Flashback Favorite - Blindsided

I received one of those calls this week - my wife was in a car accident due to the other driver’s negligence. She’s ok. Nothing is broken, but she’s feeling beat up, stiff, and sore. The car, however, is not ok. So as we deal with the fallout of this unexpected situation, I’m bringing back a post from nearly 11 years ago about Psalm 119. I often come back to it when life doesn’t go as planned. I hope it’s a good reminder for you, as well.

Blindsided
Originally posted on May 22, 2015

Blindsided.
Knocked down.
Run over.
Left for dead.

Life does that sometimes.  Just completely out of the blue, you get that phone call.  A relative in good health suddenly dies.  A friend’s child is in an accident.  Layoffs.  Divorce.  Cancer.  Any number of things can take us out at the knees without any warning.

And we’re quickly reminded of how fragile and small we really are.

In Psalm 119:25-32, the author use two descriptive phrases to relate how he feels after life has knocked him down.  First he says, my life is down in the dust.  Other translations render his words as my soul clings to the dust or I collapse in the dirt.  He feels so low that he can only relate to the trampled dirt on the ground.  Secondly he says, I am weary from grief.  Other translations relay the author’s meaning by stating my soul melts from heaviness and my soul weeps because of grief.  We can relate to the psalmist because we’ve all had times when our hearts are so heavy that even our souls are shedding tears.

Our typical reactions to getting knocked down by life is to ask God “Why me?” or, if we’re feeling mature, we’ll ask “God, what are You trying to teach me in this?”  However, the psalmist has neither of those responses.

As you read this section of Psalm 119, look for where the psalmist turns to when life has brought him down low:

Psalm 119:25-32
My life is down in the dust; give me life through Your word.
I told You about my life, and You listened to me; teach me Your statutes.
Help me understand the meaning of Your precepts so that I can meditate on Your wonders.
I am weary from grief; strengthen me through Your word.
Keep me from the way of deceit, and graciously give me Your instruction.
I have chosen the way of truth; I have set Your ordinances before me.
I cling to Your decrees; Lord, do not put me to shame.
I pursue the way of Your commands, for You broaden my understanding.

When life has him down in the dust to the point where he is weary from grief, the psalmist looks for life and strength though Your word.  He’s not looking for an explanation or a life-lesson, rather he is looking for God himself, as revealed in Scripture.

It is noteworthy that when he asks God to help me understand, he’s not looking for the meaning of what knocked him down to the ground…instead he’s asking God to explain the meaning of Your precepts.  Again, he’s not focused on how he got there or why he got there…he’s focusing on meeting God in the midst of it all.

When life has knocked him down, the psalmist implicitly trusts God with all aspects of the situation.  And he seeks God through the Scriptures to reinforce his faith.

So should we.

Keep Pressing,
Ken 

A personal pep-talk

Life’s been busy lately.  “Very full” would be a better description. 

I won’t list everything out for you…I fear that would not only be rather dull for you to read, but I don’t want to get anywhere near a “humble-brag”, either.  To say I have shared a lot of worthwhile time with many different people/groups, both at work and in the community, will suffice.

I’d rather we talk about how we feel when we’re dealing with a season like this.  There’s some mixture of tired-fulfilled-weary-happy-reflective-drained that I think we can all relate to.

That’s why I love spending time in the book of Psalms.  These song-writers did not hold back on sharing their life experiences with God.  You’ll find the entire range of emotions, multiple times over, as you read through them.

Here’s a portion of Psalm 42 that is really resonating with me right now:

Psalm 42:5-8
Why, my soul, are you so dejected?  Why are you in such turmoil?
Put your hope in God, for I will still praise Him, my Savior and my God.

I am deeply depressed; therefore I remember You
from the land of Jordan and the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.

Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls;
all Your breakers and Your billows have swept over me.

The Lord will send His faithful love by day;
His song will be with me in the night – a prayer to the God of my life.

I wouldn’t say I’m at the level of feeling dejected and deeply depressed, but I recognize those feelings from other times in my life.  We all go through seasons when those are very real and very deeply felt.

The part of this psalm that resonates for me right now is the psalmist giving himself a pep-talk.  Did you notice that?  He’s talking to his own soul.  He identifies the feelings of turmoil, but doesn’t claim them as his identity.  Instead, the psalmist encourages himself to put your hope in God, insisting that despite how low he feels, I will still praise Him, my Savior and my God.

