Never underestimate the power of words

Genesis 11; Matthew 10; Ezra 10; Acts 10

An odd thing about sin is it can unite people, not to do good but to carry out evil plans. Gangs, underworld groups, some politicians, even bullies on the playground will get together to carry out their intentions. It began early in human history in a plain in the land of Shinar.

Then the people said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” (Genesis 11:4–7)

God knew their intentions were anti-God and sinful. They were supposed to fill the earth (Genesis 9:1) He also knew what to do about their sin. What the people considered their greatest strength — unity — He swiftly destroyed by confusing their language. What they considered their greatest fear — scattering — happened naturally to them. What they desired most — to make a name for themselves — ironically came to pass, for they became known as “Babel” — the word means confusion. This judgment shows up even in today’s news, not just in that area but throughout the world as confusion seems to reign.

In Ezra’s time, the people of God fell under judgment too. They had intermarried with pagans which God had forbidden. However, they had a different response to their sin than those in Shinar; they repented (Ezra 10:1) We all sin and fall short of the glory of God. Forgiveness is there, but like any gift, it must be received. The people in Ezra’s time reversed their behavior and God blessed them.

Much later, the Word of God, His very language, became flesh. Words and language gave us the good news: faith in Jesus Christ reverses the curse on sin. It no longer needs to unite people against God and divide people against one another. Here are the words of Jesus as He sent His disciples to tell others of God’s plan:

“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 10:16–22)

Right away, the early church experienced a reversal of Babel when the Word gave His followers the ability to speak in tongues or other languages so that thousands of visitors to Jerusalem could understand the Gospel. He gave Peter words to say that united listeners as they put their faith in Him. Peter spoke to Jews and Gentiles and God blessed his words that told how, “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.”

Peter explained Jesus’ death and resurrection and the good news, “And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” (Acts 10:34–43)

Language and words have the power to unite or divide. Proverbs 18:21 says that death and life are in the power of the tongue. Sinful, toxic words can unite people against God and divide them against one another. God’s words can unite people in Christ even as they separate us from sin. All this is His gentle reminder: Elsie, put away crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you. (Proverbs 4:24) How I talk marks whether I live in Christ who is the Word of God — or in confusion along with others on the plains of Shinar.

Jesus — the Light of the World

Genesis 9–10; Matthew 9; Ezra 9; Acts 9

I’m reading about the connection between certain kinds of light and good health. Fascinating stuff. It is also practical.

For instance, sometimes my mind wanders when we give thanks before meals. The habit makes it a ritual and I catch myself and tell myself to be thankful. Light from God this morning tells me that “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.”

This reminds me of God’s goodness. The rest of the passage is light too as it warns putting animals in the same class as humans and refusing to eat animals because that is the wrong reason. God puts humans in a class by themselves because we are made in the image of God. He says if man or animal kills a person He will require a reckoning because, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” (Genesis 9:1–6) Besides my daily food, being created in His image is worthy of deep and heart-felt thanksgiving.

In Ezra, as throughout the Old Testament, God sheds light on the seriousness of disobeying Him. He forbade marriage to pagans knowing they would drag His people into idolatry. When it happened and Ezra was informed, he fasted and prayed:

“O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens. From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today. (Ezra 9:6–7)

As this prophet, “prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women, and children, gathered to him out of Israel, for the people wept bitterly.” (Ezra 10:1) They realized that the only ‘cure’ for sin is forgiveness that comes through faith, repentance and obedience. This covers sins like being unthankful, like taking God’s goodness for granted, and like the serious sin of linking up with pagans.

We all need forgiveness. Jesus knows this is our greatest need. When some people brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed, He put forgiveness at the top of His to-do list:

And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” (Matthew 9:2)

After that, He healed the man.

Jesus was criticized for spending too much time with those called ‘sinners’ by other people who didn’t realize they are sinners too. He responded, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:12–13)

For me, this is also practical. Spiritual need is more important than physical. Are my priorities like the priorities of Jesus? If I am sick, God can use it for His glory. My desire for healing and comfort might be just that, not for the glory of God.

Acts brings thoughts to the power of Light. Is the Bible using it figuratively? Or is there more to the way God made us than most realize? Science is discovering how certain kinds of light reverse symptoms and even heal many disorders. Our biggest ‘disorder’ is sin — the desire to run our own lives. This describes Paul before conversion:

But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. (Acts 9:1–3)

The greatest light is the Light of the World who shone into this man’s heart and produced a new creation. Jesus did this to me also and to others I know who have ‘seen Jesus’ and in whose light they walk. The more I read and believe God’s Word and the more I understand who He is and what He wants from me, the more He enlightens and changes how I think and behave. This is awesome stuff, awesome indeed!

Sovereignty includes everything . . .

Genesis 8; Matthew 8; Ezra 8; Acts 8

I’ve occasionally prayed about the weather, but with caution. I know Who controls it and I want my prayers to fit with His plans. Today’s readings and other passages affirm that God uses weather for His purposes.

The one most people know is the 40 days and nights of rain as judgment on a world that had become thoroughly corrupt and full of violence (Genesis 6:11ff). After the rain produced a vast flood, God again showed His power over the weather:

But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, (Genesis 8:1–2, italics mine.)

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” (Genesis 8:20–22)

I tend to focus on the bad news but today the promise caught my eye. God said that even though humanity is sinful, He promised that the patterns of weather would not cease as long as the earth remains.

Further evidence of God’s hand in the weather is even more specific. He told Jonah to go warn the people of Nineveh to repent or face judgment. Jonah didn’t want to so he took off in the opposite direction. God stopped him with a storm . . . 

But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD. But the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. (Jonah 1:3–4, italics mine.)

The pagan sailors were terrified, particularly when they realized why they were experiencing this disaster. Jonah told them to throw him overboard since he was the cause of it. Finally, after much persuasion, they agreed “and the sea ceased from its raging.” (Jonah 1:14)

Jesus gives another example:

And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?” (Matthew 8:23–27)

Just a word and the storm ceased. I’m thinking it was likely just His word that started it in the first place; He had a lesson to teach them.

He also teaches me a lesson. James wrote about the importance of keeping short accounts regarding getting my prayers answered. This is about healing and about praying for other things — like the weather!

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. (James 5:16–18)

Personal application is obvious; keep short accounts, no matter what I’m praying about. Also, Elijah was a prophet who was obviously in close connection with God when he prayed as he did. I need to be the same. He hears those whose hearts are in tune with His heart. I also need to consider and pray for the turmoil in the lives of people who think that the world’s population controls the weather.