucked into the idea of these material things, the entertainment, all the things that are corruptible, all the things that are temporary, all those things that just don't last. And we get caught up in it, and we overlook God's coming judgment.

In a way, we put up a sign. Maybe it's "No trespassing," maybe it's "Do not disturb," and we become comfortable. We become familiar. Yeah, that's okay but like that overgrown field, that area is fruitless. Because after all, that plow, that's sharp. That hurts. That could sting a little bit. I don't want that. And we fence in a part of our life. And by doing that, who do we fence out? We say, "God, yeah, don't enter here. Don't go there." And we fail to cultivate His way, thoroughly, completely. And we're shown very clearly that then that ground is not broken up. That heart is really hardened. And like Hosea said, "Break up that fallow ground." Like Jeremiah said, "Don't sow among the thorns, break up the ground." And so, start plowing. And so, we as God's people have to look at our property. We have to look at our spiritual life, and see, have we really broken up our entire property, our entire ground?

And it doesn't start with the plow either. I mean, it says, yeah, "Start plowing. You got to get going," but you don't just drag out the tractor, hook up the plow, and have added in the field, do you? I mean, that's not the way the farmers do it. We lived in a farming country for a long, long time. That's not the way they do it. They don't begin by dragging out the tractor. I mean, if we're spiritually going to plow up the ground, really examine our life, and look at every single field, first thing we better do is identify that field and clear out the brush. That brush has got to go.

I know one time we were going to have a garden, and this garden had become overgrown with sumac. Anybody familiar with sumac? Oh, it is a horrible bush that turns into a tree that if it lets… I mean, it seems like they're all interconnected, and these roots are running anywhere, and you yank out this one, and then there's another one over there. And it grows like lightning. It is unbelievable how fast it can overtake a plot of land. And you got to do everything you can to get rid of that. You got to yank it out. You got to pull it out. Get out the hatchet and the ax or get serious. Sometimes it's going to take that chainsaw to get all of that stuff together. And if there's any little trees that have grown, you've got to cut them down and pull out that root and get rid of them. You've got to, otherwise, that field, that area, that garden can't be productive.

And so we've got to look at our life. What have I been growing in that field, that field of my heart, that field within my thinking, my mind? Do I have some roots that have taken hold? And maybe it's a root of bitterness. Maybe it's greed. Maybe I'm envious. Maybe I have gotten into a judgmental attitude. But only over here, but only in this one little thing, not in my entire past year. But do I have to root that out? I better get rid of that. If that crop is going to be planted, that fruitful crop, that has to be rooted out. And so, we have to ask ourselves, how many weeds…? How many sumac plants, spiritually speaking, have to be rooted out in our lives? I mean, think about it on the other side of the coin. How many things have I poured my time into, other than cleaning up that field?

What am I giving my attention to? What have I paid attention to that really isn't bearing spiritual fruit? I mean, are there things we give our time to that end up not being productive spiritually, but then ultimately choke the spiritual fruit out of our lives? Yeah, they're there. But we come to church. We're here. I'm religious. But does that mean, I'm really producing any? “Okay. I show up, but I'm kind of detached. This sermon is really boring so why should I pay attention? I'm not getting anything out of it. And I can't wait until this is over, I can get out of here because I really don't want to talk to any of these people. Why should I develop any relationships with any of these people? This isn't valuable. This isn't important to me. I got it. I'm out of here. That's all… In fact, this is so…  Well, I got this game on my phone. This is kind of interesting and more fun than listening to him.” Okay, you can show up and be religious but you can do plenty of things that cause that field to lie fallow.

