Reflections with GOD for Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Quotes for Today:
And malt does more than Milton can
To justify God’s ways to man. by A. E. Housman (1859 – 1936)
Electricity is actually made up of extremely tiny particles called electrons, that you cannot see with the naked eye unless you have been drinking. by Dave Barry (1947 – ), “The Taming of the Screw”
If you drink, don’t drive. Don’t even putt. by Dean Martin
Bacchus hath drowned more men than Neptune. by Dr. Thomas Fuller (1654 – 1734), Gnomologia, 1732
Always do sober what you said you’d do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut. by Ernest Hemingway (1899 – 1961)
Great people talk about ideas, average people talk about things, and small people talk about wine. by Fran Lebowitz (1950 – )
My Grandmother is over eighty and still doesn’t need glasses. Drinks right out of the bottle. by Henny Youngman (1906 – 1998)
When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading. by Henny Youngman (1906 – 1998)
[Water is] the only drink for a wise man. by Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862)
It is better to hide ignorance, but it is hard to do this when we relax over wine. by Heraclitus (540 BC – 480 BC), On the Universe
The wine urges me on, the bewitching wine, which sets even a wise man to singing and to laughing gently and rouses him up to dance and brings forth words which were better unspoken. by Homer (800 BC – 700 BC), The Odyssey
Nothing anyone says in a bar is true. by Mark Ruffalo, In Style Magazine, 11-08
The trouble with jogging is that the ice falls out of your glass. by Martin Mull (1943 – )
One reason I don’t drink is that I want to know when I am having a good time. by Nancy Astor (1879 – 1964)
I envy people who drink. At least they have something to blame everything on. by Oscar Levant (1906 – 1972)
Work is the curse of the drinking classes. by Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900), In Life of Oscar Wilde, H. Pearson
Drinking makes such fools of people, and people are such fools to begin with, that it’s compounding a felony. by Robert Benchley (1889 – 1945)
I always keep a supply of stimulant handy in case I see a snake–which I also keep handy. by W. C. Fields (1880 – 1946)
Reminds me of my safari in Africa. Somebody forgot the corkscrew and for several days we had to live on nothing but food and water. by W. C. Fields (1880 – 1946)
It’s always difficult to make conversation with a drunk, and there’s no denying it, the sober are at a disadvantage with him. by W. Somerset Maugham (1874 – 1965), The Razor’s Edge, 1943

Sermon for Today:
The Reason Why Many Cannot Find Peace by Charles H. Spurgeon
NO. 1408 DELIVERED ON LORD’S-DAY MORNING, APRIL 7, 1878, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON
““Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God,
and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep! Let your laughterbe turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.”(James 4:7-10)
We frequently meet with persons who tell us that they cannot find peace with God. They have been bidden to believe in the Lord Jesus, but they misunderstand the command and, while they think they are obeying it, they are really unbelievers and, therefore, they miss the way of peace. They attempt to pray, but their petitions are not answered and their supplications yield them no comfort whatever, for neither their faith nor their prayer is accepted of the Lord. Such persons are described by James in the 3rd verse of the chapter now open before us—“You ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss.” We cannot be content to see seekers in this wretchedness and, therefore, we endeavor to comfort them, instructing them, again and again, in the great Gospel precept, “Believe and live.” Yet as a rule they get no further, but linger in an unsatisfactory condition. They assure us that they believe in Jesus, but we see none of the fruits of faith in them, neither can they, themselves, say that they derive any spiritual benefit from the faith which they profess. Now I fear that comfort is misplaced in these cases. When we have endeavored to cheer such people, I fear we may have been filming over a wound which needs a sharp knife rather than a soft bandage—a keen lancet rather than a healing liniment. We shall try at this time to show certain uneasy souls why they do not obtain peace and what they must be brought to by the Holy Spirit before they can rightly claim that they are saved. Though our words may be somewhat caustic, they will be uttered in loving faithfulness and may the Lord our God make them effectual to the ending of the inner strife and the establishment of settled peace. I fear that many who profess to be Christians are in a very questionable conditionthey have no joy of their faith and no success in their prayers. Whether they are Christians or not is a moot point and the practical James does not waste time in discussing the doubtful question, but speaks to them from both sides of their apparent condition.
In his previous chapters he calls them, “my brethren,” and even, “my beloved brethren.” He draws no line of demarcation when he, afterwards, addresses them as, “sinners,” whose hands must be cleansed and, as, “double-minded” persons, whose hearts must be purified. They were both of these—they were professedly Brothers and Sisters, but they were at heart unchaste to Christ—they indulged in grievous sins of contention and malice—and their hearts were divided between the love of sin and the hope of salvation. We will not, therefore, raise personal questions, or try to discriminate where certainty is hard to reach, but we will speak to suspicious characters without determining whether they are truly Believers or not. If such persons claim to be called Brothers and Sisters, we will address them as such, but it will be in a sentence like this, “My Brothers and Sisters, such things ought not to be.” On the other hand, we will use no condemnatory title, but leave the question between God and each man’s own conscience. We will go to the root of the matter and set forth the reason for the lack of peace and salvation of which some complain. May the sacred Spirit help us to point out the fatal failure which keeps the soul from rest. If any man is not sure that he is in Christ, he ought not to be easy one moment more until he is so.
Dear Friend, without the fullest confidence as to your saved condition, you have no right to be at ease and I pray you may never be so! This is a matter too important to be left undecided. Instantly should every man of prudence make assurance doubly sure and bind all things fast that he may find them fast for eternity—for eternity I say—for thus says the Lord. Never risk your souls, for your souls are yourselves, your real selves and nothing can make up for their loss. If you lose your souls, it will be no recompense to have gained the whole world! Be careful, then! Leave nothing insecure. Carefully measure and weigh every important step. Consider and examine, lest being so near to the kingdom, any of you should seem to come short of it.
To help you to a settled peace, let me, first of all, urge upon you to obey the comprehensive command of our text—“Submit yourselves therefore to God.” And then, secondly, let me further press upon you to practice the other precepts which follow, such as, “Resist the devil.” “Draw near to God.” “Cleanse your hands.” “Purify your hearts.” “Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep.” And, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord.”
I. First listen to THE COMPREHENSIVE COMMAND—“Submit yourselves therefore to God.” According to the connection, the lighting spirit within many men shows that they have not submitted themselves to God—lusting, envy, strife, contention, jealousy, anger—all these things declare that the heart is not submissive but remains violently self-willed and rebellious. Those who are still wrathful, proud, contentious and selfish are evidently unsubdued. There are some men to whom the very idea of submission is distasteful—they will be subjective to no one, but wish to be their own gods and a law unto themselves. “Submit” is a galling word to them. They say in their hearts, “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice?”
They are willing, enough, to accept His favors, willing enough, after their fashion, to say, “Thank God,” but as to submission, they will have none of it—it suits not their high mightiness! They strive for the mastery. They push for the front place, aiming to advance their own interests and make the great I to be lord above all. The Apostle quietly indicates in the words of our text that many Christian professors need to submit, for at present their unhumbled nature leads them to lusting and striving—and effectually prevents their asking so as to receive at the Lord’s hands. A lack of submission is no new or rare fault in mankind. Ever since the Fall it has been the root of all sin. When the heart submits to God in sincerity, the work of Grace is begun. And when it submits perfectly, the work is complete. But for this, Divine Grace must display its power, for the heart is obstinate and rebellious.
From the moment when our mother Eve stretched out her hand to pluck the forbidden fruit and her husband joined her in setting up the human will against the Divine, the sons of men have universally been guilty of a lack of conformity to the will of God. They choose their own way and will not submit their wills. They think their own thoughts and will not submit their understanding. They love earthly things and will not submit their affections. Man wants to be his own law and his own master. This is abominable, since we are not our own makers, for, “it is He that has made us and not we ourselves.”
The Lord should have supremacy over us, for our existence depends on His will. I have heard much of the rights of man, but it were well also to consider the rights of God, which are the first, highest, surest and most solemn rights in the universe and lie at the base of all other rights! The Lord has an absolute right to the beings whom He has fashioned and it is shameful that the great mass of men seem never even to remember that He exists, much less to ask themselves what is due to Him. Alas, great God, how are You a stranger even in the world which You have, Yourself, made! Your creatures, who could not see if You had not given them eyes, look everywhere except to You. Creatures who could not think if You had not given them minds, think of all things except You! And beings who could not live if You did not keep them in being, forget You utterly, or, if they remember Your existence and see Your power, are foolhardy enough to become Your foes!
The hemlock of sin grows in the furrows of opposition to God. When the Lord is pleased to turn the hearts of opposers to the obedience of His Truth, it is an evident token of salvation. In fact, it is the dawn of salvation itself! To submit to God is to find rest! The rule of God is so beneficial that He ought readily to be obeyed. He never commands us to do that which, in the long run, can be injurious to us, nor does He forbid us anything which can be to our real advantage. Our God is so kind, so wise, so full of loving forethought, that it is always be to our best interest to follow His lead. Even if we could be left to choose our own way and were under no bonds of duty, it would be wise and prudent to choose the way of the Lord, for it is the path of pleasantness and safety.
Beloved, the Lord is far too great to have any need to deal unjustly, or unkindly with His creatures. Indeed, He is so great that He cannot desire any personal advantage from His government, but He condescends to govern us because without His rule and guidance we would be utterly undone. It is for our good that like a father in a family He commands us this or forbids us the other. It is wanton cruelty to ourselves when we break away from the liberty with which Jesus makes us free, to place ourselves under the tyranny of selfishness and the baser passions of the mind. It is madness to forsake the honorable service of the great King to become the slave of Satan. O that men would submit themselves unto God and be willing to be blessed!
All resistance against God is, from the necessity of the case, be futile. Common sense teaches that rebellion against Omnipotence is both insanity and blasphemy. The Lord’s purpose must stand and His pleasure must be done! His power will assuredly crush all opposition and it is idle to raise it. Why, then, should a man contend against his Master? Wisdom as well as righteousness call upon him to submit to God. And then let it always be known that submission to God is absolutely necessary to salvation. A man is not saved until he bows before the supreme majesty of God. He may say, “I believe in Jesus,” but if he goes on to follow out his own desires and to gratify his own passions, he is a mere pretender, a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Dead faith will save no man! It is not even as good as the faith of devils, for they “believe and tremble,” and these men believe in a fashion which makes them brazen in their iniquity. No, salvation means being saved from the domination of self and sin! Salvation means being made to long after likeness to God, being helped by Divine Grace to reach to that likeness and living after the mind and will of the Most High. Submission to God is the salvation which we preach, not a mere deliverance from eternal burning, but deliverance from present rebellion, deliverance from the sin which is the fuel of those unquenchable flames. There must be conformity to the eternal Laws of the universe and according to these God must be first and man must bow to Him—nothing can be right till this is done. Submit is a command which in every case must be obeyed—or no peace or salvation will be found. Now, it is generally, in this matter of submission, that the stumbling block lies in the way of souls when seeking peace with God. It keeps them unsaved and, as I have already said, necessarily so, because a man who is not submissive to God is not saved. He is not saved from rebellion. He is not saved from pride. He is still evidently an unsaved man, no matter what he may think of himself. Perhaps by a few personal remarks I may hit upon the reason why certain of my hearers cannot get the peace which the Gospel so freely sets before them. There is a lack of submission in some point or other. In the saved man there is and must be a full and unconditional submission to the Law of God. He must consent unto the Law that it is good.
If your mind has up to now quibbled against the Law, you must end the fight, for it is impossible that you should be right while you quarrel with the Law of Righteousness! If you set yourself up to be a judge of the Law, you judge the Lawgiver Himself, and what is this but the blackest presumption? Traced to its real meaning, the thought of judging the Law is treason and would dethrone God and reign in His place! How sad to see a sinful mortal criticizing the perfect Law of his Maker! Dare you do this? If you say in your heart, “He is too strict in marking sin and too severe in punishing it,” what is this but condemning your Judge? If you say, “He calls me to account for idle words and even for sins of ignorance and this is hard,” what is this but to call your Lord unjust?
Should the Law be amended to suit your desires? Should its requirements be accommodated to ease your indolence? If you ask for this you are not saved, for a saved person delights in the Law of God after the inward man. He says of it, “the Law is holy,” though he weeps as he adds, “but I am carnal, sold under sin.” He honors the Law as he bows before it and confesses his shortcomings. Yes, and before a man can have peace with God he must submit himself to the sentence of the Law. Though that Law in its severity searches the thoughts and tries the heart, arraigns us before the bar of God and pronounces sentence upon us, we must acknowledge it to be just!
Grace working in the heart brings the penitent to plead guilty to the sin and to admit that the penalty is deserved. In my own case I unreservedly acknowledge that when the Law in my conscience condemned me to Hell, I dared not lift a finger nor even think a thought by way of disputing the sentence. The conscience is not Divinely quickened, nor the soul renewed, nor the man saved, unless he cries, “I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is always before me. Against
You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight, that You might be justified when You speak and be clear when You judge.”
You must submit yourselves to the righteousness and severity of God or He will resist you as He does all the proud. There can be no pardon for a man unless he will honor the Law by hearty submission. If your plea is, “not guilty,” you will be committed for trial according to justice—and then you cannot be forgiven by mercy! You are in a hopeless position! God Himself cannot meet you upon that ground, for He cannot admit that the Law is unrighteous and its penalty too severe. The Lord cannot be at peace with you while you defy His Law! He declares that you are guilty and you dispute this declaration, therefore between you and Himself there is a quarrel which never can be ended till you admit your error and beg for pardon.
