Not Rending Their Garments Jeremiah 36

Yet the king and all his servants who heard all these words were not afraid, nor did they rend their garments. Jeremiah 36:24

This passage is a sad commentary on people and the scriptures and prophets. Here is the set up to this incident.

God came to Jeremiah and told him to warn the people of Israel of the destruction He had planned for them. His hope was that if people heard, they would turn from their evil ways, have their iniquities and sins forgiven. (vs 3) So Jeremiah has Baruch come and write his dictation. Jeremiah isn't allowed in the house of God, so he sends Baruch. He reads the scroll and the people panic. They say, “We need to tell the king about this!” Another fellow takes it to the king's court and they agree that God means business and the king needs to hear this! So they take it into the king.

Now mind you that up to this point people are fearing the word of the Lord. They are not looking at this as mere words written by Jeremiah...they know God is trying to warn them that they are on a destructive path. Now if you just read the verse above, you would think that they just ignored the scroll and God's word. Nope. If only. As the scroll was being read, the king used it as firewood. He cut it off as it was being read and through it in the fire! No fear, no repentance, no honor of God. A few servants begged him to stop doing that. Word got back to Jeremiah of what had happened and God had him rewrite the message and add curses to the king's lineage.

Politicians and priests...there seems to be a battle between the two sects for time immemorial. The priests tell what God wants or thinks, and the politicians push them aside for their own personal power and gain. The history of Europe is riddled with politicians giving religious posts to those who would endorse their ill-behavior or at least look the other way. And prophets? Well, they tend to catch it from both sides. Poor Jeremiah was not looked at as the mouth-piece of God appealing to His people to turn from evil and avoid terrors to come, but as a political enemy out to harm his country. And not much has changed. Sad to say, the prayer breakfast yesterday was full of people proclaiming God's word, and met with one very powerful “king” who said we need to question whether God talks to Christians at all! We are to doubt that God's Word to the world is the only word for the world. Aren't all religions a way to God? Isn't there more than one way? Isn't it arrogant to think God only talks to us?

Well, he might as well have been taking the knife to every Christian speech there and throwing it into the fire. Men of God were ignored for political expediency, and I am afraid that this marks the same end for us as for Israel. You see, the king of then and the politician of now aren't the only ones to blame. They are the figureheads. I used to look at scripture and get a little upset with God for condemning a whole nation for the actions of a few. But God wrote those words through Jeremiah to the PEOPLE of Israel, not the king alone. The whole country had defied God through their actions and behaviors. They may have called themselves Jews, but they were not living it. They may have offered sacrifices and done the whole Passover deal, but their hearts were elsewhere. The actions of the king reflected the hearts of the people. A few were repentant and fearful, but none rend their garments. Fear was there, but the acts of repentance were not. Had they gone out in the streets with rent garments appealing to the masses to repent, maybe the results would have been different. But they took the issue to the king, to the politicians, and it got them nowhere.

We have this same mentality today. We look to political parties and powerful people to change the spiritual problems in our country. God appeals to us to appeal to our brethren, and we get them panicked instead of repentant. God doesn't just want us to fear His judgment. He wants us to fear HIM. He wants our attention, our love, our adoration. He blesses those who draw near to Him with peace and comfort. He withholds judgment if the people respond to His Word. He is gracious enough to send us prophets, even today, who hold up God's Word, often proclaiming to us this things that the church universal refuses to deal with for fear of driving people out of the church. We fear man, and not God. We fear offending man instead of offending God. Beware of who you are seeking God's wisdom from, but when you find one who rightfully divides His Word, take heed. Learn all you can, study for yourself, and don't poo-poo those who appeal to our spiritual side and look at even political issues as matters of God's concern. Our future could ride on your response.

Sheep's clothing Matthew 7:15

Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. Matthew 7:15

This saying is not a new one, but few people today heed this warning. There are MANY people, religions, televangelists, and others who look so good and innocent on the outside, but their motives are anything but innocent. Innocents get taken, eaten alive by this brood of vipers, as Jesus called them. The admission of sin into personal private lives is subtle. It all looks so innocent. Satan does lure some by appealing to their anger and rage, making ugly look desirable. Then there is the bait...the thing that looks like it will satisfy our hunger for fun, for love, for attention. It looks like the real thing, and the next thing we know, we are dangling on the hook and being filleted, and have no idea what just happened! Ravenous wolves will kill and eat, leaving the carcass for others to feed on in their wake.