When we’re struggling, a dejected soul may want to just curl up in a ball in a dark room, but instead, the psalmist takes three bold steps away from the darkness:

1.       When he feels depressed, his first step is to remember the God who loves him.

2.       Next, he enjoys nature – being present in and listening to the sounds of God’s creation, like His waterfalls, can help clean out the junk we feel inside.

3.       Lastly, he looks for God by day and in the night, trusting that God will meet him there.

This three-step pep-talk helps clarify our perspective when a season of life has been so full.  However, let’s be clear – these steps don’t “work” because we simply do them.  We’re not capable of fixing ourselves.  These steps only “work” because by doing them, we bring ourselves back to the God who loves us more than we can understand.  Keeping close to Him is what we truly need, in all of life’s seasons.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

What’s in the Old Testament?

We commonly refer to the Bible as a “book” – in fact, it is the best-selling book of all-time.  However, the Bible itself is a collection of 66 individual books.  These books were written over approximately 1500 years, by 40 different authors, and in 3 different languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek).

Through the Holy Spirit, God inspired the authors to write His words and His message to humanity.  Each author brought their own experiences, concerns, and writing style…and as such, we have a variety of literature types within the Scriptures.  The major division of the Bible’s books is between the Old Testament and the New Testament.  For this blog post, we’ll look at what God has said in the Old Testament:

Old Testament – This is a collection of 39 books of ancient Hebrew literature, which begins with the story of Creation and the fall of humanity into sin, which separates all of us from God.  These texts continue through the establishment and history of the nation of Israel, which are broken down into 4 major categories:

Torah/Pentateuch – These are the 5 books of Moses.  Torah is Hebrew for “teaching” and Pentateuch simply means “five books”.  These books detail out how God created everything, but quickly focus in on the establishment of the nation of Israel.  The books include: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

History – These 12 books travel through Israel’s many ups and downs as they struggle between keeping in step with God and doing everything on their own.  Many of the familiar Old Testament stories are found in these books: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther.

Poetry/Wisdom – This is a collection of some of the most interesting and beautiful poetry you’ve ever read.  Many common sayings we still use today trace their origins back to this section of the Bible.  These books include: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon.

Prophecy – God sent many prophets to Israel throughout the centuries.  Their writings are divided into what is call the “Major Prophets” and the “Minor Prophets”.  However, that distinction has nothing to do with the importance of their individual message, rather the prophets’ writings are divided up by size, with the Major Prophets having significantly bigger texts than the Minor Prophets:

Major Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, and Ezekiel
Minor Prophets: Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi

After Malachi’s teaching, God did not send a prophet to speak to Israel for approximately 400 years.  Then everything changed with the arrival of Jesus. 

Some modern-day Christians have wondered if it’s worth our time to read and study the Old Testament.  After all, since Jesus came and saved us, wouldn’t His teachings be enough for us to focus on?

The Apostle Paul had to say this to the church he planted in Corinth, in reference to the events of the Old Testament:

1 Corinthians 10:11
These things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our instruction

There are three ways to learn – by instruction, by example, or the hard way.  God has given us instruction and examples in the Old Testament so we don’t have to learn the hard way.  As such, it’s definitely worth our time to see what God has to say in those books.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Dealing with agitation

There are so many triggers that lead to me being agitated.

I hate to admit that.  I’d like to be better at managing it.  What I have gotten better at is keeping the surface-level calm, but the agitation still stirs in my heart.  I’m not certain that’s real progress, though.

Sometimes, my agitation is my own fault.  If I’m running late, I always seem to find the lane with the slowest driver…which, of course, means I’ll hit all the red lights along my path, too.  Or I could get pulled into what I thought would be a short conversation that quickly turns into a deeper discussion than I wanted to budget my time for.  A particularly agitating situation for me is when I’m depending on someone – especially if I’ve paid this person to do a job – and they aren’t meeting the standard we had agreed to. 

Do any of these situations sound familiar?

The American Hertitage Dictionary has this description as a part of its definition of agitation:

A stirring up or arousing; disturbance of tranquility; disturbance of mind which shows itself by physical excitement

That sounds about right.  I may begin with feeling frustration, but if I progress to agitation, there’s probably some physical tell to go along with the shift in my mood.  I’ve suddenly lost my poker face.  The chances of me lashing out before thinking it through have definitely gone up.