He can deal with you in mercy when you once stand where mercy can meet with you, namely, in the sinner’s place. But if you say “I am not guilty,” and begin to vindicate or excuse yourself, you are on a ground which the Lord cannot recognize. If you are professedly righteous, how can the Lord deal with you except in justice? And if He deals with you in justice He will readily enough summon His witnesses and prove you guilty and condemn you to Hell. Submit, then, unto God, and say, “Guilty, Lord. I throw down the weapons of my rebellion and acknowledge that I stand condemned before You. And if I am saved at all it must be by Your free forgiveness, by Your unmerited mercy, by Your boundless love.” A man must next submit himself to the plan of salvation by Grace alone. God meets the sinner on the footing of Grace. “I cannot exonerate you,” He seems to say, “but I can forgive you. I cannot tolerate your denial of guilt, but if you confess your sin, I am faithful and just to forgive you your sin and to save you from all unrighteousness.” Now, are you willing, my dear Hearer—are you sure that you are willing to be saved by Grace, alone, and to owe your deliverance from sin and its punishment entirely to the free favor of God? Will you yield to that? I trust you will.
But there are some who will not, for they go about to establish their own righteousness and do not submit themselves to the righteousness of God. They think that so much Chapel-going, Church-going, sermon-hearing, Prayer Meeting-attending, Bible reading and so on, will certainly work up something like a claim upon God! O, Sirs, have done with claims! If you come with anything like a claim, the Lord will not touch the case at all, for you have no claim and the pretense of one would be an insult to God! If you fancy you have demands upon God, go into the court of Justice and plead them, but the sentence is certain to be against you, for by the deeds of the Law no flesh can be justified.
Try the other way! Come to God with no claim and appeal to His pity, saying, “Lord, I cry for mercy. Gladly will I accept Your free Grace if You will but give it to me.” You will be accepted on that footing, for the Lord is gracious and casts out none who come to Him confessing their sins. You must also submit yourselves to God’s way of saving you through an atoning Sacrifice and by means of your personal faith in that Sacrifice. You must receive His Son as Divine and you must believe in that atoning blood which was shed for many for the remission of sins. Surely there should be no difficulty about surrendering the mind to this! Salvation by the great Mediator is such a delightful way of salvation, so just to God, so safe to man, that we ought to clap our hands for very joy to think that such a royal road to Heaven is opened for us!
What do you say, dear Hearers? Does the Holy Spirit incline you to trust in the blood of Jesus? And then there must be a full submission to God in the matter of giving up every sin. Numbers of persons pray for mercy, but they continue in their sins. Such men cannot be saved because salvation is salvation from sin—not in sin. How can we be saved from sin if we are its slaves? If you come to God and cry, “Lord, deliver me and have mercy upon me,” and yet you practice private drinking and tipple yourselves into semi-drunkenness, how can you be saved? If you keep on cheating in business, or telling lies, or indulge a malicious or angry temper in the family, or are proud and unkind, selfish and miserly, how can you be saved?
I warn you, Friends, that faith itself cannot save you while these things are so, for if your faith were a saving faith it would rescue you from these evils! This, indeed, is salvation, namely, deliverance from the power and habit of sin! Many prayers are semi-hypocritical—there is a kind of sincerity about them, but there is no whole-hearted desire after holiness and, therefore, they will never gain a comfortable answer from God. O Seeker, are you willing to give up every sin? Come, drunkard, you pray to be forgiven, but are you willing to leave the intoxicating cup once and for all? You, my Friend, ask to be pardoned—it is well, but are you, at the same time, desirous to cease from your transgressions? Yes or no? Are you anxious to search out every false way and abandon it as soon as it is discovered? Do you wish to have a holy, truthful, godly tongue? Do you long to be saved from every lust and secret vice? If so, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are already saved! Your sigh to be delivered from evil is the commencement of the work of sanctification! But if you say, “I would be saved from every wrong way except my one indulgence, my one secret iniquity,” then you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity! Your prayers will come back to your bosom unanswered and your pretended faith in Christ will condemn you! Your fancied faith cannot save you, seeing you love your sin.
A certain man has been accustomed to eat of a certain dish which is bad for his health and when he calls in a physician, their talk is after this fashion—“If you trust me,” says the doctor, “I can cure you.” “Yes,” replies the patient, “I do trust you heartily.” The doctor proceeds, “That dainty of yours must be given up, for it is the cause of your disease and so long as you eat it, you must suffer the consequence.” “Well, doctor,” he says, “I trust you, but I cannot give up my favorite food.” Is it not apparent to everybody that he does not trust the physician at all? Even so, when a man declares, “I trust in Christ to save me from sin,” and then continues in his wickedness, he mocks the Good Physician and is in danger of sudden destruction! Either you must cast sin out of your heart or it will keep you out of Heaven! This point must be insisted on—receiving Christ is impossible without, at the same time, renouncing sin! If we would be saved there must be submission to the Lord as to all His teachings. A very necessary point in this age, for a multitude of persons who appear to be religious, judge the Scriptures instead of allowing the Scriptures to judge them.
Hear, O you wise men, “Except you be converted and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven.” Submission to the Infallible authority of the Inspired Word is absolutely required of every disciple of Jesus, but this age delights in the opposite spirit!
Even some of those who call themselves ministers of the Gospel persistently indulge a spirit which is precisely the reverse of the childlike faith which saves the soul. They industriously endeavor to excite rebellion against the teachings of Christ and cry it up under the name of, “honest doubt.” They do not wish men to believe, but to think—and their Gospel, practically, is—“Doubt, and do not be baptized, and you shall be saved.” Shame on them! Our Gospel is, “He that believes and is baptized, shall be saved!” And we are content to teach what Jesus Christ, our Lord, told His disciples to preach to all nations!
If I will never yield my reason. If I will never believe what I cannot understand. If I will carry an open knife about with me to cut and hack at texts of Scripture. If I will not sit at Jesus’ feet with Mary, but want Him to sit at my feet that I may tell Him what His religion ought to be and what He ought to have said, how can I be saved? If, after all, we are personally infallible and are to spend all our days in selecting our opinions, how can we know Christ? If instead of yielding my judgment to the plain teachings of my Lord, I revise His doctrines, how can I be saved? If I have not submitted my intellect to God, what peace can there be? Mark this well, you wise young men who know so much more than your fathers and are too intellectual to reverence your fathers’ God!
And, now, I must ask another question of you who desire peace and cannot find it. Have you submitted yourselves to the Providential arrangements of God? I know persons who often sit in this House of Prayer who have a quarrel with God. He took away a beloved object and they not only thought Him unkind and cruel at the time, but they still think so!
Like a child in a fit of the sulks, they cast an evil eye upon the great Father! They are not at peace and never will be till they have acknowledged the Lord’s supremacy and ceased from their rebellious thoughts. If they were in a right state of heart they would thank the Lord for their sharp trials and consent to His will as being assuredly right. I fear that unsubmission on this point affects a great number of persons. They cannot succeed in business and, therefore, they are out of temper with God. He knows very well that they are not fit to be made rich and could not be trusted with a large business and, therefore, He does not grant their suicidal desires. Some men would never win the race of life if they had an ounce of gold to carry! The only hope for their running at all lies in keeping them unencumbered. We know, also, thoughtful young men who cannot pursue their studies because of failing health. They want to be famous, but they are not strong enough to continue their work for the examination and so they are vexed with the Lord. Or, it may be they have less talent than ambition and they rebel because their Maker has not given them intellects as capacious as that of Solomon. Let them be satisfied to use the talent they have and cease from contending with their Creator!
Many men have a sort of private resentment with Providence and sit down like Jonah under their withered gourd and mutter, “We do well to be angry even unto death.” Now, if such is the case with any before me, I would say to them—leave off quarrelling with your God! What can be the use of it? The very best and wisest thing for you is to make friends with Him and let His will be your will. After all, He deals well with you, if you would but see it. Depend upon it, there is something to be made out of the position you occupy—gain will come to you out of all those losses—profit will arise even from those sad bereavements if you will stand still and see the salvation of God. Acquaint yourselves with God and be at peace, for thereby good shall come unto you—for unless you do this you may say, “I believe,” but you have no faith in God!
How can a man believe in God when he charges God with treating him wrongly? Faith begets resignation and submission—where there is strife and enmity—unbelief is still supreme. Until you submit yourselves to God it cannot be well with your souls, for He resists the proud but gives Grace to the humble. This is the long and the short of it—you must, as a guilty sinner, cast yourself at God’s feet and say, “Have mercy upon me, O Lord, and have mercy upon me in Your own way. I dictate not to You, but I implore Your Grace! I humbly beg forgiveness. Be pleased to pity me. I yield up myself to You, asking You to make me holy. I do from my very heart give up the love of sin. I fear I shall sin, help me to loathe myself when I do so! Make me what You will have me to be and then deal as You will with me. I make no terms nor conditions. Mine is an unconditional surrender. Only for Your mercy’s sake renew me. Make me Your child and save me. As You bid me trust Your Son, I trust Him. Lord, I believe! Help you my unbelief.”
You will have peace when your heart is brought to this point. At present your wound does not heal because it needs washing, for the grit of pride has fallen into it and is causing a wretched irritation. When pride is gone and you are fully submissive, then shall the wound heal and your broken bones shall rejoice! I am not asking you to submit to a priest! I am not asking you to submit to a mere man! But I speak very earnestly when I say, “Submit yourselves to God”—it is natural, it is right—it is good in itself and filled with the highest good to you. Submission is essential to salvation, therefore bow before the Lord at once! May the Lord bend that stubborn will and conquer that wayward heart. Yield yourselves to God and pray to be delivered from future rebellion. If you have submitted, do so yet more completely, for so shall you be known to be Christians when you submit yourselves to God. If you will not submit, your faith is a lie, your hope is a delusion, your prayer is an insult, your peace is presumption and your end will be despair! Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. “But God shall wound the head of His enemies and the hairy scalp of such an one as goes on still in his trespasses.”
II. But now, secondly, having thus spoken upon the great duty of submission, let us consider the other and FOLLOWING PRECEPTS.
I think I am not suspicious without reason when I express a fear that the preaching which has latey been very common and, in some respects very useful, of, “only believe and you shall be saved,” has sometimes been altogether mistaken by those who have heard it. Cases occur in which young persons go on living light, frivolous, giddy, and even wicked lives—and yet they claim that they believe in Jesus Christ. When you come to examine them a little, you find that their belief in Christ means that they believe that He has saved them, although everybody who knows their character can clearly see that they are not saved at all!
Now, what is their faith but the belief of a lie? They are living just as they did live and, therefore, it is clear that they are not saved from their former foolish conversation, nor from their bad tempers, nor from their old sins. And yet they try to persuade themselves that they are saved! Now, true faith never believes lies! Presumption lives upon lies, but faith will only feed on the Truth of God! My faith does not teach me to believe I am saved when straight before my very eyes I have the evidence that I am not saved, since I am living in the very sin I pretend to be saved from! Though we would not, for a moment, cast a doubt upon the doctrine of Justification by Faith and Free Salvation, we must also preach more and more that parallel Truth of God—“You must be born again.”
We must bring to the front the grand old word which has been thrown into the background by some evangelists, namely, “Repent.” Repentance is as essential to salvation as faith. Indeed, there is no faith without repentance except the faith which needs to be repented of. A dry-eyed faith will never see the kingdom of God! A holy loathing for sin always attends upon a childlike faith in the Sin-Bearer. Where the root Grace of faith is found, other Graces will grow from it. Now notice how the Spirit of God, after having bidden us submit, goes on to show what else is to be done. He calls for a brave resistance of the devil. “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
The business of salvation is not all passive—the soul must be awakened to active warfare! I am to fall into the arms of Christ, that He may save me—I must trust Him completely. And when I depend upon Him I receive life—and the very first effort of that life is to strike with all its might the adversary of Christ and of my own soul. I am not only to contend with sin, but with the spirit which foments and suggests sin! I am to resist the secret spirit of evil as well as its outward “But oh,” says one, “I cannot give up an inveterate habit.” Sir, you must give it up! You must resist the devil or perish. “But I have been so long in it,” cries the man. Yes, but if you truly trust Christ, your first effort will be to fight against the evil habit. And if it is not merely a habit, nor an impulse, but if your danger lies in the existence of a cunning spirit who is armed at all points and both strong and subtle, yet you must not yield, but resolve to resist to the death, cheered by the gracious promise that he will flee from you! You shall, in the name of Jesus overcome temptation, master evil habits and escape from bondage! Only strike for freedom and disdain the chain of sin. If you are to have peace with God there must be war with Satan! You cannot rest in your spirit and know the peace which faith gives unless you wage war to the knife against every evil and against the patron and Prince of Evil, even Satan. Are you ready for this? You cannot have peace unless you are!
Next the Apostle writes, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” He who sincerely believes in Christ will be much in prayer. Yet there are some who say, “We want to be saved,” but they neglect prayer! They cannot make out how it is that they have no enjoyment of religion. But why need they be puzzled? Ask your neglected closet! Ask your own heart how you can be happy and prosperous and blessed in Divine things if you do not pray! Remember that the mere saying of prayers is not praying. The essence of prayer lies in the heart drawing near to God—and it can do that without words. Prayer is the feeling that God is present and the desire of the soul to come near to Him so as to know His influence, to know His love, to feel His power and to be conformed to His will.
This kind of praying can be continued by the power of God’s Holy Spirit all day long. We must know something of this. “Behold he prays” is one of the first marks of a saved soul and if you think that by some momentary act of faith which you suppose you exercised you are therefore saved—while your heart remains at a distance from God, prayerless and careless—you are fatally deceived! Such is not the teaching of Scripture and there is no guarantee for it in the promises of God. If prayer is utterly neglected, the soul is dead!