It happens to the best of us. Solomon in all his wisdom was taken in by his wives. What is one idol set up for his wife from wherever going to hurt? Or ten? Or a hundred? This guy knew what God said about worship of any other gods. So they were for his wives and not himself. What could that hurt? It cost him God's approval, and the kingdom after him was split apart, eventually leading to civil war and total destruction. God doesn't allow us to toy in sin because we do not see the hidden danger. Eve looked at the fruit and saw that it was good. It was pleasing to the eye. But there was the hidden danger that God had warned about. She heard what the consequences would be, but the outward appearance deceived her into thinking it was safe. And we know the consequences of that decision.

This passage continues to describe the fruit that comes is directly related to the tree it comes from. You don't get grapes from an apple tree. If the tree is sinful, the fruit will be sinful. We can't expect to get goodness from something evil. This is not to say that God can't turn your life around after sin. He is in that business. But the temptation to run with that idea and not heed warnings to avoid sin, to not eat of it, is a trick of Satan in our lives as well. This one drink with the people from work won't hurt anything, we may think. This one desire for the attention of that guy...what will that hurt. Then our appetites change, the desires intensify whether met or unmet, and we start down a road that we never dreamed we would take. I am appalled at some thoughts that run through my head some days. I am amazed at how naive I have been about people and their motives. I see the pain of some who were caught in the net and wonder how they were even swimming in that ocean when they got snagged. We are a sorry lot.

In the study Follow Me by David Platt, we find him contemplating the following verses of Jesus sending people away who thought they were doing right by God and Jesus says He never knew. They were practitioners of lawlessness. They put on a godly show, but they were not followers of the testaments, old or new. They had no desire to know God's law, but wanted to be leaders, prophets, miracle workers. Their lives were ravenous for everything but God. He is talking about false prophets. Many of those guys you see on Christian tv stations will be standing in this judgment, I fear. Some are caught and just keep going, and a few repent and are forgiven. It is a good barometer of a man's commitment to God to see what he does when caught in sin. Does he mourn over his sin or justify it? Does he resign or step aside, make himself accountable to others in authority over him? Or does he leave the ministry with that woman he's having an affair with? What appetite was he feeding? Was he danging the bait, or was he caught on the lure? Repentance is actually a beautiful thing. Getting worn down by sin and sick of the consequences and crawling back for some consolation is not. Mourning how your sin has besmirched the name of God and harmed others is repentance. Whining about how it took away your happiness is not. Truly coming to God with a broken heart and broken will, that he will not despise.

Are you a wolf, or do you at least smell something funny when that over-sized sheep comes in your direction? We need to be wary of evil. It lurks in the most unexpected places. When something doesn't seem right, but we can't put our finger on it, it is a warning from God. Accept the warning, put up a guard against Satan's deceiving ways, and expect a battle for your heart to follow. If we see the storm clouds brewing, take in the lawn furniture and hunker down instead of going on a hike in an open field. Follow Jesus back into the fold for the duration and He will let us out when it is safe to venture out again. Don't think you can weather it. You are a sheep and you are no match for a tornado. Or for a wolf.

Drawing close...getting into the Word

I sat down this morning to study and write, and then wondered if I had done the passage already. I have a list started of the scriptures I have written on, but it sorely needed updating. Very sorely!

I have a list so long and so unorganized that I am going to put it into Excel in Bible chapter order. I don't want to rehash the same verses, although some passages, especially the gospels of Matthew-John, do mention things over and over. God has always given me more to say about those passages. His Word is never exhausted of its glory. We covered Psalm 23 in Wednesday night prayer meeting, and the meat was still there after years and years of study, sermons, and whole Bible studies on that passage. New insight is given to us based on our experiences, our time in life, and other wisdom imparted from godly men and women. I will never look at goodness and mercy trailing behind me the same way again.

And I never imagined when I started writing this blog that there would be sooooo many verses in scripture about clothing. Some are very positive, some are hauntingly negative, and all give us an entrance into the mind of God.

So as I spend some time organizing my list and marking my Bible, I would ask that you do your own study of God's Word. I am no Bible scholar. At times I struggle with scripture, look up other people's notes for insight, and I am sure get a few things wrong. Don't ever take my word for God's Word. I am reading through Jesus Calling by Sarah Young for the second time in 3 years. I have to remind myself that she is not Jesus, but it is uncanny how most days I need to hear what Jesus spoke to her years ago. I think we all long to hear the voice of God, and we turn to other sources listening for it. God has met me over and over these past few weeks while I have struggled with purpose and direction. He has used His Word and writings from several other people to do it. But, I plead with you, don't read others without a solid base in the scriptures yourself. If you have to choose, choose picking up your own Bible. Get a version that you can read. I STRUGGLE with the old King James, not to hate it in this day when versions that are highly readable are available. Don't take offense if you love it. I remember as a teen sitting in a bus trying to read Joel and not understanding a single archaic word it said. I was reduced to tears. When Good News for Modern Man version came out, I fell in love. It may not be the best version out there, but it spoke to the teen that I was. Any lack of understanding then came from lack of knowledge of God, not lack of knowledge of 1800s English.