One sure-fire way to get me agitated is external to me.  I despise people taking advantage of others or taking advantage of “the system”.  We all need to make a living, but we don’t have to price-gouge.  I am 100% in support of entrepreneurs (there are several in my family), but I’m shocked and agitated when people create fake businesses, like daycares or hospice centers, only to get paid out by government programs.  Worse yet, it appears that some people just take advantage of others simply “because they can”…and that agitates me to no end. 

And to fix situations like these, we may even convince ourselves that we gotta meet them on their level.  We justify defrauding them just like they defrauded others.  We daydream of pulling it off and yelling, “See?  Do you like how that feels?”

David recognized the same feelings of agitation we have, but his advice runs counter to our knee-jerk reaction:

Psalm 37:1-9
Do not be agitated by evildoers; do not envy those who do wrong.
For they wither quickly like grass and wilt like tender green plants.

Trust in the Lord and do what is good; dwell in the land and live securely.
Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart’s desires.

Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act,
making your righteousness shine like the dawn, your justice like the noonday.

Be silent before the Lord and wait expectantly for Him;
do not be agitated by one who prospers in his way,
by the person who carries out evil plans.

Refrain from anger and give up your rage;
do not be agitated – it can only bring harm.
For evildoers will be destroyed,
but those who put their hope in the Lord will inherit the land.

My first thought when reading through is “That sounds nice David, but not very practical.  Me ‘doing good’ doesn’t stop them from ‘doing bad’ to others.  I still see them running around taking advantage of people.”

However, this line of thinking misses what God says to do first when we’re agitated by evildoers.  “Do what is good” comes second.  “Trust in the Lord” comes first.  Too often, I expect that I can wield “my good” to bully or shame the other person into doing what I think they should.  In those cases, I haven’t included God in the equation.  I’m expecting my own righteousness to prevail.

Instead, God is telling us that we aren’t the cure for evil – He is.  When we trust Him, He will act.  But His acts will come on His timing, not ours. 

Does this mean we are to be a doormat and simply let bad people be bad?  No, I don’t think so.  Part of doing what is good is advocating for and protecting others.  But we do so with a humble attitude that God’s correction is better than us lashing out of our agitation.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

How do you know my name?

A little over a year ago, my wife and I went to support our younger son and his then-girlfriend (now wife, but that’s a story for another day) as they ran through downtown Raleigh.  Our son ran the half-marathon, while she ran the 10k.  Fortunately for me and the missus, their race paths merged for a short portion of the course.  We set up shop and began to watch excitedly for them to run by, ready to cheer them on.

I’ve run a number of races, and I’ve always appreciated the people in the crowd who would cheer for me.  There’s something uniquely special about having complete strangers yell encouragement as you work to keep moving forward.  So, while we waited for our two runners to come by, we started to cheer for the rest of the runners, too:

Let’s GO!!!!
C’mon, you got this!
Keep it up.  Keep it up.
You’re doing great!
Don’t quit now!

At one point, however, I realized that the bibs each one wore with their race number also listed the runner’s first name and last initial.  It was in much smaller font below the extra-large race number, but on many of the runners I was able to read their first name.  So, for any runner I could, I added their name to my yelled encouragement:

Let’s GO, James!!!
You got this, Brian!
Keep going, Nancy!

And you know what?  There was a visible shift in the runners.  When I called out their name, they made eye contact directly with me.  I kept smiling and cheering them on.  The encouragement I was calling out suddenly hit deeper and you could see it in their responses – some would straighten up their form, many smiled back at me, a few picked up their pace with confidence. 

One older lady named Nancy who was race-walking with two other ladies, when I called out her name, practically stopped her pace to ask me, “Do I know you?” 

I said, “Nope” and shook my head.

“Then how do you know my name?” she asked with a bewildered look on her face.

“I read your bib.” I replied with a smile on my face, pointing across my own chest, as if I had a bib.

She didn’t know what to say but went back to race-walking with her friends.  She seemed pleasantly surprised to get called by name like that.

I didn’t know anything about them, other than their name.  What many of us forget is that God knows us, even more than just our name:

Psalm 139:1-3, 13-14
Lord, You have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I stand up;
You understand my thoughts from far away.
You observe my travels and my rest;
You are aware of all my ways…

For it was You who created my inward parts;
You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I will praise you because I have been remarkably and wondrously made.