The next precept is, “Cleanse your hands, you sinners.” What? Does the Word of God tell sinners to cleanse their hands and purify their hearts? Yes, it does. Some Brother whispers, “Ah, that is Arminianism.” Who are you that reply against God’s Word? If such teaching is in this Inspired Book, how dare we question it? It comes with a, “thus says the Lord”—“Cleanse your hands, you sinners.” When a man comes to God and says, “I am willing and anxious to be saved and I trust Christ to save me,” and yet he keeps his dirty black hands exercised in filthy actions doing what he knows is wrong, does he expect God to hear him? Do I need spend even so many as a half-dozen words to show that this man does not believe and is not really honest before the Most High? “Cleanse your hands, you sinners.”
Can you ask God to be at peace with you while your hands grasp your sins with loving embrace and are full of bribes, or are foul with lusts, or are smiting with the fist of anger and wrath? If you do the devil’s work with your hands, do not expect the Lord to fill them with His blessings! It cannot be! You must break off your sins by righteousness and, as Paul shook off the viper from His hand into the fire, so must you. By the power of faith, if it is a real faith, you will be able to purge your outward life. Why, when men talk about being spiritual and are not even decently moral, it makes us sick to hear them! How dare they talk about being Christians when they do not live as well as Muslims or heathens? Oh you dogs, howling out your shame, what portion have you among the children so long as you bite and devour and love your filthiness? It is idle to talk about salvation while sin is hugged to the heart with both hands. Away with such hypocrisy!
Then it is added, “Purify your hearts, you double-minded.” Can they do this? Assuredly not by themselves, but still, in order to have peace with God there must be so much purification of the heart that it shall no longer be double-minded. He who would have salvation must seek it with all his heart—must so seek it that he is resolved to give up anything and to endure anything so that he may but be rescued from sin. “Purify your hearts, you double-minded.” Get rid of that leering eye of yours towards uncleanness and that cross eye which squints towards worldly gain—for till your whole heart cries after the Most High, He will not hear you!
When you can say with David, “My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God,” you shall find the Lord! When you cease trying to serve two masters and submit yourselves unto God, He will bless you, but not till then! I believe that this touches the center of the mischief in many of those hearts which fail to reach peace—they have not given up sin—they are not whole-hearted after salvation. Then the Lord bids us “be afflicted, and mourn, and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.”
I grieve to say that I have met with persons who say, “I cannot find peace, I cannot get salvation,” and talk very prettily in that way. But yet, outside the door they are giggling one with another, as if it were matter of amusement. The Sabbath is spent in vain, idle, frivolous conversation—seriousness they do not seem even to have felt. The whole matter appears to be a mere sport. Some converts seem to jump into religion as people do into a bath—they jump out, again, about as fast. They never weigh the matter. They have no thought, no sorrow for sin, no humiliation before God. Stop that laughter if you are an unsaved soul—for decency’s sake, stop that laughter!
For you to laugh while in danger of being lost sounds to me as ghastly and as grim as if the fiends of Hell were to set up a theater and perform a comedy in the Pit. What right have you with laughter while sin is unforgiven, while God is angry with you? No, go to Him in fitter form and fashion or He will refuse your prayers. Be serious! Begin to think of death, judgment, the wrath to come. These are not trifles, Friends, nor things to make sport about. Neither is true religion a thing that is to be attended to as easily as when one snaps his finger and says, “Heigh presto! Quick. It’s done!”
By no means! If you are saved, your mind is solemnly impressed by eternal realities and you are serious about matters of life and death. The very thought of sin pains you—and since you meet with it in your daily life, you have cause for daily humbling and are afflicted because of it. Many, I fear, fail to get peace because it is not a solemn matter at all for them. They trifle with it as if it were a game for boys and girls to play and not for the heart and spirit to enter upon with deep
concern.
Then the Lord sums up His precepts by saying, “Humble yourselves in the sight of God.” With that I close. There must be a deep and lowly prostration of the spirit before God. If you happen to have a boy who shows a high rebellious spirit against you and you have chastened him for it, but yet he continues in his rebellion, you tell him that there must be a humbling of himself before you can forgive him. If he is a wise child and wishes to escape your anger, he makes a dutiful confession, acknowledges that he was wrong and appeals to your love—and you freely pardon him. But in many who pretend to come to God there is no humbling. They do not admit that they ever did anything particularly wrong and they do not care if they did! Still, they hear there is such a thing as believing in Jesus and they profess to believe, not because there is any need for it, as they think, but for fashion’s sake.
Ah, Friends, Jesus Christ did not come to heal the whole, but the sick! Neither did He die to bind up those who are not broken, nor to make alive those who were never killed. There must be in you—and may God give it to you—a brokenness of spirit! A broken and a contrite heart He will not despise! If your heart has never been broken, how can He bind it up? If it were never wounded, how can He heal it? These are weighty matters and I speak them weightily lest anyone among you should be deceived. God help you to cry, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there is any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.”
This is the way of salvation—that you believe in Jesus Christ whom God has sent! But remember that He saves us FROM our sins, not IN our sins! Faith in Jesus Christ saves and will save all who have it—but it is by purging out sin. It assures us that we are pardoned and thus it makes us love the Christ by whom we are forgiven. This love leads us to abhor ourselves for our sins and we endeavor to purify ourselves from them by His Spirit. Faith without works is dead, being alone, and though a man is justified by faith and not by works—and by faith alone—not even in part by his works!
Yet the faith which saves is a faith which produces good works and leads into the way of holiness. He who does not seek after righteousness and true holiness, let him pretend what he may, he is dead while he lives! The Lord have mercy upon you, for Christ’s sake. Amen.

Hymn for Today:
“In the Cross of Christ I Glory” John Bowring, 1792-1872
1. In the cross of Christ I glory,
towering o’er the wrecks of time;
all the light of sacred story
gathers round its head sublime.
2. When the woes of life o’ertake me,
hopes deceive, and fears annoy,
never shall the cross forsake me.
Lo! it glows with peace and joy.
3. When the sun of bliss is beaming
light and love upon my way,
from the cross the radiance streaming
adds more luster to the day.
4. Bane and blessing, pain and pleasure,
by the cross are sanctified;
peace is there that knows no measure,
joys that through all time abide.
5. In the cross of Christ I glory,
towering o’er the wrecks of time;
all the light of sacred story
gathers round its head sublime.

Through the Bible in One Year:
Judges 1 to 10
1 Now after Joshua’s death, the Israelites consulted Yahweh, asking, ‘Which of us is to march on the Canaanites first, to make war on them?’
2 And Yahweh replied, ‘Judah is to march on them first; I am delivering the country into his hands.’
3 Judah then said to his brother Simeon, ‘March with me into the territory allotted to me; we shall make war on the Canaanites, and then I in my turn shall march into your territory with you.’ And Simeon marched with him.
4 So Judah marched on them, and Yahweh delivered the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands, and they defeated them at Bezek-ten thousand of them!
5 At Bezek they came upon Adoni-Bezek; they joined battle with him and defeated the Canaanites and Perizzites.
6 Adoni-Bezek took to flight, but they chased and captured him and cut off his thumbs and big toes.
7 Adoni-Bezek said, ‘Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to pick up the crumbs under my table. As I did, God does to me.’ He was taken to Jerusalem, and there he died.
8 (The sons of Judah attacked Jerusalem and took it: they put its people to the sword and set fire to the city.)
9 After this the sons of Judah went down to make war on the Canaanites who were living in the highlands, the Negeb and the lowlands.
10 Judah next marched on the Canaanites living in Hebron — the name of Hebron in olden days was Kiriath-Arba — and beat Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai.
11 From there, he marched on the inhabitants of Debir — the name of Debir in olden days was Kiriath-Sepher.
12 Caleb said, ‘To the man who conquers and captures Kiriath-Sepher, I shall give my daughter Achsah as wife.’
13 The man who captured it was Othniel son of Kenaz, younger brother of Caleb, who gave him his daughter Achsah as wife.
14 When she arrived, he urged her to ask her father for arable land, but when she alighted from the donkey and Caleb asked her, ‘What is the matter?’
15 she said to him, ‘Grant me a blessing! As the land you have given me is the Negeb, give me springs of water, too!’ So Caleb gave her what she wanted: the upper springs and the lower springs.
16 The sons of Hobab the Kenite, father-in-law of Moses, marched up with the sons of Judah from the City of Palm Trees into the desert of Judah lying in the Negeb of Arad, where they went and settled among the people.
17 Judah then set out with his brother Simeon. They beat the Canaanites who lived in Zephath and delivered it over to the curse of destruction; hence the town was given the name of Hormah.
18 Judah then captured Gaza and its territory, Ashkelon and its territory, Ekron and its territory.And Yahweh was with Judah, who made himself master of the highlands;
19 he could not, however, dispossess the inhabitants of the plain, since they had iron chariots.
20 As Moses had directed, Hebron was given to Caleb, and he drove the three sons of Anak out of it.
21 As regards the Jebusites living in Jerusalem, the sons of Benjamin did not dispossess them, and the Jebusites have been living in Jerusalem with the sons of Benjamin ever since.
22 Similarly, the House of Joseph marched on Bethel, and Yahweh was with them.
23 The House of Joseph made a reconnaissance of Bethel. (In olden days, the name of the town was Luz.)
24 The scouts saw a man coming out of the town and said to him, ‘Show us how to get into the town and we shall show you faithful love.’
25 And when he had shown them a way into the town, they put the town to the sword but let the man and his whole clan go.
26 The man went off to the country of the Hittites and built a town which he called Luz; and that has been its name ever since.
27 Manasseh did not dispossess Beth-Shean and its dependencies, nor Taanach and its dependencies, nor the inhabitants of Dor and its dependencies, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and its dependencies, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and its dependencies; in those parts the Canaanites held their ground.
28 But when the Israelites became stronger, they subjected the Canaanites to forced labour, although they did not dispossess them.
29 Nor did Ephraim dispossess the Canaanites living in Gezer; thus, the Canaanites went on living in Gezer with him.
30 Zebulun did not dispossess the inhabitants of Kitron or of Nahalol. The Canaanites lived on with Zebulun but were subjected to forced labour.
31 Asher did not dispossess the inhabitants of Acco, nor those of Sidon, of Mahalab, of Achzib, of Helbah, of Aphek or of Rehob.
32 So the Asherites lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the country, not having dispossessed them.
33 Naphtali did not dispossess the inhabitants of Beth-Shemesh or of Beth-Anath; they settled among the Canaanite inhabitants of the country, but the inhabitants of Beth-Shemesh and of Beth-Anath were subjected to forced labour for them.
34 The Amorites drove the Danites back into the highlands and would not let them come down into the plain.
35 The Amorites held their ground at Har — Heres and Shaalbim, but when the hand of the House of Joseph grew heavier, they were subjected to forced labour. (
36 The territory of the Edomites begins at the Ascent of Scorpions, runs to the Rock and continues on upwards.)
1 The Angel of Yahweh went up from Gilgal to Bethel and said, ‘I have brought you out of Egypt and led you into this country, which I promised on oath to your ancestors. I said, “I shall never break my covenant with you.
2 You for your part must make no covenant with the inhabitants of this country; you will destroy their altars.” But you have not listened to my voice. What is the reason for this?
3 Very well, I now say this, “I am not going to drive these nations out before you. They will become your oppressors, and their gods will be a snare for you.”
4 When the angel of Yahweh had spoken these words to all the Israelites, the people began to wail at the top of their voices.
5 And they called the place Bochim, and offered sacrifices to Yahweh there.
6 Joshua having dismissed the people, the Israelites then went away, each one to his own heritage, to occupy the country.
7 The people served Yahweh throughout the lifetime of Joshua and throughout the lifetime of those elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the great deeds which Yahweh had done for the sake of Israel.
8 Joshua son of Nun, servant of Yahweh, was a hundred and ten years old when he died.
9 He was buried on the estate which he had received as his heritage at Timnath-Heres in the highlands of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
10 And when that whole generation had been gathered to its ancestors, another generation followed it which knew neither Yahweh nor the deeds which he had done for the sake of Israel.
11 The Israelites then did what is evil in Yahweh’s eyes and served the Baals.
12 They deserted Yahweh, God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt, and they followed other gods, from those of the surrounding peoples. They bowed down to these; they provoked Yahweh;
13 they deserted Yahweh to serve Baal and Astartes.
14 Then Yahweh’s anger grew hot against Israel. He handed them over to pillagers who plundered them; he delivered them to the enemies surrounding them, and they were no longer able to resist their enemies.
15 Whenever they mounted an expedition, Yahweh’s hand was there to foil them, as Yahweh had told them and as Yahweh had sworn to them, so that they were in dire distress.
16 Yahweh then appointed them judges, who rescued them from the hands of their plunderers.
17 But even to their judges they refused to listen. They prostituted themselves to other gods and bowed down before these. Very quickly they left the path which their ancestors had trodden in obedience to the orders of Yahweh; they did not follow their example.
18 When Yahweh appointed judges for them, Yahweh was with the judge and rescued them from the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived, since Yahweh relented at their groans under their persecutors and oppressors.
19 But once the judge was dead, they relapsed into even worse corruption than their ancestors. They followed other gods; they served them and bowed before them and would not give up the practices and stubborn ways of their ancestors at all.
20 Yahweh’s anger then blazed out against Israel, and he said, ‘Since this people has broken the covenant which I laid down for their ancestors, since they have not listened to my voice,
21 in future I shall not drive before them any one of those nations which Joshua left when he died,
22 in order, by means of them, to put Israel to the test, to see whether or not they would tread the paths of Yahweh as once their ancestors had trodden them.’