You see, God's calling us and saying, "That hard ground has to be broken up. You got to get out that spiritual rototiller, that plow, and do that hard work of getting that ground open. Because all too often, there's that unbelief, and that's really what it is. I don't believe I have to change that. I don't believe I have to address that. I think I'm pretty good the way I am and I don't have to deal with that. And that's right there under the surface. And so, I have to ask myself, "Where is that hardness of heart in me?" Because you can dig it one shovel at a time but we need more power. We need more power in doing that. And it can happen in so many different ways, so many different things we may not even think about. Because you don't know. “I've been hurt. I've been in relationships, and they hurt. And I was mistreated. And that wasn't fair. Do you know what they did to me? Do you understand how my family treated me? You don't understand how I grew up. This relationship between my mother and my father, it wasn't right. It was dysfunctional.” It was awful. Do I have a right then to seal off that part of my life?

Because that's painful, and that hurts, and I can protect that. But those old resentments, they got to go. Those old hurts, they have to be healed. We've got to allow God to break up those hurts, and those resentments, and those bitter feelings that we have. We've got to allow God to pull that plow. Yeah, He'll do the work. He's the force behind us. But, you know, we still have to direct it. We have to direct Him where that plows got to go, those hard places that we know, that we understand, and we know how they need to be dealt with. Because sometimes it may be other challenges. And you prayed about that. “I prayed about this issue. I didn't get an answer. I didn't hear anything back. Seems like God did not answer my prayer. He knows I need this job. He knows that I'm getting desperate. He understands my health is not where it should be. I've got this chronic illness and I've taken it to Him over and over and He hasn't heard me. Doesn't seem like He has.”

And that takes a toll on us, takes a toll on your faith. And we conclude, God didn't answer that prayer or He didn't answer it for me. But wait a second, that hardness, that's got to be addressed. We've got to face that square on and recognize, that's my human perspective. That's not reality. That is not reality. And if we don't face that, and if we don't call on God, it won't change. That field will just lie that way and stay that way. Because if God's going to plant something new, if something fruitful is going to be born, what's it going to take? It's going to take heartfelt, serious repentance, repentance that plows deep, and even ask ourselves, "When's the last time I was truly broken before God? When's the last time?" Well, I don't have to worry about that because I've been around for all these years, right? It's not that big of a requirement.

When we look at what Paul wrote to God's Church in Colossae. Take a look at what he says in chapter 3 verse 5 of Colossians. Chapter 3 verse 5 in Colossians, here, the apostle Paul writes to God's Church at that day, but he writes to us by extension as well. Notice what he says and how he addresses that very issue about these fields that might be hiding in the back acreage, back pasture in our spiritual life. Colossians 3:5, it says, "Therefore put to death your members which are on earth." And he goes down a list of those pastures, “fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire…” Well, I don't do those things. But I've got those fields pretty well wrapped up in my life. I don't have to worry about that. Oh yeah, but then he throws in covetousness. Well, it's not that big of a field. He says, "Well, wait a second. That's idolatry." And what does he say about those things? He doesn't say it's okay to let that one go because it's not that bad. It's not as bad as killing somebody. It's not as bad as evil desires. It's not as bad as… At least I don't do that. No. He says, "Put that to death." You got to plow that under. You've got to get rid of that. That is unacceptable before a perfect God. And so that has to change.

And so, we better get that field ready. If it's been lying there fallow, now's the time. And not only do you got to get rid of the sumac, you got to get rid of those roots and those trees that may be growing up, you know what else you got to do? You got to clear the rocks. Clear the rocks that are stumbling. They're there as stumbling blocks before us. And there are plenty in those fields. I mean, I grew up in farming country. You know what they got to do when they get the field ready? You drag out the old John Deere, you put the flatbed trailer on the back, throw the kids on the trailer, and you go down that field. And guess what? When you see a rock, everybody yells out, "Rock." And then whoever's turn it is, they go out and pick it up, and throw it on the back of the trailer. That's what they… And if you're lucky, maybe the neighbor hires you for minimum wage, and you get to go do that. And it's kind of fun as everybody's yelling. But sometimes there's these rocks, you go to grab it, and it's like, oh, oh, it's little farther under the dirt. And I got to go back and I got to grab the shovel. I got to work at this one. Takes more than that. Maybe everybody's got to come out and start working on that rock.