These verses are only a sampling of all the ways the psalmist realized that God knew him.  I would suggest that you take the time to slowly read the whole psalm.  Even better, try reading it out loud, as if the psalmist’s words were your own.

God knows more than your name.  He knows YOU.  And He wants you to know Him.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

We must grieve

Jesus begins His “Sermon on the Mount” with a series of blessings referred to as ‘The Beatitudes’.  Even if you’re not familiar with the name, I’m certain that you’ll recognize several of them:

Matthew 5:3-10
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the humble, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

This is an easy list to breeze through…at least for me it always has been.  I was recently challenged with a speaker’s focus on the second blessing:

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Which side do you see yourself on…the person who mourns or the one who brings comfort?

Honestly, I have always pictured myself as the one who brings comfort – which breaks down to com-fort and means to “bring-strength”.  I can see myself as one who brings strength to those who are struggling…but I didn’t see myself as someone who would need to receive comfort.

The acts of mourning and grieving are necessary to our lives, but we generally don’t like them very much.  So what do we do?  We tend to stuff our feelings and avoid any opportunity to evaluate or process them.  We use a variety of terms to describe how we expect it to feel: messy, sticky, uncomfortable, out of control, never ending, lonely, depressing…I’m sure you could add a few of your own.

Most of all, deep down we fear two things: that if we start to mourn, it will never end…and that if we really grieve, no one will come to comfort us.  Just the thought of being forever alone in our grief is enough to scare us into avoiding it at all costs.  We’d rather spend a massive amount of energy and time pretending that we’re fine instead of facing both our fears and our grief.

But that’s not what Jesus promised, is it?

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Look also to what David wrote about God:

Psalm 56:8
You Yourself have recorded my wanderings.
Put my tears in Your bottle.  Are they not in Your book?

God knows where we have been.  He knows the heartache we’ve experienced.  He’s not only seen every tear we’ve cried, but He’s carefully collected them as well.

God offers another promise – this one is announced at the opening of New Jerusalem in Eternity Future:

Revelation 21:3-4
Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and He will live with them.  They will be His peoples, and God Himself will be with them and will be their God.  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.  Death will be no more, grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.

Did you see that?  God Himself will wipe away the tears from your eyes.  But how can He wipe away tears we refuse to cry?  How will we find comfort if we refuse to mourn?

We must grieve.  Not just when a loved one dies, but any loss we experience – the loss of a friendship, a job, our innocence, our dreams, a season of life.  Even when we let go of good things so we can focus on better things, we still need to grieve.

When grief comes, don’t avoid it – lean into it.  Your mourning won’t last forever.  In fact, leaning into it will bring it to conclusion, even if we don’t feel that way right now.  Avoiding it will guarantee that the unresolved grief will linger with you for the rest of your life.

God promises blessing and comfort to those who mourn.  Will you trust Him with your tears?

Keep Pressing,
Ken

The littlest psalm

If something is both well done and done well, we typically assume it was done on a large scale.  A master’s degree thesis paper can easily end up over 100 pages long, with PhD papers reaching up to 300 pages.  We’re impressed by large collections of art, cars, or historical artifacts.  Huge bridges and tall buildings receive ooohs and aaahs that single-story structures do not.  People with millions of social media followers are clearly better and more newsworthy than someone who has less than 100 followers, right? 

We’re so used to being wowed by the large, that it’s easy to skip over the small.  I think that kind of mindset can sneak into our personal Bible study and Sunday services, as well.  While most sermons will talk about Jesus – and rightfully so, He is the focus and reason for everything – if the preacher’s topic involves someone else in the Bible, odds are it’ll be about Abraham, Moses, or David.  This is certainly understandable, as these three men partnered with God in great ways to bring out His plan and purpose for humanity.  However, if we only talk about God in relation to “the big three” then we will miss out on seeing God in the lives of people like Ruth, Philemon, or John Mark.

And what of our worship songs?  The trend in recent years has been to repeat the chorus of a song 7x, 9x, 11x, or more.  But that’s not entirely something new…the longest psalm in the Bible is Psalm 119, which holds 176 verses (notably not repeating the same words over and over, either). 

That said, brevity and simple, clear truth was not lost on the psalm composers.  Just before Psalm 119 – the longest psalm – is Psalm 117, which is the shortest psalm.  Psalm 117 consists of just two verses and 23 words in total (only 17 words in Hebrew).  This psalm definitely qualifies as “small but mighty” when you look at what the composer wanted people to sing:

Psalm 117:1-2
Praise the Lord, all nations!
Glorify Him, all people!
For His faithful love to us is great;
the Lord’s faithfulness endures forever.
Hallelujah!