In any case, you get my point. Read the scriptures. Contemplate what God is presenting to you that day, in your life, in the lives of others, your country, and world events. Some passages are personal, but some are national, or written to believers or unbelievers. Look at context. Compare thoughts and passages with other passages. No verse is an island. An island may keep us out of deep water, but it doesn't connect us to the mainland. We need all of scripture to make any of scripture totally true.

Enough preaching for one day! It is sad how Biblically illiterate we have become. If you are not getting into God's Word, why not? He wants to talk to you! Start the conversation. If you can't understand Him, ask Him to make Himself understood. He is a personal God who will meet you at the point of your need. Ask and it shall be given isn't about this world's stuff, it's about God giving you more of Himself. His mind, His heart, His wisdom. He is willing to explain Himself to a 3 year old, so He is willing to explain Himself to you! He is more than we can ever know, but He brings Himself to our level. He sent Jesus, who preached and touched children and adults alike. He met people in their pain, their questions, their turning points. He was not harsh, but he was pointed. He doesn't spare feelings when people ask to follow, but He does have compassion on those who don't know just how lost they are. He begs for people to come under His wing, but He does not force it. Draw close and listen, draw warmth from being close on these cold, cold winter days. He will be the protector of those who desire to be near. Now go get your Bible, sit down, and snuggle up.

Work amounting to nothing...Isaiah 41:24

Behold, you are of no account and your work amounts to nothing; He who chooses you is an abomination. Isaiah 41:24

I was just turned down for a job. The interview went extremely well, I thought. My hopes were raised, though I was scared as everything about actually getting it. It is in my field of study, somewhat. It matched my skill set, somewhat. It got me thinking and dreaming, developing thoughts and activities, studies and programs, to make the performance of the job wonderful. And it is now a memory and those plans just aren't going to happen. Ever, probably. So now what? I keep doing what I am doing. That is good in some ways and not so good in others.

This verse does not summarize my life right now, though Satan would love to use it against me. I am following the Lord, doing what He calls me to do where He is calling me to do it. I have free time to give. I have a flexibility in my schedule that not many others have. But this is where the rubber meets the road.

God is speaking here to those who work, who build, who create against His will. They were crafting idols and seeking guidance from them. You are the idol-makers, and He is the idol. They did a bang-up job (play on words for the hammering of the metal they were smelting in the early part of the chapter) making these things. They crafted and worked hard to make these things. But it was all for nothing. Or worse than nothing. It turned God's back on them. He pleads with them to turn, and knowing they wouldn't, He was going to send an army, a leader from another country, to send them into repentance mode. It seemed that that is what it always took...a real beating from God, to turn their heads back in the right direction. Even later on in verse 29, God repeats Himself. You did all this work for nothing. They were as empty as wind, emptiness, and confusion, depending on your translation.

There are few people on earth who don't want their work to account for something. Anything. People will stand on assembly lines day after day to get a paycheck, but at least they know that the part they play is a necessary one. That screw needs tightened, or the car won't hold together. The burrs need polished off, the paint applied, the tubing connected. It is all for a purpose - to make something that will make someone else happy, get them somewhere, or make their life easier. People paint pictures to arouse emotions. We make hats and blankets and clothes to provide for a need. Those who go crazy or lose hope are like those in the concentration camps who were forced to move wheelbarrows of dirt back and forth across the grounds. There was no purpose in it. It was forced "work" and torturously mean. This work may have kept the body strong, or forced it into weakness from malnutrition, but if the people doing it didn't assign it some purpose in their minds, it drove them to anger, resentment, and hopelessness. God said that if we make our own gods, our own task-list, we will be empty, our works will be futile, and we will have wasted our lives and angered Him.