And sometimes, all the leverage, all the digging, and all the efforts still doesn't get… We got to bring in some heavy equipment later and get that thing out of there. That's no different for our spiritual life. Because if that field been there for a while, we've worked our whole life putting up a wall around that thing because I don't want to get hurt again. I don't want to bring those feelings out again. You know, in this area, I'm pretty locked down. I'm pretty stoic about that. I don't want that. But God says, "Get out that flatbed." You got to recognize those rocks. You got to be like those kids in the back looking for them, yelling out, "There it is. Don't miss it. Don't overlook it. Don't ignore it." You ignore that rock, that planter is going to come along later and get damaged. Can't do that. So God wants that rock removed. Well, all of those rocks got to go because He wants to plant those seeds, the seeds that are healing, those seeds that are hopeful, but that hard ground has to be broken up. We got to get the rock so we don't stumble over them, so those fields can be planted.

And those rocks come in so many different forms. You know, for some, it's their phones. It's the computer. It's the social media, which is great. It's fun. It can be beautiful. It can be wonderful. I mean, Instabook, and Facegram, and all those Tweeters and… Yeah, you know what I'm talking about. Yeah. But isn't it amazing how suddenly I was going to take 10 minutes and look at my newsfeed and suddenly, it's an hour, and then, oh, there's something else I got to look at? And then it can totally engross us and steal our time and our energy. I mean, we didn't intend to do that but wow, did I get carried away. And maybe we don't even see it as a rock that's got to be loosened up. And of course, it could be a lot of other things, that hurt, that aching, that resentment. And maybe it's a bigger rock that we've got to get rid of. And if we can't budge it ourself, get the help that you need. And the amazing thing is, I never saw a field that didn't have rocks in it. Even if the rock picker went through one year, next year, guess what? There's more rocks that weren't there.

Where did they come from? How did that work its way up through the soil? That seemed to come out of nowhere, but there it is. And you got to get rid of them. You've got to get rid of them and clean up that field because we all have… Every field has them. And God certainly wants us to go on to perfection. He wants us to utilize His Spirit to do that. And so we got to get out the roots. We've got to get out those rocks. But, you know, we've also got to get out the thorns. Those thorns and weeds have to be gathered. We've got to get rid of those because once a field goes, you know, unplanted for years, I mean, and it's fallow, it's not like it's just hard dirt, is it? I, mean, isn't it amazing how those weeds can grow anywhere. They grow everywhere. You don't have to do anything, and where did that come from? They just start growing. I mean, amazing. They even grow between the cracks in my sidewalk. How's that possible? I mean, they just sprout up. And you don't pull them out… I mean, sometimes you got to do it by hand. I mean, when they infiltrate a productive field, sometimes you've got to get all the hands together and go pull them out, literally by hand. Sometimes I've got to gather that…

You know what works really good? A controlled burn. Sometimes you can't get rid of them any other way unless you burn them up. Because those thorns, and thistles, and weeds, they're going to choke anything that's going to grow, that's profitable. They're going to prevent a full crop. And so you got to throw them in the fire. You gather those things up and get rid of them. So imagine those weeds, those spiritual things that get in our way, they entangle our mind, they entangle our heart, and they take our attention. And in order to grow spiritually, we've got to wrap those things up and we've got to burn them. And it could be a habit. It could be something that's become an obsession. It could be a distraction. We got to get that out of the field of our mind and burn it up. Because we've struggled. That field has been an angry field. We've struggled with anger. And when we do that and we don't address it… I'm known for the short temper I have.