Whether your day has been good or your day has been a struggle – being reminded of God’s faithfulness makes the day better.  Remembering that we are not alone, that the Creator of the Universe is active and interested in our lives is a source of both comfort and confidence.

The words faithful love come from the Hebrew word hesed – which is hard to wrap the full meaning of the word into English, but here is a good description of what the psalm’s author had in mind when he wrote about God’s hesed toward us:

It is an unfailing love, a loyal love, devotion, kindness, based on a covenant relationship between the two parties.

The Israelites had their covenant with God, and we have ours through Jesus.  We don’t deserve that kind of love and loyalty.  We can’t earn it or do anything to convince Him that we’re worth it.  The only thing we can do is accept His choice for how He loves and then receive it.

That is how God feels about us…and remembering God’s hesed toward us brings up the praise we find in Psalm 117, the littlest psalm.  Praise the Lord, indeed!

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Passing down diamonds

There’s been a big change in our family this year: our younger son proposed to his girlfriend – and she said YES!  She’s a wonderful girl, and we’re thrilled for the both of them.

Our son worked hard to make sure the ring he offered was just right.  He had several conversations with the jeweler about the layout, shape, stone size, etc. as they constructed the ring.  The final design incorporated a main diamond with two smaller diamonds, one on each side.  The ring is quite pretty, and it looks good on her.

What’s special for my wife is that the two smaller diamonds came from a ring that she owns, but rarely wore any more.  The ring was a gift from her father.  He gave it to her when she was a teenager.  She’s delighted to have contributed to the new ring, being able to pass down a gift like that, now to a third generation.

This got me thinking about what else we have passed down to the next generation as our son and his bride-to-be begin to plan a wedding and rest of their lives together.  What we pass on, especially to our children, has always been an important topic to God.  You see this theme repeatedly throughout Scripture.  Here are just a few examples:

Moses speaking to the Israelites:

Deuteronomy 6:6-7
These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart.  Repeat them to your children.  Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

A psalm written by Asaph:

Psalm 78:1-4
My people, hear my instruction; listen to the words from my mouth.
I will declare wise sayings; I will speak mysteries from the past –
things we have heard and known and that our ancestors have passed down to us.
We will not hide them from their children, but will tell a future generation
the praiseworthy acts of the LORD, His might, and the wonderous works He has performed.

A psalm written by David:

Psalm 145:4
One generation will declare Your works to the next and will proclaim Your mighty acts.

Paul writing to his protégé, Timothy:

2 Timothy 2:1-2
You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.  What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

It’s mind-blowing to think that the Creator of the Universe has given us the responsibility of sharing His reputation to the generations that come after us.  Out of all the mechanisms He could have used…He chooses to work in and through broken, flawed humans to tell other broken, flawed humans that there is more to life than being stuck as broken and flawed.

So, if we take an honest look at what we are saying and how we are living…what are we passing down to the next generation?  Is it something valuable, like diamonds?  Or is it something that just looks shiny but has no real worth?

We all have something about God we can share.  Don’t beat yourself up if you feel that what you have to offer isn’t the biggest diamond…because all the diamonds in the setting work together to make something beautiful.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Bring your whole self to God

Over the past decade, there has been a push to make places of employment “more inclusive”.  While that term has a variety of definitions and applications, one phrase that I’ve frequently heard is the desire to “bring your whole self to work” – and this idea is often hooked up to the argument that we’re not autonomous worker-robots simply there to do the company’s bidding.  Instead, we’re told, the ideal would be to foster belonging and acceptance, because a unified group gets more accomplished than a fractured group.

The counter-argument doesn’t necessarily advocate for a fractured group, rather the question is more around “How much of ‘our whole self’ really needs to be identified, shared, and celebrated within the workplace?”.  And this debate has volleyed back and forth over the recent years, with many businesses and employees caught in the cross-fire.