So right now I sit and wonder what to do next. This must be that empty-nest syndrome they talk about. No one here to care for (hubby, yes, and I do), but the daily work that had meaning in the days of a full house now seem empty and mundane. And I HAVE TO remind myself that God has numbered my days and given them purpose beyond the doing of life. If I am where He wants me, doing and being what He wants, then my works are not empty. But I have to look at them as God's assignments. My last is in year 3 of college, and many of the assignments she has may not seem to serve the purpose of achieving the goal she has set for her life, but they are still a part of the process of getting there. How sitting here with sewing machines, fabric, and being still and alone will get me closer to being like Christ I have yet to see. I have the time to do Bible studies, pray, listen to sermons and hymns and be still with God. I have to keep my longings here and learn to focus on Him and have that not only be enough, but to be everything. Love, joy, peace, patience, faithfulness. I need to be filled. You cannot drive the car and fill it with gas at the same time. Not that my goal is to stay at the pump and do nothing. It's not to sit in the driveway full. But like my car, it gets sent out when there is something to be accomplished. God is the driver, not me. He will drive me when He wants, as often as He wants, and as far as He wants. I need to just be at His service. So for now I sit in anticipation of His use of me, steering me in the direction He wants me to go. The car does not make that choice. And I have to be ok with that. I am learning to be ok with not being the doer, but the vehicle. I always have been, but it takes us so long to relinquish control for us humans.

Do you feel like me today? Do you want your works to be more than wind and emptiness? Let all things be done by Him through you. Don't make something else your god, forging it in the fires of hard work, only to find out we were serving the work instead of the great Creator. God just calls us in these verses to look to Him and not fear, to be His and not give ourselves to another. "I am thine, O Lord, and I heard thy voice..." says the old hymn. And I am still listening.

Answers in white linen Daniel 10

I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a certain man dressed in linen, whose waist was girded with a belt of pure gold of Uphaz. Daniel 10:5

Daniel...my youngest daughter was named after him...Courtney Danielle...and it means God is my Judge. We think of him being bold and courageous. We see him given power after meeting the test of his faith and after being jealously lied about. He was like Joseph...second in command and highly favored. But the sight of a man in linen brought him to his knees.

Actually, he had been on his knees already at this point. He was a man of troubled soul. God revealed to him many things about the future of his countrymen. He was told of the future troubles that would overtake the Jews in particular, and the whole world eventually. These were going to be troubling times, and Daniel was overwhelmed at the thought. He was a man of prayer. He asked God questions, pleaded for his people's faith, and mourned over the sins of his people. He had been mourning and praying, fasting and weak, sick of soul. The thought of the sufferings to come had overwhelmed him. Now granted, this was God talking to him about the future, which means it's all good, right? Obviously not. And we take that outlook ourselves. Our church is starting the series “Follow Me” by David Platt. And the question set before us is do we trust God enough to follow...to accept where He is taking us...knowing that the end is the cross and sufferings, but ultimately, a joy irrepressible. The idea of having to go through the bad to get to the good is hard to swallow. And Daniel was having a hard time dealing with all of this.

And God met him at the point of his need. The fight was on in the heavenlies, and the messenger was delayed in coming. Daniel suffered alone. He fought on his knees. And the answer came in bright white clothes and a loud roaring sound. This dazzling figure was more than he could take. Now not only was he overwhelmed with grief, he was overwhelmed with fear. Poor guy. But a gentle touch, words of encouragement and comfort, and a hand up greeted him. God heard his pleas to understand, to accept the thoughts of God, and He responded.

There have been many nights where I have been burdened greatly for my family, my church, my community, and my country. I would toss and turn, seeing prophecies fulfilled and yet questioning where all this would lead. It is a great comfort and a great humbling process to see God answer my prayers for understanding of these things. It doesn't all come in a blazing light. Sometimes it comes in a rainbow, a caught baseball, and change in tone in someone's voice, or an unexpected video clip. It can come out of the mouth of the most vile actors or the most saintly servants. But God reminds us that He is there, that He sees our concerns, and that He has the answers all planned out. We just have to remember who is God in this process and that we do not need to see and understand it all. Why we think we can understand the mind of God is a mystery and a folly, really. Even when He answers, it tends to put more questions in our mind. This happens to me just as it happened to Daniel...”OK, God, now that You have shown me this much, what about that?” And He just says, “Trust Me. That's all you get to know for now.” And still the human heart churns to know all the ways of God. We still remain troubled to an extent, but there is still the gentle touch and comforting words to help us carry on, to trust to the extent that a human can trust. I love Daniel. I can relate to Daniel. His past experience with God drew him close to God, and his heart for his people longed for them to have that same relationship. His walk with God was personal and trusting, but he was still human in his longings for God's mind and heart and ways.

