Drunken Nakedness Habakkuk 2

Woe to you who make your neighbors drink, Who mix in your venom even to make them drink so as to look on their nakedness. You will be filled with disgrace rather than honor. Now you yourself drink and exposed your own nakedness. The cup in the Lord's right hand will come around to you, and utter disgrace will come upon your glory. Habakkuk 2:15-16

Sounds like the bar scene, doesn't it? How many guys urge gals to have another drink, and then slip them a mickey? It happened to a gal I knew in college, and probably to someone you know who went off with someone they did not know and drank with them. It is a sad story for many gals, but all too common. Even a cell phone company is using this scenario as a commercial, the gal waking up in bed to the sounds of an electric toothbrush, grabbing the contract in the bed next to her, and finding out she had signed it. You could tell she barely remembered the night before due to a drink or two.

But it is the ones who use these drinks to take advantage of others that Habakkuk was speaking to. There is nothing new under the sun, people. Wicked folks were using strong drink to take sexual advantage of others since the beginning of time. There are prurient interests in seeing people naked all over. Even the prime-time tv shows are showing more and more skin, pushing the limits of soft-core porn. Colleges are publishing magazines with it. Newsstands carry Cosmo and other things more revealing for wandering eyes.

So those who entice people to shed the covering get one of two responses. The editors of Playboy get accollades and are called artists, while those who post encounters on Facebook get blasted. But both those who take advantage, whether by paying someone to strip down or by force or deception, both will be exposed for what they are sooner or later. Both are lechers, and God will make them drink of the cup that they force on others. They will be put to shame.

Never has that been more sadly true than in the media right now. A Christian family, good, God-fearing people, had a son use women long ago. But the cup has come around to this son. He has been exposed and disgraced. Unfortunately, it has taken the testimony of the whole family down with him. That is how it works. Sadly, the scripture, “Be sure your sin will find you out,” has come to pass. I do not condemn them. Every family has their skeletons in the closet to some degree. We have influence, but not control, over members of our family. We have our own. Drunkenness, abuse, adultery, divorce, debt, suicide, mental illness, illegitimacy...they hang on limbs of our family tree. And I'll bet they hang on most of yours. If not, be eternally grateful! Some of God's closest relationships here on earth were with people who exhibited many of those traits. Noah drank himself naked, David took someone's wife, abused her, and committed adultery. Elijah was suicidal after being chased by Jezebel. Lot committed incest...you get the point. It doesn't mean that there were not consequences. Certainly just reading these things makes your opinions of them diminish...tarnish coats the knights in shining armor. It in no way excuses their behavior. IN NO WAY! But God has the ultimate perspective. He knows we are but dust, and in case you don't know it, there is no good use for dust. We throw it out. It is dirty and destructive and can ultimately lead to damage to the surfaces or crevices to which it attaches itself. The very computer you are reading can be brought to an abrupt end by dust in the works. But the question is, are we grieving with this family or relishing the scandal? Are we glad that this son renounced these things years ago and that they were dealt with, or are we feeling pious that no such thing has happened in our home? Are we getting all comfortable with the idea that they didn't bring this to light so they deserve this horror? What if everything that has gone wrong in your family was exposed to the world? How embarrassed would you be if the times you screwed up were put on public display? Every call from the principal? Every scream? Every thought? Every relative? The good news is that repentant people are forgiven even these vices. Jesus took the penalty. But it cost Him plenty.

There will be consequences. There were in Habakkuk's day, and there still are in ours. But God doesn't leave us there. For those who cling to the Lord, He will be their strength and salvation. He will secure their footings once again. Those who continue to sin and not repent, those will be thoroughly destroyed. So we have a choice. Will we be humbled and repent or will we continue to be blind-drunk, placing ourselves in the hands of those who would only use and abuse us? Will we use and abuse others, tricking them into doing things they would not do if they were in control of themselves? Are there sins we need to repent of and renounce before we are humbled publicly?

The cup God hands you, that of destruction and humbling, or of rejoicing, will depend on it.

Bonds of love Hosea 11:4

I led them with cords of a man, with bonds of love, And I became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws; And I bent down and fed them. Hosea 11:4 NASB
I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them. Hosea 11:4 NIV

There are words in each of these translations that I like, so I give you both versions to chew upon.