23 Hence, Yahweh allowed these nations to remain; he did not hurry to drive them out, and did not deliver them into the hands of Joshua.
1 These are the nations which Yahweh allowed to remain, by their means to put all those Israelites to the test who had not experienced any of the Canaanite wars
2 (this was only to instruct the Israelites’ descendants, to teach them the art of war, those at least who had not experienced it previously):
3 the five chiefs of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hittites who lived in the range of the Lebanon, from the uplands of Baal-Hermon to the Pass of Hamath.
4 They were used to put Israel to the test and see if they would keep the orders which Yahweh had given their ancestors through Moses.
5 The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites and Amorites, the Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites;
6 they married their daughters, they gave their own sons to their daughters and they served their gods.
7 The Israelites did what is evil in Yahweh’s eyes. They forgot Yahweh their God and served Baals and Asherahs.
8 Then Yahweh’s anger blazed out against Israel: he handed them over to Cushan-Rishathaim king of Edom, and the Israelites were enslaved to Cushan-Rishathaim for eight years.
9 The Israelites then cried to Yahweh and Yahweh raised for the Israelites a deliverer who rescued them, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.
10 The spirit of Yahweh was on him; he became judge in Israel and set out for war. Yahweh delivered Cushan-Rishathaim king of Edom into his hands, and he triumphed over Cushan- Rishathaim.
11 The country then had peace for forty years. Othniel son of Kenaz then died.
12 Again the Israelites began doing what is evil in Yahweh’s eyes, and Yahweh strengthened Eglon king of Moab against Israel, since they were doing what is evil in Yahweh’s eyes.
13 Eglon in conjunction with the sons of Ammon and Amalek marched on Israel, beat them and captured the City of Palm Trees.
14 The Israelites were enslaved to Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years.
15 The Israelites then cried to Yahweh, and Yahweh raised a deliverer for them, Ehud son of Gera, a Benjaminite; he was left-handed. The Israelites appointed him to take their tribute to Eglon king of Moab.
16 Ehud made himself a dagger — it was double-edged and a foot long — and strapped it under his clothes on his right thigh.
17 He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. This Eglon was a very fat man.
18 Having presented the tribute, Ehud sent away the men who had been carrying it;
19 but he himself, on reaching the Idols which are near Gilgal, went back and said, ‘I have a secret message for you, O king.’ The king commanded silence, and all his attendants withdrew.
20 Ehud went up to him; he was sitting in his private room upstairs, where it was cool. Ehud said to him, ‘I have a message from God for you, O king.’ The latter immediately rose from his seat.
21 Then Ehud, reaching with his left hand, drew the dagger he was carrying on his right thigh and thrust it into the king’s belly.
22 The hilt too went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, since Ehud did not pull the dagger out of his belly again.
23 Ehud went out through the privies, having shut and bolted the doors of the upstairs room behind him.
24 When he had gone, the servants came back and looked; the doors of the upstairs room were bolted. They thought, ‘He is probably covering his feet in the inner part of the cool room.’
25 They waited until they became embarrassed, but still he did not open the doors of the upstairs room. Eventually, they took the key and opened the door; and there lay their master, dead, on the ground.
26 Meanwhile, Ehud had got away, passed the Idols and made good his escape to safety in Seirah.
27 Once there, he sounded the horn in the highlands of Ephraim, and the Israelites came down from the hills with him at their head.
28 And he said to them, ‘Follow me, because Yahweh has delivered your enemy Moab into your hands.’ So they followed him, seized the fords of the Jordan against Moab and allowed no one to cross.
29 On that occasion they beat the Moabites, some ten thousand men, all tough and seasoned fighters, and not one escaped.
30 That day Moab was humbled under the hand of Israel, and the country had peace for eighty years.
31 After him came Shamgar son of Anath. He routed six hundred of the Philistines with an ox-goad; he too was a deliverer of Israel.
1 Once Ehud was dead, the Israelites again began doing what is evil in Yahweh’s eyes,
2 and Yahweh handed them over to Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned at Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Haroshet-ha-Goiim.
3 The Israelites then cried to Yahweh; for Jabin had nine hundred iron chariots and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.
4 Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at the time.
5 She used to sit under Deborah’s Palm between Ramah and Bethel in the highlands of Ephraim, and the Israelites would come to her for justice.
6 She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, ‘Has not Yahweh, God of Israel, commanded, “Go! March to Mount Tabor and with you take ten thousand of the sons of Naphtali and the sons of Zebulun.
7 I shall entice Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, to encounter you at the Torrent of Kishon with his chariots and troops; and I shall put him into your power”? ‘
8 Barak replied, ‘If you come with me, I shall go; if you will not come, I shall not go, for I do not know how to choose the day when the angel of Yahweh will grant me success.’
9 ‘I shall go with you then,’ she said, ‘but, the way you are going about it, the glory will not be yours; for Yahweh will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.’ Deborah then stood up and went with Barak to Kedesh.
10 Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali. Ten thousand men marched behind him, and Deborah went with him.
11 Heber the Kenite had parted company with the tribe of Kain and with the sons of Hobab, father-in-law of Moses; he had pitched his tent near the Oak of Zaanannim, not far from Kedesh.
12 Sisera was informed that Barak son of Abinoam had encamped on Mount Tabor.
13 Sisera summoned all his chariots — nine hundred iron chariots — and all the troops he had, from Harosheth-ha-Goiim to the Torrent of Kishon.
14 Deborah said to Barak, ‘Up! For today is the day when Yahweh has put Sisera into your power. Is not Yahweh marching at your head?’ And Barak charged down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men behind him.
15 At Barak’s advance, Yahweh struck terror into Sisera, all his chariots and his entire army. Sisera leapt down from his chariot and fled on foot.
16 Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth-ha-Goiim. Sisera’s whole army fell by the edge of the sword; not one man was spared.
17 Sisera meanwhile fled on foot towards the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. For there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite.
18 Jael came out to meet Sisera and said to him, ‘Stay here, my lord, with me; do not be afraid!’ He stayed with her in her tent, and she covered him with a rug.
19 He said to her, ‘Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.’ She opened the skin of milk, gave him some to drink and covered him up again.
20 Then he said to her, ‘Stand at the tent door, and if anyone comes and questions you — if he asks, “Is there a man here?” say, “No.” ‘
21 But Jael the wife of Heber took a tent-peg and picked up a mallet; she crept up softly to him and drove the peg into his temple right through to the ground. He was lying fast asleep, worn out; and so he died.
22 And now Barak came up in pursuit of Sisera. Jael went out to meet him and said, ‘Come in, and I will show you the man you are looking for.’ He went into her tent; and there was Sisera dead, with the tent-peg through his temple.
23 Thus God that day humbled Jabin king of Canaan before the Israelites.
24 And the Israelites bore down more and more heavily on that king of Canaan, Jabin, until he was utterly destroyed.
1 They sang a song that day, Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam, and the words were:
2 That the warriors in Israel unbound their hair, that the people came forward with a will, bless Yahweh!
3 Listen, you kings! Give ear, you princes! From me, from me comes a song for Yahweh. I shall glorify Yahweh, God of Israel.
4 Yahweh, when you set out from Seir, when you marched from the field of Edom, the earth shook, the heavens pelted, the clouds pelted down water.
5 The mountains melted before Yahweh of Sinai, before Yahweh, God of Israel.
6 In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, there were no more caravans; those who went forth on their travels took their way along by-paths.
7 The villages in Israel were no more, they were no more until you arose, O Deborah, until you arose, mother of Israel!
8 They were choosing new gods when war was at the gates. Was there one shield, one spear to be found among the forty thousand men in Israel?
9 My heart is with the leaders of Israel, with the people who came forward with a will! Bless Yahweh!
10 You who ride white donkeys and sit on saddle-blankets as you ride, and you who go on foot,
11 sing — to the sound of the shepherds at the watering places! There they extol Yahweh’s blessings, his saving acts for his villages in Israel! (Then Yahweh’s people marched down to the gates.)
12 Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, declaim a song! Take heart, to your feet, Barak, capture your captors, son of Abinoam!
13 Then Israel marched down to the gates; like champions, Yahweh’s people marched down to fight for him!
14 The princes of Ephraim are in the valley. Behind you, Benjamin is in your ranks. Captains have come down from Machir, those who wield the commander’s staff, from Zebulun.
15 The princes of Issachar are with Deborah; Naphtali, with Barak, in the valley follows in hot pursuit. In the clans of Reuben there was much searching of heart.
16 Why did you stay among the sheepfolds, listening for the whistle, with the flocks? (In the clans of Reuben, there was much searching of heart.)
17 Gilead stayed on the other side of the Jordan, and why should Dan have stayed aboard ship? Asher remained beside the sea, peacefully living within his ports.
18 Zebulun is a people who have braved death, Naphtali too, on the high ground of the country.
19 The kings came and they fought, how they fought, those kings of Canaan, at Taanach, near the Waters of Megiddo, but no booty of silver did they take!
20 The stars fought from heaven, from their orbits they fought against Sisera.
21 The torrent of Kishon swept them away, the torrent of old, the torrent of Kishon. -March on, be strong my soul!
22 The horses’ hooves then hammer the ground: galloping, galloping go his steeds.
23 ‘Curse Meroz,’ said the Angel of Yahweh, ‘curse, curse the people living there for not having come to Yahweh’s help, to Yahweh’s help as warriors!’
24 Most blessed of women be Jael (the wife of Heber the Kenite); of tent-dwelling women, may she be most blessed!
25 He asked for water; she gave him milk; she offered him curds in a lordly dish.
26 She reached her hand out to seize the peg, her right hand to seize the workman’s mallet. She hammered Sisera, she crushed his head, she pierced his temple and shattered it.
27 Between her feet, he crumpled, he fell, he lay; at her feet, he crumpled, he fell. Where he crumpled, there he fell, destroyed.
28 At the window, she leans and watches, Sisera’s mother, through the lattice, ‘Why is his chariot so long coming? Why so delayed the hoof-beats from his chariot?’
29 The wisest of her ladies answers, and she to herself repeats,
30 ‘Are they not collecting and sharing out the spoil: a girl, two girls for each warrior; a booty of coloured and embroidered stuff for Sisera, one scarf, two embroidered scarves for me!’
31 So perish all your enemies, Yahweh! And let those who love you be like the sun when he emerges in all his strength! And the country had peace for forty years.
1 The Israelites did what is evil in Yahweh’s eyes, and for seven years Yahweh handed them over to Midian;
2 and Midian bore down heavily on Israel. To escape from the Midianites the Israelites used the mountain clefts and the caves and shelters.
3 Whenever Israel sowed seed the Midianites would march up with Amalek and the sons of the East. They would march on Israel.
4 They would pitch camp on their territory and destroy the produce of the country as far as Gaza. They left Israel nothing to live on, not a sheep or an ox or a donkey,
5 for they came up as thick as locusts with their cattle and their tents; they and their camels were innumerable, they invaded the country to pillage it.
6 Thus, Midian brought Israel to great distress, and the Israelites cried to Yahweh.
7 When the Israelites cried to Yahweh because of Midian,
8 Yahweh sent a prophet to the Israelites. He said to them, ‘This is what Yahweh, God of Israel, says, “It was I who brought you out of Egypt, and led you out of the place of slave-labour.
9 I rescued you from the power of the Egyptians and from the power of all who oppressed you. I drove them out before you and gave their country to you.
10 And I said to you: I am Yahweh your God. You are not to fear the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are now living. But you have not listened to my voice.” ‘
11 The Angel of Yahweh came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah which belonged to Joash of Abiezer. Gideon his son was threshing wheat inside the wine-press, to keep it hidden from Midian,
12 and the Angel of Yahweh appeared to him and said, ‘Yahweh is with you, valiant warrior!’
13 Gideon replied, ‘Excuse me, my lord, but if Yahweh is with us, why is all this happening to us? And where are all his miracles which our ancestors used to tell us about when they said, “Did not Yahweh bring us out of Egypt?” But now Yahweh has deserted us; he has abandoned us to Midian,’
14 At this, Yahweh turned to him and said, ‘Go in this strength of yours, and you will rescue Israel from the power of Midian. Am I not sending you myself?’
15 Gideon replied, ‘Forgive me, my lord, but how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh and I am the least important of my father’s family.’
16 Yahweh replied, ‘I shall be with you and you will crush Midian as though it were one man.’
17 Gideon said, ‘If I have found favour in your sight, give me a sign that you are speaking to me.
18 Please do not go away from here until I come back to you, bringing you my offering and laying it before you.’ And he replied, ‘I shall stay until you come back.’
19 Gideon went away, he prepared a young goat and from an ephah of flour he made unleavened cakes. He put the meat into a basket and the broth into a pot, then brought it all to him under the terebinth. As he approached,
20 the Angel of Yahweh said to him, ‘Take the meat and unleavened cakes, put them on this rock and pour the broth over them.’ Gideon did so.
21 The Angel of Yahweh then stretched out the tip of the staff which he was carrying, and touched the meat and unleavened cakes. Fire sprang from the rock and consumed the meat and unleavened cakes, and the Angel of Yahweh vanished before his eyes.
22 Gideon then knew that this was the Angel of Yahweh, and he said, ‘Alas, my Lord Yahweh! Now I have seen the Angel of Yahweh face to face!’
23 Yahweh answered, ‘Peace be with you; have no fear; you will not die.’
24 Gideon built an altar there to Yahweh and called it Yahweh-Peace. This altar stands in our own day at Ophrah of Abiezer.