That's a part of me that comes out every once in a while. And then I become known as a harsh person, an angry person. I got to deal with that. Or maybe it's the fact that I'm really concerned about money. It's a big… I got to work. I got to take care of my family. But how much do I really need? Yeah, I can move from financial security to all I'm worried about is money, the big bucks, the American way. It's our dream. That's about our way of life, right? But boy, that can bind me to bad things. That soil can get so hard that now I'm not generous the way I need to be. In a way, that love for others gets covered up and it's hardened. But that's a responsibility I have as God's called out. I have to be generous. I'm supposed to be generous. Yeah, maybe it's not that. Maybe it's just like, I like to be the man. I like to get recognized. Because that's what it's about, right? Recognition. People got to notice me. I mean, if I don't get the 100 likes on Facebook, I'm a real loser so I got to have it. I like to be noticed. I like to be… And if nobody else compliments me, I think I'll compliment myself. Look how great I am. Look how good my family is. Look at what we've done.

We've accomplished all these wonderful things. And we've got to have that recognition but that moves beyond the normal. And it can become one of those things that becomes even addictive. It can be addictive. And, of course, there's a lot of other addictive things as well. And sometimes that keeps the other things at bay. I mean, a drink or two, is that very bad? That's not really that bad but it can become that. It can become more than a habit. Now it can becomes an addiction. I mean, okay, looking at porn is not that big a deal, right? I mean, I'm not an addict or anything. It's a little okay misusing a prescription, you see, that's where we've got to fire up the flames through the power of God's Spirit to devour any of those weeds, and thorns, and thistles that may show their ugly head. It is bad. And at any degree, it will prevent the power of God working in our lives. So even though the rest of our life may look pretty good and we can cover up these other things, they're unacceptable. They're unacceptable.

And Paul addressed this very thing to the Philippians. Take a look at chapter 3 verse 12, Philippians 3:12. What's interesting is, here, the apostle addresses God's Church, but he does it in the first person. I mean, after all, who could look better than the apostle Paul? I mean, here's the man. He traveled throughout the Mediterranean world, through the Roman Empire, preaching the truth. God called so many people through him, lives were transformed, churches were built. The apostle Paul, look at all the books in the New Testament that he wrote, an amazing example of God's way, a shining example. Did he have any fallow areas in his life that he was concerned about? I mean, man, he looked fantastic. Who could look better as a Christian than the apostle Paul?

And yet, look at his perspective. Philippians 3:12. He says, "Not that I've already attained, or that I'm already… I haven't made it yet. The journey is still on." He says, "I press on. I got to get out that plow. I've got to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. I can't leave any row unturned." He says, "Brethren, I don't count myself as to have apprehended." But one thing I do, I forget the things that are behind. I can't look back when I'm plowing. If I look back, I'm going to be in trouble. I got to keep my focus at the end of that row, the goal, the ultimate. I got to follow that row right to the Kingdom. That's where my mind is focused. So I forget what's behind it, I reach forward to what lies ahead. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind. And if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.”

And so, the apostle Paul recognized the need for his spiritual fields, those fields. He recognized the fact that that ground has to be overturned. You have to break up that hard ground and it has to be exposed to that beautiful sunlight of God's way. We have to turn that soil so it's open to the fresh air of God's way of thinking and those spiritual influences of light and warmth. Otherwise, the rains that would come, those beautiful rains that cause those seeds to grow, will never get where they need to be. And so God will send those showers once that dirt is turned and ready to grow a beautiful crop.

And so Paul recognized that. He recognized we've got to purify the fields of our heart. And we have to truly recognize ourselves for who we are, and how we think, and those fields. We've got to eradicate lust. We've got to eradicate those imperfections, the things that are habitual in our lives because unless we root them out, they're going to choke anything that's good. They'll choke the good seed. And so we have to prepare and be ready. And when we do that, we have amazing promises. When we take that to heart and we allow that plow to come into our spiritual field… I mean, look at this amazing promise in Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 36:26, here's another prophet of God, using a metaphor to bring home the same point that Jeremiah spoke about, the same point that Amos talked about, same one that Hosea wrote about as well. What will God do when we allow that plow to break up the hard ground, to tear up? I mean, isn't that what a farmer does. He tears up the surface of the earth. He rips up that field, and it begins to make it soft and pliable, ready to receive the seed. And when we do that, and we go to God, and we have a pliable heart, when our mind is tenderized, and be ready to be worked with, then God can apply His Word to every field in our life. And when we do that, when we go to God in true repentance, Ezekiel 36:26 is what God promises us. He says, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I'll take the heart of stone out of your flesh." Because that heart won't pump blood if it's a rock. So He says He's going to replace that heart and give us a heart of flesh. So things will change. It's a promise from God.