How we hate to be bound, restrained, in any way. I think of a horse when I read this passage. I am not sure that that is how it is meant to be read. I don't know what cords we are really talking about here, but the idea is the same. We are tethered to a greater force, to a leader who has a place for us to go. We aren't going alone in our own direction. We are being led and the leader is taking us there. He is going with us. I picture a man walking a horse, standing next to his neck. Up close and personal. There is a relationship here. A unity like horse and rider. A connection. We are looking at lifting the yoke off. The work is done. We are being taken to the stable to be fed and combed and petted and put to rest for the night. Our duties of the day have been fulfilled, and the tender owner praises his beast for its daily work. This is a leading to rest. How often in scripture God tells us to rest! He wants to be tender with us, refreshing us, feeding us, leading us to green pasture. More often He refers to us as sheep. The shepherd would have to bend down to hand-feed the sheep something other than pasture grass. In any case, he has us on a rope, but it is for our good and benefit. We usually don't go the way the master desires unless we are pulled along or given the restraining boundaries of a lead rope.

Yep, that's us. Even as Christians we tug hard against the ropes of God's mercy. We want to wander around. We may not know where we are going, but we are going there anyway. We resist the call to come in for the night and get our needs met and have the stresses of the day melt into a gentle grooming and a bite to eat. To take the yoke off and quit striving so hard. To let the Master make the decisions of when it is time to work and when it is time to quit. To let Him decide if pasture grass is enough for the day, or if we need an oat bag or a handful of treats (chocolate or a nice mocha latte) to calm our nerves or give relief to our weary muscles. Yet we tug against the ropes like a stubborn donkey, digging in our heals and telling God we want to go another direction. We don't realize that the direction He is pulling us in is for our good. But we have other ideas. We just know we are tied, refusing to see that we are tied with bonds of love. We just know that they are bonds, and we want to be free.

There have been several articles I have read lately that have talked about the slave, the bond-servant, the under-rower that we are called to be in Christ. This is a slave with no rights of his own. He is owned, given a task or tasks, and serves the master who owns him. That is our position in Christ before God. We were purchased and They are our owners. They are our bosses. They have defined the limits of our lives. But we recoil against such a thought. We don't want to be owned. We are Americans and are slaves to no one! But this is the kind of ownership that God has for us...one of tender relationship. He gives us a job in accord with, or exceeding, our abilities. He equips the called and gives them large important tasks to do. He calls us to be workers in His field, plowing, planting, and watering, and weeding, all the while marveling while the crop grows around us. Then the harvest comes, and we rejoice in the fruit of our labors. Parties are held, and feasts are eaten as we rejoice that all that work paid off! That work may be in raising children, leading a Sunday school class or working Vacation Bible School. It may be in working for the Lord in a factory, a quilt shop, or an insurance company. We are led into schools, coffee shops, and playgrounds to meet other sheep whose shepherds have abandoned them to the wolves around them. We may not know why God led us to where He has us (Lord knows that Iowa is the LAST place I thought I would live!), but we can trust His heart that He has led us there for our good and mostly for His glory. He is a caring master. He does not beat us and abuse us, but breaks us like a bucking bronco so that we can be of value to Him and to ourselves and others. How we hate that, but oh, the delight of having purpose in life! Oh, the tender relationship between animals and their caretakers.

This chapter is actually one of hope and mourning. God tells Israel how He wants to provide them with the shelter that they need, and how He doesn't want to be angry with them. He lures them in with thoughts of shelter, safety against their enemies, food, and home. He mourns that they resist Him so. His heart aches for them to come to Him so He can be good to them. Instead they wander in the deserts, food themselves for the beasts who do nothing but attack and destroy. He beckons, speaking softly with food held out in His hand, to draw them in and win their trust. The food of the Word can be feasted upon, satisfying our deepest needs and giving us the nourishment and knowledge of the nature of this shepherd. We should have known Him all along, but in our youthful rebellion and desire to run free, we ran away and lived wild. He sees us out there, lassos us, and gently pulls us home, knowing that if we continue in our wildness we will eventually come to destruction. He calls us to be broken, to be tamed, and to come under His protection and rest from our foraging and hiding from every specter that throws a shadow on our paths. We can trust, we can rest, we can be fed until we are satisfied for the first time in our lives for some of us! We can fellowship with others like us, protected from the enemies that prowl the land around us.