25 Now that night, Yahweh said to Gideon, ‘Take your father’s bull, the seven-year-old bull, and pull down the altar to Baal belonging to your father and cut down the sacred pole beside it.
26 Then, on top of this strong-point, build a proper altar to Yahweh your God. Then take the bull and burn it as a burnt offering on the wood of the sacred pole which you have cut down.’
27 Gideon then took ten of his servants and did as Yahweh had ordered him. But, being too frightened of his family and of the townspeople to do it in daylight, he did it at night.
28 Next morning, when the townspeople got up, they found that the altar to Baal had been destroyed, the sacred pole standing beside it had been cut down and the bull had been sacrificed as a burnt offering on the newly built altar.
29 ‘Who has done this?’ they asked one another. They searched, made enquiries and declared, ‘Gideon son of Joash has done it.’
30 The townspeople then said to Joash, ‘Bring out your son; he must die for having destroyed Baal’s altar and cut down the sacred pole which stood beside it.’
31 To the people all crowding round him, Joash replied, ‘Is it your job to plead for Baal? Is it your job to champion his cause? (Anyone who pleads for Baal must be put to death before dawn.) If he is a god, let him plead for himself, now that Gideon has destroyed his altar.’
32 That day, Gideon was given the name Jerubbaal, because, they said, ‘Baal must plead against him, because he has destroyed his altar!’
33 All Midian and Amalek and the sons of the East joined forces and, having crossed the Jordan, pitched camp in the plain of Jezreel.
34 And the spirit of Yahweh clothed Gideon around; he sounded the horn and Abiezer rallied behind him.
35 He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, and Manasseh too rallied behind him; he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, and they marched out to meet him.
36 Gideon said to God, ‘If it is really you delivering Israel by means of me, as you have said,
37 look, I am going to put a woollen fleece on the threshing-floor; if there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground stays dry, then I shall know that you will deliver Israel by means of me, as you have said.’
38 And so it happened. Early next morning, Gideon got up, squeezed the fleece and wrung enough dew out of the fleece to fill a cup.
39 Gideon then said to God, ‘Do not be angry with me if I speak just once more. Allow me to make the fleece-test just once more: let the fleece alone be dry and there be dew all over the ground!’
40 And God did so that night. The fleece alone stayed dry, and there was dew all over the ground.
1 Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) got up very early, as did all the people who were with him; he pitched camp at En-Harod; the camp of Midian was north of his, under the Hill of Moreh in the valley.
2 Yahweh then said to Gideon, ‘There are too many people with you for me to put Midian into their power; Israel might claim the credit for themselves at my expense: they might say, “My own hand has rescued me.”
3 So now make this proclamation to the people, “Anyone trembling with fear is to go back and watch from Mount Gilboa.” ‘ Twenty-two thousand of the people went back, and ten thousand remained.
4 Yahweh said to Gideon, ‘There are still too many people. Take them down to the waterside and I shall sort them out for you there. If I say of someone, “He is to go with you,” that man is to go with you. And if I say of anyone, “He is not to go with you,”
5 So Gideon took the people down to the waterside, and Yahweh said to him, ‘All those who lap the water with their tongues, as a dog laps, put these on one side. And all those who kneel down to drink, put these on the other side.’
6 The number of those who lapped with their hands to their mouth was three hundred; all the rest of the people had knelt to drink.
7 Yahweh then said to Gideon, ‘With the three hundred who lapped the water, I shall rescue you and put Midian into your power. Let the people as a whole disperse to their homes.’
8 So they took the people’s provisions and their horns, and then Gideon sent all the Israelites back to their tents, keeping only the three hundred. The camp of Midian was below his in the valley.
9 Now it happened, that same night, that Yahweh said to him, ‘Get up and go down to the camp. I am putting it into your power.
10 If, however, you are nervous about going down, go down to the camp with your servant Purah;
11 listen to what they are saying, and that will encourage you to go down to the camp.’ So, with his servant Purah, he went down to the edge of the outposts of the camp.
12 Midian, Amalek and all the sons of the East were deployed in the valley as thick as locusts; their camels were as innumerable as the sand on the seashore.
13 Gideon got there just as a man was telling his comrade a dream; he was saying, ‘This was the dream I had: a cake made of barley bread came rolling into the camp of Midian; it came to a tent, struck against it and turned it upside down.’
14 His comrade replied, ‘This can only be the sword of Gideon son of Joash the Israelite. God has put Midian and the whole camp into his power.’
15 When Gideon heard the dream thus told and interpreted, he bowed in reverence; he then went back to the camp of Israel and said, ‘On your feet, for Yahweh has put the camp of Midian into your power!’
16 Gideon then divided his three hundred men into three groups. To each he gave a horn and an empty pitcher, with a torch inside each pitcher.
17 He said to them, ‘Watch me, and do as I do. When I reach the edge of the camp, whatever I do, you must do also.
18 I shall blow my horn, and so will all those who are with me; you too will then blow your horns all round the camp and shout, “For Yahweh and for Gideon!”
19 Gideon and his hundred companions reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when the new sentries had just been posted; they blew their horns and smashed the pitchers in their hands.
20 The three groups blew their horns and smashed their pitchers; with their left hands they grasped the torches, with their right hands the horns for blowing them; and they shouted, ‘The sword for Yahweh and for Gideon!’
21 And they stood still, spaced out round the camp. The whole camp was thrown into confusion and the Midianites fled, shouting.
22 While the three hundred blew their horns, Yahweh made each man turn his sword against his comrade throughout the entire camp. They all fled as far as Beth-ha-Shittah in the direction of Zarethan, as far as the bank of Abel-Meholah opposite Tabbath.
23 The men of Israel mustered from Naphtali, Asher and all Manasseh, and pursued Midian.
24 Gideon sent messengers throughout the highlands of Ephraim to say, ‘Come down to meet Midian, seize the water-points ahead of them as far as Beth-Barah and the Jordan.’ All the men of Ephraim mustered and seized the water-points as far as Beth-Barah and the Jordan.
25 They captured the two Midianite chieftains, Oreb and Zeeb; they killed Oreb at Oreb’s Rock and Zeeb at Zeeb’s Winepress. They pursued Midian; and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side of the Jordan.
1 Now the men of Ephraim said to Gideon, ‘What do you mean by treating us like this, not summoning us when you went to fight Midian?’ And they reproached him bitterly.
2 He replied, ‘What have I achieved, compared with you? Is not the gleaning of Ephraim’s grapes better than the vintage of Abiezer?
3 God delivered Oreb and Zeeb, the chieftains of Midian, into your power. What was I able to do, in comparison with what you have done?’ At these words, their anger with him died down.
4 Gideon reached the Jordan and crossed it, but he and his three hundred companions were exhausted with the pursuit.
5 So he said to the men of Succoth, ‘Please give my followers some loaves of bread, since they are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna the kings of Midian.’
6 The headmen of Succoth replied, ‘Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your grasp, that we should give bread to your army?’
7 ‘Very well,’ retorted Gideon, ‘when Yahweh has put Zebah and Zalmunna into my power, I shall tear your flesh off with desert-thorn and thistles.’
8 From there he went up to Penuel and asked the men of Penuel the same thing; they replied as those of Succoth had done.
9 And to those of Penuel he made a similar retort, ‘When I return victorious, I shall destroy this tower.’
10 Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army, about fifteen thousand men, all that was left of the entire army of the sons of the East. Of men bearing arms, a hundred and twenty thousand had fallen.
11 Gideon approached them by the tent-dwellers’ route, east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and attacked the army when it thought itself in safety.
12 Zebah and Zalmunna fled. He pursued them; he took the two kings of Midian prisoner — Zebah and Zalmunna — and the whole army he routed in panic.
13 After the battle Gideon came back by the Ascent of Heres.
14 He caught a young man, one of the people of Succoth, and questioned him, and the latter wrote down the names of the headmen and elders of Succoth for him — seventy-seven men.
15 Gideon son of Joash then went to the people of Succoth and said, ‘Here you see Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me and said, “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your grasp, that we should give bread to your exhausted troops?” ‘
16 He then seized the elders of the town and, taking desert-thorn and thistles, tore the men of Succoth to pieces.
17 He destroyed the tower of Penuel and slaughtered the townsmen.
18 He then said to Zebah and Zalmunna, ‘The men you killed at Tabor — what were they like?’ They replied, ‘They looked like you. Every one of them carried himself like the son of a king.’
19 Gideon replied, ‘They were my brothers, the sons of my own mother; as Yahweh lives, if you had spared their lives I would not kill you.’
20 To Jether his eldest son he said, ‘Stand up and kill them!’ But the boy did not draw his sword; he dared not; he was still only a lad.
21 Zebah and Zalmunna then said, ‘Stand up yourself, and strike us down; for as a man is, so is his strength.’ Then Gideon stood up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna; and he took the crescents from round their camels’ necks.
22 The men of Israel said to Gideon, ‘Rule over us, you, your son and your grandson, since you have rescued us from the power of Midian.’
23 But Gideon replied, ‘I will not rule you, neither will my son. Yahweh shall rule you.’
24 Gideon went on, however, ‘Let me make you one request. Each of you give me one ring out of his booty’ — for the vanquished had had gold rings, being Ishmaelites.
25 ‘We shall give them gladly,’ they replied. So he spread out his cloak, and on it each of them threw a ring from his booty.
26 The weight of the gold rings which he had asked for amounted to seventeen hundred shekels of gold, besides the crescents and the earrings and purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and besides the collars round their camels’ necks.
27 From this Gideon made an ephod and set it up in his town, in Ophrah. All Israel, following his example, prostituted themselves to it, and it was a snare for Gideon and his family.
28 Thus Midian was humbled before the Israelites. He did not raise his head again, and the country had peace for forty years, as long as Gideon lived.
29 So Jerubbaal son of Joash went to live at home.
30 Gideon had seventy sons begotten by him, for he had many wives.
31 His concubine, who lived in Shechem, also bore him a son, to whom he gave the name Abimelech.
32 Gideon son of Joash died after a happy old age and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father, at Ophrah of Abiezer.
33 After Gideon’s death, the people of Israel again began to prostitute themselves to the Baals, taking Baal-Berith for their god.
34 The Israelites no longer remembered Yahweh their God, who had rescued them from all the enemies round them.
35 And to the family of Jerubbaal — Gideon — they showed no faithful gratitude for all the good which it had done for Israel.
1 Abimelech son of Jerubbaal confronted his mother’s brothers at Shechem and, to them and to the whole clan of his maternal grandfather’s family, he said,
2 ‘Please put this question to the leading men of Shechem: Which is better for you: to be ruled by seventy people — all Jerubbaal’s sons — or to be ruled by one? Remember too that I am your own flesh and bone.’
3 His mother’s brothers said all this on his behalf to all the leading men of Shechem, and their feelings swayed them to follow Abimelech, since they argued, ‘He is our brother.’
4 So they gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith, and with this Abimelech paid violent adventurers to follow him.
5 He then went to his father’s house at Ophrah and put his brothers, Jerubbaal’s seventy sons, to death on one and the same stone. Jotham, however, Jerubbaal’s youngest son, escaped by going into hiding.
6 All the leading men of Shechem and all Beth-Millo then met and proclaimed Abimelech king at the oak of the cultic stone at Shechem.
7 News of this was brought to Jotham. He went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim and shouted at the top of his voice: Hear me, leaders of Shechem, so that God may also hear you!
8 One day the trees went out to anoint a king to rule them. They said to the olive tree, ‘Be our king!’
9 The olive tree replied, ‘Must I forgo my oil which gives honour to gods and men, to stand and sway over the trees?’
10 Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and be our king!’
11 The fig tree replied, ‘Must I forgo my sweetness, forgo my excellent fruit, to go and sway over the trees?’
12 Then the trees said to the vine, ‘You come and be our king!’
13 The vine replied, ‘Must I forgo my wine which cheers gods and men, to go and sway over the trees?’
14 Then the trees all said to the thorn bush, ‘You come and be our king!’
15 And the thorn bush replied to the trees, ‘If you are anointing me in good faith to be your king, come and shelter in my shade. But, if not, fire will come out of the thorn bush and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’
16 ‘Now then, if you have acted in sincerity and good faith in making Abimelech king, if you have dealt honourably with Jerubbaal and his family, and have treated him as his actions deserved,
17 my father having fought for you, risked his life and rescued you from the power of Midian,
18 and you today having risen up against my father’s family, murdered his sons — seventy of them on one and the same stone — and appointed Abimelech, his slave-girl’s son, to rule the leading men of Shechem, because he is your brother!-
19 if, I say, you have acted in sincerity and good faith towards Jerubbaal and his family, then may Abimelech be your joy and may you be his!
20 If not, may fire come out of Abimelech and devour the leading men of Shechem and Beth-Millo, and fire come out of the leading men of Shechem and Beth-Millo to devour Abimelech!’
21 Jotham then took to his heels; he fled and made his way to Beer; and there he stayed, to be out of his brother Abimelech’s reach.
22 Abimelech ruled Israel for three years.
23 God then sent a spirit of discord between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem betrayed Abimelech.
24 And this was so that the crime committed against Jerubbaal’s seventy sons should be avenged, and their blood recoil on their brother Abimelech who had murdered them, and on those leaders of Shechem who had helped him to murder his brothers.
25 The leaders of Shechem put men to ambush him on the mountain tops, and these robbed anyone travelling their way. Abimelech was told of this.
26 Gaal son of Obed, with his brothers, happened to pass through Shechem and win the confidence of the leaders of Shechem.
27 These went out into the countryside to harvest their vineyards; they trod the grapes and made merry and went into the temple of their god. They ate and drank there and cursed Abimelech.