And it's such a great reminder that we can't sow, we can't plant among those fallow grounds. Did anybody else talk about that? Don't throw the seed on those thorns. Yeah, Christ said the same thing, didn't He? In Mark 4, Christ said that very thing. Seed falls around the thorns and what happens to that seed? It's choked by the thorns. And it cannot come to yield any fruit. It can't. And so, if we allow those thorns of pride, those thorns of anger, those thorns of lust and temptations that can grow into problems of others things, like self-centeredness or selfishness, all of those things can choke out the Word. They choke the Word of God and has a devastating effect on the crop that God wants us to produce, what He wants to grow in us.

And so we have to face the facts. What does the farmer get when he plants seed? Well, whatever he planted. That's what he's going to get. And it's the same for me. My life reflects what I've planted. So, whatever my focus has been, whatever my perspective has been, whatever I turn my attention to, that's what grows. That's what grows.  And so, I better pay close attention to the seeds that I would really truly want growing in my life. Because those weeds are going to pop up. They're going to sprout unintentionally, they're going to be there. And we know this life is full of weeds and full of distractions. And even the fact of just being busy. We can get so busy with things because our life is full of activities. They're full of things to do, places to go, people to see, all of those things. But what's most important? I mean, even thinking about what we fill our life with. I mean, think about one of the things we know we're supposed to do. We're supposed to read this book. We're supposed to be close to God and understand His Word and meditate on that Word. Yeah, but I'm really busy. I got so much to do. I don't know if I have time to… Really? Is that the way it is or does God's Word dominate my thinking?

Is that what's foremost on my mind throughout the day, no matter what I'm doing? Because if it's not, what kind of field is going to be produced? What's going to come of it? If God's Word doesn't dominate our thinking, how can I produce a field that bears good fruit? How can I do that? And unfortunately, when we don't do that, other things develop, other things just grow. We talked about gratitude today. In gratitude, sprouts its ugly head, and we don't appreciate the things that God has blessed us with. Even the very next breath we take is a blessing from God. Have I thanked Him, thanked Him for His protection, His guidance, His mercy, His calling, His long-suffering? Have I really verbalized those things to our great God? Because really, that's a lack of love. That's a lack of respect. Because what else is it that's on my mind? What's taking my thoughts a whole different direction?

I mean, Scripture says, our God is a jealous God. He says, "I don't like that when you're so focused on other things, you ignore Me." I mean, what is it that absorbs my time? What is it that takes my attention? How long do I really delight in His Word or have I neglected that Word? And did we read it today? Did we study that Word or has it been a couple of days since we got that Bible out and actually studied it or maybe a couple of weeks? Maybe it's been months since I really personally looked at this. What kind of field is that? You know, neglect is going to be those weeds that grow up. The same holds true with how we talk to God. Have we prayed the way that we should? Well, I pray. I prayed over my meal, I prayed in church. I guess that's good enough. Well, then you got an acquaintance with God. He's not really your Father. Christ isn't really your older Brother if that's it. If our time gets in the way, and it's used in other ways, then we're saying, "I'm more important. What I want is more important." And that's pride. That's vanity. I mean, I have to think, "Well, what did I do this morning?"