These are the bonds of love. So why do we fight the one who longs to love us. Rest.

Divine Design Ezekiel 43

If they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the house, its structure, its exits, its entrances, all its designs, all is statutes, and all its laws. And write it in their sight, so that they may observe its whole design and all its statutes and do them. Ezekiel 43:11

Divine design.

There has been talk in the world of Christian women about God's design for us. There is a book with this subtitle. God has placed an order for how the world is supposed to work, and unfortunately for most of us, we refuse to read the directions and build appropriately.

There are a few types of fabric work that throw out the rule book when it comes to making things. There are artists who brag about breaking the rules. But many of these works end up looking like a mishmash of stuff. There is no pattern, no crispness, no order. Often these are “art pieces” that hang on a wall and may draw us to wonder, but serve no other real purpose. They are mere curiosities. Personally, when there is an amazing structure to a piece, it draws me in. Compared to a more free-form work, there is an admiration for the designer, vs. perceiving a sense of laziness or rebellion in the other artist. I was going to type the word creator, but the thought of creation conjures up a plan and construct. Purposefulness. Artist in this day and age almost has come to mean one who does their own thing in resistance to the “norm” and this rebellious spirit is rejoiced over. Instead of creating a higher beauty, it dissolves into meaningless lack of form and definition. It can be unsettling, confusing, and ugly.

When it comes to God, He had a plan. He knew how he wanted His house to look. He had the plans, picked out the curtains (literally), and had the rooms planned and furnished. There was no second-guessing about it.He had had one house built, but their sin led to the destruction of their temple and their nation. God wanted to reestablish His presence among His people, but only when they were ready. When was that? When they repented. When they acknowledged their sin before Him and were begging for the place to return that they could take their sacrifices to and be forgiven. God had no intention of letting non-repentant sinners know what He had on His mind. They could not build something that God could accept, let alone live in, in their state. And they would have rejected the design, anyway. They wouldn't have sacrificed their materials to have it made. Their hands were dirty, and you cannot build something pure when the materials and workman are contaminated.

And in that time, they had to come and offer sacrifices for their sin before they could enter and hear the Word of the Lord.

So confession was their secret code. When confession, true, heart-felt spilling out of their sins before God, took place, the blueprints could be handed over. It is the prayer of Psalm 51 that cleanses our hearts before God. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, Jesus reminds us. The truth and beauty of God's plan are handed over and seen for the amazing grace that they contain. Not only are the plans for how to worship God appropriately given, but also the mind of God is handed to them in His laws and statutes. As we can see in modern culture, handing people God's Word without a repentant spirit guiding them leads only to mocking God's ways. Why marriage? Why abstinence? Why honor your parents, take a day off each week, or not steal or otherwise take things from your neighbor? Why not look at what your neighbor has and covet it, or take his wife while he's out of town? We ask a lot of whys in this day and age, questioning if God has any say over life in America or the rest of the world. We call it culture. God calls it Righteousness, the way we ought to live regardless of all other factors. He laid out good and evil, right and wrong, truth and error. He set boundaries for our good, whether we call it good or not. Isn't it good to have sex? Yes, within boundaries. Isn't it good to have stuff? Yes, within boundaries. Isn't it good to worship a higher power? Yes, if it is THE Higher Power and no other one.

When it comes down to it, we get bent out of shape when sports teams, politicians, or the person who cuts in line ahead of us don't follow the rules. The rules are the rules! They can't get away with that! We were robbed! They cheated! But when it comes to God's rules, we question their validity, let alone their benefit. And it has reached the place where sin and disorder has gotten so out of hand that we get rid of the law because we can't rein in the lawless. So unless the mind is repentant and submissive, making more rules only leads to more lawlessness, and the situation become more intolerable.

Do you long to know God's design? Do you long to have a heart that doesn't want to resist His Word when it makes you uncomfortable and your mind tells you to question Him? Do you want to know how to build the temple of your heart, furnished with the throne for Him to sit on? Be ashamed of your sin. That is how the Prophet Ezekiel was told to identify the righteous and a rebuilding can begin. And then the pattern can be laid out, the fabric cut to measure, and the construction can begin. I think you will like the end result. In fact, I guarantee it (even more than Men's Warehouse).