28 Gaal son of Obed said, ‘Who is Abimelech, and what is Shechem, for us to be his slaves? Should not Jerubbaal’s son and his lieutenant, Zebul, be serving the men of Hamor, father of Shechem? Why should we be his slaves?
29 Who will put this people under my command, so that I can expel Abimelech? I should say to him, “Reinforce your army and come out!” ‘
30 Zebul the governor of the town was told what Gaal son of Obed had said, and he was furious.
31 He sent messengers secretly to Abimelech to say, ‘Look! Gaal son of Obed has come to Shechem with his brothers, and they are stirring up the town against you.
32 So, move under cover of dark, you and the men you have with you, and take up concealed positions in the countryside;
33 then in the morning at sunrise, break cover and rush on the town. When Gaal and his supporters come out to meet you, treat them as occasion offers.’
34 So Abimelech set off under cover of dark with all his own supporters and took up concealed positions over against Shechem, in four groups.
35 As Gaal son of Obed was coming out and pausing at the entrance of the town gate, Abimelech and his supporters rose from their ambush.
36 Gaal saw these men and said to Zebul, ‘Look, there are men coming down from the tops of the mountains!’ Zebul answered, ‘You mistake the shadow of the mountains for men.’
37 But Gaal insisted, ‘Look, there are men coming down from the Navel of the Earth and another group is coming from the direction of the Diviners’ Oak.’
38 Zebul then said, ‘Where are your mouthings now about “Who is Abimelech, for us to be his slaves?” Are not these the men you made light of? Sally out, then, and fight him.’
39 Gaal sallied out at the head of the leaders of Shechem and engaged Abimelech.
40 Abimelech drove Gaal off, who turned tail, many of his men falling dead before they could reach the gate.
41 Abimelech then stayed at Aruma, and Zebul expelled Gaal and his brothers and prevented them from living in Shechem.
42 Next day, when the people went out into the countryside, Abimelech was told of this.
43 He took his men, divided them into three groups and lay in wait in the fields. When he saw the people leaving the town, he bore down on them and slaughtered them.
44 While Abimelech and his group rushed forward and took position at the entrance to the town gate, the two other groups fell on everyone in the fields and slaughtered them.
45 All that day Abimelech attacked the town. He stormed it and slaughtered the people inside, razed the town and sowed it with salt.
46 On hearing this, all the leading men inside Migdal-Shechem took refuge in the crypt of the temple of El-Berith.
47 As soon as Abimelech heard that the leading men inside Migdal-Shechem had all gathered there,
48 he went up Mount Zalmon with all his men. Then taking an axe in his hands, he cut off the branch of a tree, picked it up and put it on his shoulder, and said to the men with him, ‘Hurry and do what you have seen me do.’
49 Each of his men similarly cut off a branch; then, following Abimelech, they piled the branches over the crypt and set it on fire over those who were inside; so that all the people in Migdal-Shechem died too, about a thousand men and women.
50 Abimelech then marched on Thebez, besieged it and captured it.
51 In the middle of the town there was a fortified tower in which all the men and women and all the leading men of the town took refuge. They locked the door behind them and climbed up to the roof of the tower.
52 Abimelech reached the tower and attacked it. As he was approaching the door of the tower to set it on fire,
53 a woman threw down a millstone on his head and cracked his skull.
54 He instantly called his young armour-bearer and said, ‘Draw your sword and kill me, so that it will not be said of me that “A woman killed him”.’ His armour-bearer ran him through, and he died.
55 When the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they dispersed to their homes.
56 Thus God made to recoil on Abimelech the evil he had done his father by murdering his seventy brothers,
57 and all the evil that the men of Shechem had done God made recoil on their heads too. And so the curse of Jotham son of Jerubbaal came true for them.
1 After Abimelech, Tola son of Puah, son of Dodo, rose to deliver Israel. He belonged to Issachar and lived at Shamir in the mountain country of Ephraim.
2 He was judge in Israel for twenty-three years; he then died and was buried at Shamir.
3 After him rose Jair of Gilead, who judged Israel for twenty-two years.
4 He had thirty sons who rode on thirty young donkeys and who owned thirty towns, still known today as the Encampments of Jair, in the territory of Gilead.
5 Jair then died and was buried at Kamon.
6 The Israelites again began doing what is evil in Yahweh’s eyes. They served Baal and Astarte, and the gods of Aram and Sidon, the gods of Moab and those of the Ammonites and Philistines. They deserted Yahweh and served him no more.
7 Yahweh’s anger then grew hot against Israel and he gave them over into the power of the Philistines and the power of the Ammonites,
8 who from that year onwards crushed and oppressed the Israelites for eighteen years — all those Israelites living on the other side of the Jordan in Amorite territory, in Gilead.
9 Furthermore, the Ammonites would cross the Jordan and also make war on Judah, Benjamin and the House of Ephraim, so that Israel was in distress.
10 The Israelites then cried to Yahweh and said, ‘We have sinned against you, because we have turned from Yahweh our God to serve Baals.’
11 And Yahweh said to the Israelites, ‘When Egyptians and Amorites, Ammonites and Philistines,
12 when the Sidonians, Amalek and Midian oppressed you and you cried to me, did I not rescue you from their power?
13 But it is you who have forsaken me and served other gods; and so I shall rescue you no more.
14 Go and cry to the gods whom you have chosen. Let them rescue you in your time of trouble.’
15 The Israelites replied to Yahweh, ‘We have sinned. Treat us as you see fit, but please rescue us today.’
16 They got rid of their foreign gods and served Yahweh, who could bear Israel’s suffering no longer.
17 The Ammonites gathered and pitched camp in Gilead. The Israelites rallied and pitched camp at Mizpah.
18 The people, the chieftains of Gilead, then said to one another, ‘Who will volunteer to attack the Ammonites? He shall be chief of all who live in Gilead!’(New Jerusalem Bible)

Daily Office for Tuesday, January 24, 2012:
Psalm 45
1 [For the choirmaster Tune: 'Lilies . . .' Of the sons of Korah Poem Love song] My heart is stirred by a noble theme, I address my poem to the king, my tongue the pen of an expert scribe.
2 Of all men you are the most handsome, gracefulness is a dew upon your lips, for God has blessed you for ever.
3 Warrior, strap your sword at your side, in your majesty and splendour advance,
4 ride on in the cause of truth, gentleness and uprightness. Stretch the bowstring tight, lending terror to your right hand.
5 Your arrows are sharp, nations lie at your mercy, the king’s enemies lose heart.
6 Your throne is from God, for ever and ever, the sceptre of your kingship a sceptre of justice,
7 you love uprightness and detest evil. This is why God, your God, has anointed you with oil of gladness, as none of your rivals,
8 your robes all myrrh and aloes. From palaces of ivory, harps bring you joy,
9 in your retinue are daughters of kings, the consort at your right hand in gold of Ophir.
10 Listen, my daughter, attend to my words and hear; forget your own nation and your ancestral home,
11 then the king will fall in love with your beauty; he is your lord, bow down before him.
12 The daughter of Tyre will court your favour with gifts, and the richest of peoples
13 with jewels set in gold. Clothed
14 in brocade, the king’s daughter is led within to the king with the maidens of her retinue; her companions are brought to her,
15 they enter the king’s palace with joy and rejoicing.
16 Instead of your ancestors you will have sons; you will make them rulers over the whole world.
17 I will make your name endure from generation to generation, so nations will sing your praise for ever and ever.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 47
1 [For the choirmaster Of the sons of Korah Psalm] Clap your hands, all peoples, acclaim God with shouts of joy.
2 For Yahweh, the Most High, is glorious, the great king over all the earth.
3 He brings peoples under our yoke and nations under our feet.
4 He chooses for us our birthright, the pride of Jacob whom he loves.Pause
5 God goes up to shouts of acclaim, Yahweh to a fanfare on the ram’s horn.
6 Let the music sound for our God, let it sound, let the music sound for our king, let it sound.
7 For he is king of the whole world; learn the music, let it sound for God!
8 God reigns over the nations, seated on his holy throne.
9 The leaders of the nations rally to the people of the God of Abraham. The shields of the earth belong to God, who is exalted on high.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 48
1 [Song Psalm Of the sons of Korah] Great is Yahweh and most worthy of praise in the city of our God, the holy mountain,
2 towering in beauty, the joy of the whole world: Mount Zion in the heart of the north, the settlement of the great king;
3 God himself among its palaces has proved himself its bulwark.
4 For look, kings made alliance, together they advanced;
5 without a second glance, when they saw, they panicked and fled away.
6 Trembling seized them on the spot, pains like those of a woman in labour;
7 it was the east wind, that wrecker of ships from Tarshish.
8 What we had heard we saw for ourselves in the city of our God, in the city of Yahweh Sabaoth, which God has established for ever.Pause
9 We reflect on your faithful love, God, in your temple!
10 Both your name and your praise, God, are over the whole wide world. Your right hand is full of saving justice,
11 Mount Zion rejoices, the daughters of Judah delight because of your saving justice.
12 Go round Zion, walk right through her, count her bastions,
13 admire her walls, examine her palaces, to tell future generations
14 that such is God; our God for ever and ever, he is our guide!(New Jerusalem Bible)
Genesis 15:1-11,17-21
1 Some time later, the word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision: Do not be afraid, Abram! I am your shield and shall give you a very great reward.
2 ‘Lord Yahweh,’ Abram replied, ‘what use are your gifts, as I am going on my way childless? . . .
3 Since you have given me no offspring,’ Abram continued, ‘a member of my household will be my heir.’
4 Then Yahweh’s word came to him in reply, ‘Such a one will not be your heir; no, your heir will be the issue of your own body.’
5 Then taking him outside, he said, ‘Look up at the sky and count the stars if you can. Just so will your descendants be,’ he told him.
6 Abram put his faith in Yahweh and this was reckoned to him as uprightness.
7 He then said to him, ‘I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldaeans to give you this country as your possession.’
8 ‘Lord Yahweh,’ Abram replied, ‘how can I know that I shall possess it?’
9 He said to him, ‘Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove and a young pigeon.’
10 He brought him all these, split the animals down the middle and placed each half opposite the other; but the birds he did not divide.
11 And whenever birds of prey swooped down on the carcases, Abram drove them off.
17 When the sun had set and it was dark, there appeared a smoking firepot and a flaming torch passing between the animals’ pieces.
18 That day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram in these terms: ‘To your descendants I give this country, from the River of Egypt to the Great River, the River Euphrates,
19 the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,
20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,
21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.’(New Jerusalem Bible)
Hebrews 9:1-14
1 The first covenant also had its laws governing worship and its sanctuary, a sanctuary on this earth.
2 There was a tent which comprised two compartments: the first, in which the lamp-stand, the table and the loaves of permanent offering were kept, was called the Holy Place;
3 then beyond the second veil, a second compartment which was called the Holy of Holies
4 to which belonged the gold altar of incense, and the ark of the covenant, plated all over with gold. In this were kept the gold jar containing the manna, Aaron’s branch that grew the buds, and the tables of the covenant.
5 On top of it were the glorious winged creatures, overshadowing the throne of mercy. This is not the time to go into detail about this.
6 Under these provisions, priests go regularly into the outer tent to carry out their acts of worship,
7 but the second tent is entered only once a year, and then only by the high priest who takes in the blood to make an offering for his own and the people’s faults of inadvertence.
8 By this, the Holy Spirit means us to see that as long as the old tent stands, the way into the holy place is not opened up;
9 it is a symbol for this present time. None of the gifts and sacrifices offered under these regulations can possibly bring any worshipper to perfection in his conscience;
10 they are rules about outward life, connected with food and drink and washing at various times, which are in force only until the time comes to set things right.
11 But now Christ has come, as the high priest of all the blessings which were to come. He has passed through the greater, the more perfect tent, not made by human hands, that is, not of this created order;
12 and he has entered the sanctuary once and for all, taking with him not the blood of goats and bull calves, but his own blood, having won an eternal redemption.
13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkled on those who have incurred defilement, may restore their bodily purity.
14 How much more will the blood of Christ, who offered himself, blameless as he was, to God through the eternal Spirit, purify our conscience from dead actions so that we can worship the living God.(New Jerusalem Bible)
John 5:1-18
1 After this there was a Jewish festival, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2 Now in Jerusalem next to the Sheep Pool there is a pool called Bethesda in Hebrew, which has five porticos;
3 and under these were crowds of sick people, blind, lame, paralysed.
4 for at intervals the angel of the Lord came down into the pool, and the water was disturbed, and the first person to enter the water after this disturbance was cured of any ailment he suffered from.
5 One man there had an illness which had lasted thirty-eight years,
6 and when Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had been in that condition for a long time, he said, ‘Do you want to be well again?’
7 ‘Sir,’ replied the sick man, ‘I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is disturbed; and while I am still on the way, someone else gets down there before me.’
8 Jesus said, ‘Get up, pick up your sleeping-mat and walk around.’
9 The man was cured at once, and he picked up his mat and started to walk around. Now that day happened to be the Sabbath,
10 so the Jews said to the man who had been cured, ‘It is the Sabbath; you are not allowed to carry your sleeping-mat.’
11 He replied, ‘But the man who cured me told me, “Pick up your sleeping-mat and walk around.” ‘
12 They asked, ‘Who is the man who said to you, “Pick up your sleeping-mat and walk around”? ‘
13 The man had no idea who it was, since Jesus had disappeared, as the place was crowded.
14 After a while Jesus met him in the Temple and said, ‘Now you are well again, do not sin any more, or something worse may happen to you.’