I mean, just think about how you got ready for church. How long did it take to get ready for church? Well, I take a shower, and comb my hair, and do all these things, get my clothes on. Did you take more time getting dressed for church than getting prepared for worship? “Well, I'm here.” But if we haven't prepared that field, if our mind isn't really focused on worship, we've got a fallow field we've got to take care of. And so it applies in so many areas of our life, that we've got to tear up that ground and we've got to look at our own lives. Is that pride and that vanity there or if I see others doing well, I don't like that, and I'm jealous of them. I mean, they're more talented than I am. They seem to be more useful than me. And so, I better look better. So I better put them down, and I better look at their faults, and look how they fail, and look how they've messed up. And we focus on that, but I don't gossip. I don't gossip or tell things behind people's backs. Okay, I focus on the truth. I'm a truth-teller. And so I tell the truth, but it sure hurts them when I tell the truth about them. Well, that's slander. That's gossip. That's not right.

God hates that kind of an attitude. But sometimes those kinds of fields can left lying in our lives. And God says, that's not acceptable. In fact, He says, there isn't an in-between. You know, there's no middle ground, right? There's no difference between… There's no happy medium. There's no compromising with those things because Christ made it very clear when that seed falls on hard ground, it's not going to grow. So when we're apathetic, when we're just fine, contented with the way we are and self-satisfied, or when we shake our fist at God, that's unacceptable. I mean, think about that. Week after week after week, we come and we're here, and I'm religious, and I'm here, making a good showing for myself. And week after week, we open this book, and we read this Word. And week after week, my marriage doesn't change. It's just as bad as it has been.

My lifestyle is the same, hasn't changed. My goal hasn’t… week after week. What's the reason it doesn't change? Why doesn't it change? You see the ground's hard. We've hardened ourselves, our hearts, and our minds. They've become inflexible because, you know, the problem is not my mate. That's not the problem. The problem is not my friends. That's not the problem. It's not all those jerks on my job. That's the problem. No, it's not. That is not the problem. The problem is not the church. That is not the problem. Where's the problem? It's me. I'm the problem. It's my heart. It's my mind. And the truth is the ground is hardened on my mind and I'm dead to what's best, what God would have me do. I need to break up that ground, and I need to turn to God and allow Him to plant that good Word in good ground.

And the promise is, when we do that when we kill that old man and we bury him, then the ground can start to produce. And what's the promise? What's that ground going to produce? Well, Christ, Himself said, well, it's going to produce abundantly, some 30, some 60, some a hundredfold when we allow the plow to grow and cut up that dirt. But if not, we know we'll have a harvest of weeds, right? The weeds are going to grow and they're going to take away from God's Word. And so we can ask God to help us to plow up that ground. Ask Him for that attitude of humility, to have a humble heart that we can ask Him to help us to repent, ask Him to help us to change, help us to focus in our activities and our life on what's best, and what will bear fruit for the Kingdom of God because we don't want to be hardened to God's will. He reminds us over and over again, it's time to start plowing. It's time to start plowing because this cultivated field will yield good fruit. And by the convicting power of God's word, we can change. By the power of God's Spirit, He's given us authority over sin in our life. We can grow and we can change.

Yeah, that plow, it's going to be tough. It's sharp, and it's going to tear, and it's going to rearrange the dirt. It's going to disturb the ground. And sometimes that is going to hurt but it's the only way a crop can grow. Without enduring that plow, the fruit can't grow. But, you know, God says there are blessings that await because the rains will come and that seed will begin to grow. And new things, new attitudes, new perspectives, will grow and ultimately mature, as that field becomes green and full of spiritual life.

And so let's start plowing. Let's allow those fields to be cultivated and do everything we possibly can to draw closer to God so that plow can break up those fields, and seek God intentionally, make it a point in our life to courageously obey the will of God, follow His Word. Because we absolutely have to take that seriously. We have to take up the plow, don't we? Isn't that what Christ said? He said that very clearly in Matthew 11:29. He said, "Take My yoke and learn from Me." And He said, "That's the easy way to go. That's the light way to go." In fact, spiritually speaking, it's the only way to go. So as we claim to be God's people, we're left with a choice. We're left with this choice to let this metaphor truly live in the fields of our life and ask ourselves, "What kind of spiritual farmer am I? Will I allow that fallow ground to lie or am I ready to start plowing?"