And sometimes those longings present themselves in people that fascinate us who shed light on God's will and ways. David Platt is taking me there right now. He is not dressed in shiny white robes. In fact, he is dressed downright casually, sitting with a Bible and an I-Pad and preaching the Words of God which both comfort and disturb the human mind. But God is answering some of the questions that I have been asking through him. And it is always a blessing when God speaks to the point of our need. Let Him speak to you. Open the Book, listen to wise preaching, and ask God to talk to the questions you have. The answers may not come all at once, for we could not handle it if it did. But He will renew your mind, give the grace to accept all of God's ways as Good, and draw us closer than we have ever been to His loving side.

Habitually Dressed in Purple Luke 16

Now, there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. Luke 16:19

This is not going to be a rant against the rich. I can't tell you how many people do rant against the rich, but it is just about everyone. Not because they are upset that that person is rich, but more because they envy the rich. They wish THEY were rich, and because they are not, they mumble. These same people admire tv celebrities and sports figures. It seems that if they know where the money is coming from an approve of it, it is ok if THOSE people are rich...so you catch my drift.

And Jesus was not putting down every rich person. Solomon was rich, Abraham, David, and multiple others had far more than they needed. It said that the Lord blessed them, and if the Lord chooses to bless someone, who are we to envy, slander, or look down on them?

You only have to look up a few verses on the page...Now the Pharisees, who were LOVERS OF MONEY, were listening to all these things are scoffing at Him. vs. 14. This is on the heals of, “You cannot love God and wealth.” vs 13. These are the people who flaunt their wealth, who take it at the cost of others, and want people to admire them for it. Can you say “tv preachers” and “politicians”? Now I am not talking about the David Jeremiah's of the world...they work hard, stick to the Word, and don't live for the noteriety of the job, but to actually spread the gospel. We all know the fakes when we see them...or do we? These guys wouldn't still be out there if people weren't supporting their false ministries. Discernment is a lost art. And it is not that the true ministers are sinless. But we can usually tell when someone is on an ego trip. They change. They morph into something they didn't used to be. The messages soften so as not to offend the givers. They become people's cheerleaders for people's comforts and successes instead of their purifiers and true encouragers to fight the fight of faith. They have come to love the joyous life of wealth, and forget that the fame and fortune they have come into was supposed to go toward ministries and not toward their own personal gain.

The biggest clue here was that the Pharisees could no longer discern good from evil, truth from error. Here stands Jesus, and they scoff at Him and His teachings. They look at this itinerate preacher from Nazareth who owns nothing, dresses in common clothes, and preaches against pride, and they swell with more pride. They are better than this guy. They know the law, and see how God has benefitted them! They deserve the respect of the people for their position! But Jesus tells them that He and God both see their hearts, and that all the trappings that they are wearing are a cover for the ugliness that is inside. Maybe that is why they are called trappings...they trap us into thinking we are better than we really are. They trap other people's minds into thinking they should treat these well-dressed people differently just because they are well-dressed. They even had this problem addressed in the early church. We tend to think and act differently around people of wealth and reputation. Somehow we feel like they should be treated with more respect, with more care of what they think, than the other people in town. “Don't you know who that is? You can't talk to them like that!” There is fear that we will not get from people like that. The point is, they probably aren't there to give to you, but to get from you...so why do you care? There are wonderful exemptions to this rule. There are the rich who are the givers...and give freely, not just to get their name on a building or something. It is almost hilarious the way people in the town I live in treat and talk about the people in town with money. The expectations, the attitudes, the hopes and fears that go along with a relationship with these folks is a spectacle to watch. Some of them feed these fears, and some just mind their own business and get on with their lives, being stewards as God has called them to be.

There is also being Lazarus, having nothing, and receiving nothing from him who had so much. When the rich are so busy living the good life that they fail to see the people at their own gate, that is when God calls them into judgment. God placed Lazarus before this man's eyes, and he refused to see. The Pharisees did the same thing. When Jesus healed right in front of their very noses, instead of rejoicing with the healed person, they resented Jesus taking their limelight. They couldn't heal these people, but they could have fed them or given them a place to sleep at night. They could have hired them to wash these rich robes and make a living. It is the ignoring of the mission God gave them that angered God so.

What kind of heart do you have, rich woman? Do you see the needs God has placed under your nose, or are you so busy living the good life that you forget to praise God and use His gifts for His glory? Let us have a proper attitude toward money and earthly wealth, knowing that our faith should never be in it. We must love God, use wealth to honor Him, and keep an eye out for the ministries He gave it to us to participate in. Reading this chapter will give you God's counsel on what you have, how you got it, and how to use it. He is good to tell us His mind, and to give us His mind, as well.