15 The man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had cured him.
16 It was because he did things like this on the Sabbath that the Jews began to harass Jesus.
17 His answer to them was, ‘My Father still goes on working, and I am at work, too.’
18 But that only made the Jews even more intent on killing him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he spoke of God as his own Father and so made himself God’s equal.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Ordination of Florence Li Tim-Oi
Psalm 116:1-2
1 Alleluia! I am filled with love when Yahweh listens to the sound of my prayer,
2 when he bends down to hear me, as I call.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Jeremiah 17:14-18a
14 Heal me, Yahweh, and I shall be healed, save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise.
15 Look, they keep saying to me, ‘Where is Yahweh’s word? Let it come true then!’
16 Yet I have never urged you to send disaster, I never desired the fatal day, this you know; what came from my lips was not concealed from you.
17 Do not be a terror to me, you, my refuge in time of disaster.
18 Let my persecutors be confounded, not me, let them, not me, be terrified. On them bring the day of disaster, destroy them, destroy them twice over!(New Jerusalem Bible)
Galatians 3:23-28
23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the Law, locked up to wait for the faith which would eventually be revealed to us.
24 So the Law was serving as a slave to look after us, to lead us to Christ, so that we could be justified by faith.
25 But now that faith has come we are no longer under a slave looking after us;
26 for all of you are the children of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus,
27 since every one of you that has been baptised has been clothed in Christ.
28 There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither slave nor freeman, there can be neither male nor female — for you are all one in Christ Jesus.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Luke 10:1-9
1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them out ahead of him in pairs, to all the towns and places he himself would be visiting.
2 And he said to them, ‘The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to do his harvesting.
3 Start off now, but look, I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.
4 Take no purse with you, no haversack, no sandals. Salute no one on the road.
5 Whatever house you enter, let your first words be, “Peace to this house!”
6 And if a man of peace lives there, your peace will go and rest on him; if not, it will come back to you.
7 Stay in the same house, taking what food and drink they have to offer, for the labourer deserves his wages; do not move from house to house.
8 Whenever you go into a town where they make you welcome, eat what is put before you.
9 Cure those in it who are sick, and say, “The kingdom of God is very near to you.”(New Jerusalem Bible)
2 Samuel 6:12b-19
12 King David was informed that Yahweh had blessed Obed-Edom’s family and everything belonging to him on account of the ark of God. David accordingly went and, amid great rejoicing, brought the ark of God up from Obed-Edom’s house to the City of David.
13 When the bearers of the ark of Yahweh had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fat sheep.
14 And David danced whirling round before Yahweh with all his might, wearing a linen loincloth.
15 Thus with war cries and blasts on the horn, David and the entire House of Israel brought up the ark of Yahweh.
16 Now as the ark of Yahweh entered the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul was watching from the window and when she saw King David leaping and whirling round before Yahweh, the sight of him filled her with contempt.
17 They brought the ark of Yahweh in and put it in position, inside the tent which David had erected for it; and David presented burnt offerings and communion sacrifices in Yahweh’s presence.
18 And when David had finished presenting burnt offerings, he blessed the people in the name of Yahweh Sabaoth.
19 To all the people, to the whole multitude of Israelites, men and women, he then distributed to each a loaf of bread, a portion of dates and a raisin cake. Then the people all went back to their homes.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 24:7-10
7 Gates, lift high your heads, raise high the ancient gateways, and the king of glory shall enter!
8 Who is he, this king of glory? It is Yahweh, strong and valiant, Yahweh valiant in battle.
9 Gates, lift high your heads, raise high the ancient gateways, and the king of glory shall enter!
10 Who is he, this king of glory? Yahweh Sabaoth, he is the king of glory.Pause(New Jerusalem Bible)
Mark 3:31-35
31 Now his mother and his brothers arrived and, standing outside, sent in a message asking for him.
32 A crowd was sitting round him at the time the message was passed to him, ‘Look, your mother and brothers and sisters are outside asking for you.’
33 He replied, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’
34 And looking at those sitting in a circle round him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers.
35 Anyone who does the will of God, that person is my brother and sister and mother.’(New Jerusalem Bible)

Tuesday, 24 January 2012
Tuesday of the Third week in Ordinary Time
Saint(s) of the day:St. Francis of Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (+ 1622) – Memorial
Commentary of the day:
Saint Augustine (354-430), Bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and Doctor of the Church
On holy virginity, ch. 5
“Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother”
Those who dedicate themselves completely to the Lord should not worry that, by keeping their virginity like Mary, they will be unable to become mothers in the flesh… He who is the fruit of one holy Virgin alone is the glory and honor of all other holy virgins since, like Mary, they are mothers of Christ so long as they do the will of his Father. Mary’s glory and happiness at being the mother of Christ burst forth above all in the words of the Lord: «Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, my sister and my mother.» In this way he points to the spiritual parenthood joining him to the people he has redeemed. His brothers and sisters are the holy men and women who are inheritors together with him of his heavenly inheritance (Rm 8,17).
His mother is the whole Church since it is she who, by God’s grace, gives birth to Christ’s members, that is to say those who are faithful to him. Again, his mother is every holy soul who does the Father’s will and whose fruitful charity is made known in those to whom she gives birth for him, «until he has been formed in them» (cf Gal 4,19)…
From among all women Mary is the only one who is at the same time both virgin and mother, not only in spirit but also in her body. According to the spirit she is mother… of the members of Christ, namely ourselves, because by her charity she cooperated in bringing forth into the Church the faithful who are members of this divine leader, our head (Eph 4,15-16) whose mother according to the flesh she truly is. For it was necessary that our leader be born according to the flesh of a virgin to teach us that his members are to be born according to the spirit of another virgin, the Church. Therefore Mary is the only woman to be mother and virgin at the same time in both spirit and body. But the whole Church is spiritually also mother of Christ and virgin of Christ in the saints who are to inherit the Kingdom of God.

1st Thought for Today:
My Utmost for His Highest
Reading for Tuesday 24th January 2012
THE OVERMASTERING DIRECTION by Oswald Chambers
I have appeared unto thee for this purpose.(Acts 26:16)
The vision Paul had on the road to Damascus was no passing emotion, but a vision that had very clear and emphatic directions for him, and he says, “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.” Our Lord said, in effect, to Paul – Your whole life is to be overmastered by Me; you are to have no end, no aim, and no purpose but Mine. “I have chosen him.”
When we are born again we all have visions, if we are spiritual at all, of what Jesus wants us to be, and the great thing is to learn not to be disobedient to the vision, not to say that it cannot be attained. It is not sufficient to know that God has redeemed the world, and to know that the Holy Spirit can make all that Jesus did effectual in me; I must have the basis of a personal relationship to Him. Paul was not given a message or a doctrine to proclaim, he was brought into a vivid, personal, overmastering relationship to Jesus Christ. Verse 16 is immensely commanding – “to make thee a minister and a witness.” There is nothing there apart from the personal relationship. Paul was devoted to a Person not to a cause. He was absolutely Jesus Christ’s, he saw nothing else, he lived for nothing else. “For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”

Reflecting God-Longing To Be Pure
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Scripture-Psalm 51:10-19
10 God, create in me a clean heart, renew within me a resolute spirit,
11 do not thrust me away from your presence, do not take away from me your spirit of holiness.
12 Give me back the joy of your salvation, sustain in me a generous spirit.
13 I shall teach the wicked your paths, and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodshed, God, God of my salvation, and my tongue will acclaim your saving justice.
15 Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will speak out your praise.
16 Sacrifice gives you no pleasure, burnt offering you do not desire.
17 Sacrifice to God is a broken spirit, a broken, contrite heart you never scorn.
18 In your graciousness do good to Zion, rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will delight in upright sacrifices,-burnt offerings and whole oblations — and young bulls will be offered on your altar.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Longing To Be Pure by Gerald Crispin
When you hear the word “pure,” what comes to mind? What does it Mean to you? The dictionary defines “pure” as “genuine,” “untainted,” “free from anything contaminating,”"free from blemishes” and so on.
In Psalm 51 David asks God to create in him a pure heart. He asks to not be cast away from the Lord’s presence. Why does David feel the need to take such a request? Because he knows that God is pure, genuine, and unblemished. David’s sinful impurity cause him to fear God’s rejection. He is definitely tainted and blemished. David knows he is not pure, but he wants to be, he longs to be pure. David recognizes that purity is not within his own power; God alone can make him pure. David also asks for restored joy and to be given a willing spirit.
If we have sinned we need to join David and ask forgiveness. If we have been forgiven, we need to encourage and teach others how to do the same. We need to know what God desires most from us: a broken and contrite heart that longs to be pure.
Hymn for Today:
1. “Give Me Thy Heart” by Eliza E. Hewitt
“Give Me thy heart,” says the Father above—
No gift so precious to Him as our love;
Softly He whispers wherever thou art,
“Gratefully trust Me and give Me thy heart.”
Refrain:
“Give Me thy heart, give me thy heart”—
Hear the soft whisper, wherever thou art;
From this dark world He would draw thee apart,
Speaking so tenderly, “Give Me thy heart.”
2. “Give Me thy heart,” says the Savior of men,
Calling in mercy again and again;
“Trust in Me only, I’ll never depart—
Have I not died for thee? Give Me thy heart.”
Refrain:
“Give Me thy heart, give me thy heart”—
Hear the soft whisper, wherever thou art;
From this dark world He would draw thee apart,
Speaking so tenderly, “Give Me thy heart.”
3. “Give Me thy heart,” says the Spirit divine;
“All that thou hast to My keeping resign;
Grace more abounding is Mine to impart—
Make full surrender and give Me thy heart.”
Refrain:
“Give Me thy heart, give me thy heart”—
Hear the soft whisper, wherever thou art;
From this dark world He would draw thee apart,
Speaking so tenderly, “Give Me thy heart.”
2nd Thought for Today:
“Those who confess their sin, accepting the gift of salvation have this promise: Messiah will come to baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire”(Gay Leonard and Debbie Goodwin).
Prayer Needs:
Developing Christian leaders in Switzerland.

The Upper Room Daily Devotional
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Keeping God in Sight
Suggested Bible Reading:
Read Deuteronomy 6:4-9
4 ‘Listen, Israel: Yahweh our God is the one, the only Yahweh.
5 You must love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength.
6 Let the words I enjoin on you today stay in your heart.
7 You shall tell them to your children, and keep on telling them, when you are sitting at home, when you are out and about, when you are lying down and when you are standing up;
8 you must fasten them on your hand as a sign and on your forehead as a headband;
9 you must write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Today’s Scripture:
God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”(Hebrews 13:5 (NIV))
Today’s Devotional
The Bible verse on my daily calendar that morning was Matthew 28:20, in which Jesus says, “surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” His words could have been a powerful word of hope to me because I have bipolar disorder and was going through a particularly difficult time. But I was so anxious that morning that I didn’t pay any attention to those words of scripture. Then as I started to put in my contact lenses, I lost one. It took me a while to locate it, but where I finally found it encouraged me to look at the day’s verse again: The lens had stuck to the calendar. My anxiety didn’t vanish that instant, but the Lord used my lost contact lens to remind me to focus on Christ’s promise to always be with me, especially in the midst of my anxious moments. And the Lord kept that promise.
It took a long time for me to learn healthy ways of dealing with my illness and my anxiety, but the Lord never left me. Over and over again, reminders from a variety of sources directed me back to the Bible. I learned to pay more attention to the words of scripture and to surround myself with them as a sign of God’s constant presence.
I still take medication to manage my illness, but my extreme anxiety is gone. As I learned to turn to scripture to help manage my fears, God has delivered me from them. These days, the Bible does more than help me find hope in hard times; it helps me to see and celebrate the life I have in Christ at all times. by Barbara Gail Bliss (Colorado, USA)
3rd Thought for the Day: The words of scripture are more than just words.
Prayer: O Lord, open our eyes to your word, and help us to see you more clearly in every circumstance. Amen.
Prayer Focus: People with mental illness
The scripture quotation, unless otherwise indicated, is from the NEW REVISED STANDARD VERSION of the Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2012 by The Upper Room, a ministry of GBOD. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce or redistribute without written permission from the publisher.

Daily Meditation: Wisdom — Feast of St. Francis de Sales — January 24, 2012
Center for Action and Contemplation
WISDOM
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Feast of St. Francis de Sales,
patron of Christian writers and journalists
“You can catch more flies with a spoonful of honey than a barrel of vinegar,” says Francis de Sales.
Enlightenment cannot be manufactured, manipulated, or delivered on demand. It is always passed on from another. Jesus both claims to be the Light of the World and then says the same for us too! (See John 8:12 and Matthew 5:14-16.) It is surprising that most do not connect these two scriptures. Wisdom is not a do-it-yourself project. It is a mystery of transmission, contagion, and the passing on of life, as Francis de Sales did so well through his many loving messages in very hostile 17th-century Geneva.
I always tell people who ask if they can quote me that if it is true wisdom then I have no copyright to it. I learned it from someone else. If it is true wisdom it is always “common domain.”
Enlightenment is not about knowing as much as it is about unknowing; it is not so much learning as unlearning. It is more about entering a vast mystery than arriving at a mental certitude. Enlightenment knows that grace is everywhere, and the only reasonable response is a grateful heart and the acknowledgment that there is more depth and meaning to everything. A too quick and easy answer is invariably a wrong one. Adapted from On the Threshold of Transformation:
Daily Meditations for Men, p. 38
Starter Prayer:
Grant me wisdom. by Father Richard Rohr

4th Thought for Today:
Tuesday January 24, 2012
Forgiveness, the Cement of Community Life
Community is not possible without the willingness to forgive one another “seventy-seven times” (see Matthew 18:22). Forgiveness is the cement of community life. Forgiveness holds us together through good and bad times, and it allows us to grow in mutual love.
But what is there to forgive or to ask forgiveness for? As people who have hearts that long for perfect love, we have to forgive one another for not being able to give or receive that perfect love in our everyday lives. Our many needs constantly interfere with our desire to be there for the other unconditionally. Our love is always limited by spoken or unspoken conditions. What needs to be forgiven? We need to forgive one another for not being God! by Father Henri J. M. Nouwen

1.24.12 – Counsel on marriage and sex from The Church of the REsurrection-United Methodist in Leawood, Kansas, United States
Daily Scripture: 1 Corinthians 7:1 “Now for the questions about which you wrote. Yes, it is a good thing for a man not to touch a woman;
2 yet to avoid immorality every man should have his own wife and every woman her own husband.
3 The husband must give to his wife what she has a right to expect, and so too the wife to her husband.
4 The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and in the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.
5 You must not deprive each other, except by mutual consent for a limited time, to leave yourselves free for prayer, and to come together again afterwards; otherwise Satan may take advantage of any lack of self-control to put you to the test.
6 I am telling you this as a concession, not an order.
7 I should still like everyone to be as I am myself; but everyone has his own gift from God, one this kind and the next something different.
8 To the unmarried and to widows I say: it is good for them to stay as they are, like me.
9 But if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry, since it is better to be married than to be burnt up.”(New Jerusalem Bible)
Reflection Questions:
Paul was single, celibate—and contented. But he knew sexuality and marriage were subjects of major and legitimate interest for many people. He saw value in some limits on sexual expression that the Greek and Roman cultures largely ignored. But he plainly favored sexual intimacy and joy as a means of expressing and strengthening commitment and trust.
In Corinth, up to 1,000 “sacred” prostitutes came down to the streets each night from the Temple of Aphrodite. In what ways did that culture and environment resemble today’s? How did this setting give special force to Paul’s words about each person having sexual relations exclusively with their own mate?
Paul is often seen as hating women. Note, however, his emphasis on mutuality, and the way he saw “authority” only to be exercised in a reciprocal, relational way. What bad experiences or fears make it difficult for you to build mutuality in a relationship? How can trust and shared authority create a stronger bond between people?
Weekly Prayer:
Lord God, “a man embraces his wife, and they become one flesh”? Wow—Genesis said the first human couple were really strongly attracted to each other! Sometimes I have that sense, too, but so many things (grief, illness, betrayal, unresolved childhood hurts, even just human brokenness in one or both partners) can go wrong. This week, teach me about the joy, bonding and sharing of life that “good sex,” sex as you intend it to be, can bring to our lives. Amen.
Tuesday 1.24.12 Insight from Rev. Anne Williams
Rev. Anne Williams is the Congregational Care pastor for members of the Resurrection family who have last names beginning with S-Z.
When I think of mutuality in marriage, I think first about household chores. Eric and I have gotten pretty good at the sacred act of chore-bartering. It usually goes a little something like this -
“I’ll do the toilets if you do the sinks and mirrors … toilets are worth double.”
“I already did the laundry.”
“Don’t know if you can say you did the laundry if you never got around to folding it.”
“I’ll do anything to get out of dusting. How about vacuuming, sweeping and mopping for dusting?”
I know some couples who swear by the rule where the one who cooks never has to do the dishes. But what Eric and I have found in our three short years of marriage is that you do what works. There have been times I’m swamped with 18 hours of seminary courses and two part time jobs and he’s stepped up to pull a little more weight. There have been other times when he’s in crunch-time at work and battling a head cold that I take a couple little tasks off his to-do list at home and bless him with his favorite meal for dinner. Until an official volume of rules and regulations is printed where some objective third party decides if toilet duty does really count for double points, keeping things perfectly even and equal will be a challenge anyway.
But mutuality is about much more than chores. In the Williams family we strive to honor God with mutuality as we make sure both partners’ experiences are honored, both voices are heard, both needs are met, and both give and receive, both compromise, and both feel honored and cherished for their unique contributions to the marriage. Now that’s a chore that takes some elbow grease!
Post Script: To see an interesting attempt to put numerical value on all it takes to keep a household moving day-in and day-out, see this article “How Much is a Homemaker Worth?”
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, TODAY’S NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society®. Used by permission of International Bible Society®. All rights reserved worldwide.

5th Thought for Today:
Tuesday 24 January 2012
Culture as a place of Belonging
There is something very profound about culture as a place of belonging, a place of security, a place of celebration, a place where we can be poor and weak and strong together because the group protects the weaker ones, protects the more fragile ones. by Jean Vanier
Belonging: The Search for Acceptance
Windborne Production Video

“You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not
alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation
will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines
and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth
pains.” (Matthew 24:6–8)
Shalom,
For Israel and perhaps for the entire world, Iran will probably dominate the
news and shape 2012, whether we want it to or not.
Iran became a hot topic in the news last year when the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) accused Tehran in November of being involved in
a secret nuclear weapons program.
Fordo which is a new Iranian nuclear site capable of producing 20-percent
enriched uranium, has begun operations in a heavily defended bunker site
inside a mountain southwest of Iran’s capital, Tehran.
United States and European Union sanctions imposed on Iran in a bid to halt
its nuclear program have led to increased tension between Iran and the West.
In a recent response to these sanctions, Tehran has threatened to close the
Straits of Hormuz, which would compromise oil shipments to the West.
The assassination of an Iraqi nuclear scientist two weeks ago has resulted in
Iran accusing Israel, the United States and Britain for the assassination, and
led to threats to avenge it.
One or more of the following three scenarios might play out this year:
The world will unify to take decisive action to stop Iran from
acquiring nuclear warheads;
The world will not take decisive action, and Iran will acquire nuclear
weapons; and/ or
Israel will have no choice but to take preemptive action with a first
strike against Iran.
The United States is coordinating with Israel on the issue of Iran’s nuclear
capabilities with regard to a possible Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.
General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff,
arrived in Israel on Thursday for talks with Defense Minister Ehud Barak,
Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, and other senior defense and
intelligence officials.
Yeshua: Wars and Rumors of Wars
“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore
we will not fear. … The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our
fortress.” (Psalm 46:1, 7)
Yeshua (Jesus) warned that in the last days, there will be wars and rumors
of wars. And yet Yeshua also encouraged his disciples not to lose heart!
(Matthew 24:6)
In the Jewish prayer book, called the Siddur, we read David’s Psalm 91 in
its entirety every day.
“Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of
the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my
God, in whom I trust.’” (Psalm 91: 1–2)
What is Praying for the Peace of Jerusalem?
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May those who love you be secure.”
(Psalm 122:6)
As Bible believing people, we are commanded to pray for the peace of
Jerusalem.
Many of us interpret this as a passive involvement with Jerusalem from the
safe distance of prayer.
In Hebrew, the Scriptures actually read Sha’alu Shalom Yerushalayim.
This carries the connotation of asking about the welfare of Jerusalem. In
other words, we are commanded to do more than pray; we are to be
concerned for her, aware of what is happening, and involved with her well being.
As God’s people are not to be merely passive observers of world events,
but active participants.
End-Time Prophecy
By becoming aware of end-time prophecies regarding Israel and the Middle
East, we can be more effective in prayer and action.
The Bible gives us insight into certain future events, as yet unseen, not to
frighten us, but to forewarn and prepare us.
“The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and
pay the penalty.” (Proverbs 27:12)
We might look at current events from a political or an economic viewpoint,
but only when we bring in the Word of God do we have a three
dimensional perspective.
Judgment on Elam
“This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning
Elam [Iran].” (Jeremiah 49:34)
The Prophet Jeremiah gave a warning about a coming judgment on Elam,
which is an ancient name for the modern nation of Iran.
As a prophet, Jeremiah’s track record is impeccable. He foresaw the New
Covenant as well as the destruction of Judah by Babylon.
For this word, the prophet was arrested and thrown into a dungeon. Back
then, like today, people preferred false prophets who declared peace and
prosperity, but Jeremiah spoke the truth even though it was unpopular.
Just like Jeremiah, our calling is to tell the truth, not to make people feel
happy by saying all will be well.
This prophecy is for the ‘end times’. The fact that Israel was re-born in
1948 is proof that we are living in the last days. According to Jeremiah,
God will break the military and political power of Iran and scatter its people
to all nations.
“See, I will break the bow of Elam, the mainstay of their might. I will bring
against Elam the four winds from the four quarters of heaven; I will scatter
them to the four winds, and there will not be a nation where Elam’s exiles
do not go.” (Jeremiah 49:35–36)
God’s judgment against Elam (Iran) is specifically directed towards its
government leaders, as Jeremiah also says that God will establish His
sovereign rule in the midst of Iran and in the end will restore them.
God’s purpose in judgment is never vindictive but always redemptive
in purpose–in order that all people of every race, tongue and tribe will
come to know that He is the Lord Adonai.
“‘I will shatter Elam before their foes, before those who want to kill them; I
will bring disaster on them, even my fierce anger,’ declares the Lord. ‘I will
pursue them with the sword until I have made an end of them. I will set my
throne in Elam and destroy her king and officials,’ declares the Lord. ‘Yet
I will restore the fortunes of Elam in days to come,’ declares the Lord.”
(Jeremiah 49:37-39)
Tyranny and the Iranian Exile
“I will bring against Elam [Iran] the four winds from the four quarters of
heaven; I will scatter them to the four winds….” (Jeremiah 49:35–36)
Some consider that this Iranian exile prophesied in Jeremiah has already begun.
In 1979, many Iranians fearing the radical regime of the Islamic Revolution
fled the country.
Approximately five million Iranians now live in exile, scattered across the
world, with one million of them now residing in the United States.
Radical Islam has brought a horrible evil to the people of Iran. The country
is now characterized by political executions, arrests, imprisonments and
torture. Drug and alcohol abuse has skyrocketed. Freedom of speech is
suppressed.
The country has been devastated by poverty as the leadership hoards the
wealth for their own selves and spends huge sums on building their military
forces and developing nuclear weaponry.
This has triggered economic sanctions that make it even harder for the
common people of Iran to survive.
Anti-Israel Stance Brings Judgment
Today, Iranians live under an evil tyranny.
That tyranny has a spiritual aspect, since the people are trapped in a system
that is taking them away from God. Iran is one of the most fiercely ‘anti-
Israel’ and ‘anti-Yeshua/Jesus’ nations on the planet.
Christianity is outlawed in Iran, and the Christians there are persecuted.
Daily, the leadership of Iran publicly broadcasts vile threats and curses
against Israel and the Jewish people. By doing so, they are opposing God
and bringing their nation under a curse.
God has promised, “I will bless those that bless you (Israel) and will curse
those that curse you.” (Genesis 12:3)
Move of God: Iranians Come to Faith in Yeshua
We must pray that God will save our enemies, not just judge them. Indeed,
God is moving among Iranians.
Presently, over one million Shiite Muslim Iranians have come to faith in
Messiah Yeshua (Jesus).
One Iranian Muslim convert, Hormoz Shariat, called the ‘Billy Graham’ of
the Muslim world, is a research scientist with a PhD in computer engineering.
He used to be a radical Muslim who shouted on the streets of Iran, “Death
to Israel! Death to America!”
In 1979, he and his wife (an “American Christian” who had converted to
Islam and moved to Iran) came to the United States to pursue a higher
education in graduate school. Shariat, however, felt empty spiritually and
trapped in a loveless marriage.
Distraught, and on the verge of divorce, he began to study the Koran.
When he found few answers there, he began to study the Bible as well.
The Lord was also at work in his wife, and she became a born-again
Believer first, through people who shared the Gospel with her, including
the janitor in her building, who spoke very poor English.
Shariat was astonished by the change he witnessed in his wife.
Hormoz Shariat
Even though coming to faith in Yeshua was a difficult road for him because
he tried to find all the answers intellectually, he too eventually became a
born-again follower of Yeshua.
With a passion to reach their own people, they founded a television ministry
in which over 250 million Iranians have given their lives to God through
Yeshua since December 2001.
God is doing something great even in our worst enemy! He is calling to the
individual hearts of Iranians.
God loves Israel, but He also loves the people of Iran. Nevertheless, Iran
as a nation seems bent on war with Israel, and God will deal with them
as a nation.
Israel is surrounded by hostile Arab neighbors threatening her extinction.
Iran has the oldest Jewish Diaspora in the world with perhaps 25,000 Jews,
the second largest Jewish population in the Middle East after Israel. Had it
not been for persecution and forced conversion, there would be more Jews
in Iran. Thirteen Jews have been executed in Iran since the Islamic Revolution.
Jews have lived in this area of the world since the 6th century BCE (First Temple).
To reach Iranians everywhere, the Messianic Prophecy Bible will translated into Farsi.
The Looming War with Iran
“The Lord will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and
the heavens will tremble. But the Lord will be a refuge for His people, a
stronghold for the people of Israel.” (Joel 3:16)
Please join us in praying for the protection of Israel in the coming war with Iran.
At the same time that we pray for peace, we must also prepare
for war.
These two are not mutually exclusive or contradictory—we need to do both:
Pray for peace and prepare for war.
Each of us, especially in Israel, needs to seek God for specifics as to what
we can do to prepare for coming events.
If it’s a biological war, our gas masks will do little and if it’s a nuclear war,
nothing can protect us, except angels diverting the nuclear warheads.
Pray that Israelis would turn to God and to Messiah, Yeshua, in the
time of Jacob’s Trouble.
“He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.” (Psalm 121:4)