Worshiping the Works of Our Hands Jeremiah 1

My judgments on them concerning all their wickedness, whereby they have forsaken Me and have offered sacrifices to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands. Now, gird up your loins and arise, and speak to them all which I command you. Do not be dismayed before them, or I will dismay you before them. Jeremiah 1:16b-17

Just a few days ago I was posting about our creativity being a stumbling block at times, and here is another verse to confirm that tendency in our lives. We like to worship that which we can see and feel. Why else would people make little idols and bow down before them? How can a piece of wood or stone hear our prayers, sense our needs, or act on our behalf? Yet I see these idols all around me. Symbols of the horoscopes, where people place their hopes in star patterns in the sky. Buddhas sitting there looking wise and peaceful and fat and happy, with people praying to them so that they can themselves be those things. Other ugly gods like the Aztec or Inca, where people acted violently because they had images of a violent, blood-thirsty god. If people believe their god to be good, the image may be beautiful, if angry, then fierce-looking. Their perception of god dictates their image of him/her/it. They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and it is true. The image of God you have in your mind helps form your opinion of that which is acceptable, truthful, and worthy. Most of the little gods I have seen in museums are not pretty, and some are so rudimentary that it is hard to believe that people could wrap their lives around them. But it happens with too much ease. There has to be a lot of guilt in the human soul to think that he/she has to give sacrifices to cooking pots or statues or poles. We look for something to take our guilt, our sin, our pain, our dysfunction and make us feel good about ourselves. And all the while, there is the true God who defines Himself as all we need through His many names: the God Who hears, the God Who sees, the God who heals, the God Almighty...etc. We can't make an image of Him because He refuses to show all of Himself to us at once. And He tells us to walk by faith and not by sight. We can see the works of His hands, and a study of those things, geez, I think we call that science, all point toward a God Who made all things work together for good. There is balance, there is rhythm, there is color, there is unity, and if any one thing was not in that order, there is no chance that any of it would hold together. And what we do to manipulate that can only work within that order. As we try to use the creation around us, be either reflect God's beauty or seek to create for ourselves something “other.” And there is discomfort in our souls when we see that. Graffiti is one method. Some of it can be decorative, but most is destructive. There are laws of physics that won't allow a house to hang in suspension no matter how hard we try. Some things appear to “break the rules,” but when it comes down to it, they have to follow the rules to stand for any period of time. Houses built on the sand will eventually fall unless their foundations run deep, therefore having to follow the rules when no one sees the pylons plunged deep into the rock below. We know certain things will not hold for the long haul. Like the Jenga game, eventually things will reach the tipping point and fall. We can choose to push the limits of God's patience and live tottering on the edge, living in fear and imbalance, or we can choose to live in God's will and build firmly and confidently, having an inner peace and security that comes with having Him as our foundation.

So we are also asked here to gird up our loins...a phrase repeated over and over throughout scripture. We are told to speak what God has commanded. There is no need to fear when truth is spoken. The only reason people get upset when truth is told is because they believe a lie. We like to think we know what we are doing, so when someone plants a doubt in our mind, we get upset. Are they crazy, or am I wrong about something? Did God really say that? Do these people think they have a corner on the truth market? God tells us to be confident in His Word and not be dismayed that others do not listen. If we don't have confidence in His Word, we will ourselves call into question everything we believe to be true. There are times when I wonder how what God says can be true, if He will indeed act on our behalf in any situation. We are commanded to speak what He says, so I have to pray, open the Bible, and see what He says and repeat it to myself...convince my own heart that God means what He says. Of course, the Holy Spirit makes that happen. Without The Spirit, God's Word is just words. If you don't understand it...the simple parts of salvation and God's will, after reading the New Testament and studying it...if it is all just words, then come to Christ and tell Him that you don't know Him yet. When He gives you His Spirit, you will know His mind. You will not be dismayed any more. Beg for wisdom, and cry out for understanding, Proverbs says. Ask God to show Himself, Jesus Christ, and yourself for who you all are, and ask Him how to fix that relationship. Then put your nose back into the Word and await the answer. He says He will come to any who truly cry out to Him. He will open His Word like a flower in bloom when you are His, slowly and gently in some cases, and more like a prison break in others! He meets you where you are. So do not dismay. And someday soon you will be able to speak to others the Word He has commanded you.