Regardless of how you view the idea of “bringing your whole self to work” – I have to wonder how much we have this same struggle in our relationship with God.  Are we holding back?  Are we over-sharing? If you’re not sure, try a few of these questions:

Do we approach God in prayer with the same robotic, formula-driven phrases because that’s what we think He wants to hear? 
Are we afraid He will get mad at us for being less-than-perfect or frazzled by the day’s events? 
Have we convinced ourselves that our issues are too small for the God of the Universe to be bothered with?
Do we feel guilty after we have an emotional outburst (anger, tears, etc.) while talking to God?
Do we think that God will “bring down lightning” or punish us for questioning His plans?

When we’re troubled by questions like this, the best place to go is to the Scriptures.  One famous psalm that is familiar to most people is Psalm 23, which starts out like this:

Psalm 23:1
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

Reading through that psalm, we can find many truths that can be very comforting.  But did you know that the psalm just before it, Psalm 22, starts out very differently:

Psalm 22:1
My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?

Completely different feeling and situation from what we read in Psalm 23.  Both psalms are authored by the same guy, David.  He’s talking about the same God in both psalms.

Most importantly – don’t miss this – God considers both of these psalms to be acceptable worship.  Psalms were not just words written on a page, but they were songs to be sung.  Can you imagine singing “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” in a church today?  And yet, the ancient Israelites sang it to God.

Take a look for yourself and survey the first verse of any number of the 150 psalms in the Bible – you’ll find that the ancient Israelites indeed brought their “whole selves” to God, looking to Him for truth, rescue, comfort, relationship, excitement, guidance, and support.  Regardless of circumstances, God welcomed them, just as they were.

So let’s stop with trying to say “the right prayer” or worrying that we don’t sound like our pastor when he prays.  Bring your whole self to God.  There’s no need to hide or pretend to be perfect.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Do not memorize this verse

Did you know that the numbering for chapters and verses in the Bible are not original with the text?  Instead, they were added later on to help us navigate the text in a consistent, reliable manner.  In fact, chapter numberings were first introduced around 1227 AD and verse numberings not until 1448 AD for the Old Testament and 1551 AD for the New Testament.

As such, we should not consider these numberings to be at the same level as the inspired Scripture text; instead, they should be viewed as helpful navigational landmarks.  Most of the time, chapter breaks and verse numberings make sense within the text; however, there are more than a handful that seem a little random or even interruptive to what the author was writing.

Many times we use these chapter-verse landmarks to help us identify truths that we want to recall later – to hide them in our heart, as the writer of Psalm 119 states.  Scripture memorization is an awesome tool to help us keep God’s perspective in focus through whatever life throws our way.

That said, not all verses are equally helpful, taken at face-value.  Check out this verse from the Mosaic Law:

Leviticus 11:30
geckos, monitor lizards, common lizards, skinks, and chameleons.

Feeling edified and uplifted?  Ok, maybe not so much.

While we might not find this particular reference to be a statement we want to immediately recall…we need to avoid thinking that because we shouldn’t memorize a verse that it means the verse isn’t all that useful.

Admittedly, taken by itself, this verse is kinda odd.  Since this is the back-half of a sentence, let’s go back to verse 29 and see if we can figure out why God would bother listing out a bunch of lizards:

Leviticus 11:29-30
These creatures that swarm on the ground are unclean for you:
weasels, mice, any kind of large lizard,
geckos, monitor lizards, common lizards, skinks, and chameleons.

Ok, well, that gives a little more perspective.  God is telling the Israelites that these lizards were unclean for them – meaning they should be avoided.  Interestingly, God gives them additional clarification about handling these creatures:

Leviticus 11:31-35, 41
These are unclean for you among all the swarming creatures.  Whoever touches them when they are dead will be unclean until evening.  When any one of them dies and falls on anything it becomes unclean – any item of wood, clothing, leather, sackcloth, or any implement used for work.  It is to be rinsed with water and will remain unclean until evening; then it will be clean.

If any of them falls into any clay pot, everything in it will become unclean; you are to break it.  Any edible food coming into contact with that unclean water will become unclean, and any drinkable liquid in any container will become unclean.  Anything one of the carcasses falls on will become unclean.  If it is an oven or stove, it is to be smashed; it is unclean and will remain unclean for you…All creatures that swarm on the earth are abhorrent; they must not be eaten.

Well, that seems like a lot, doesn’t it?
Why would God get so seemingly bent out of shape about lizards?

When reading Scripture, not only is it important to read individual verses in context, but it’s important to remember the timeline context, as well.  At the time of the Mosaic Law, there are no refrigerators or freezers.  Food is always prepared fresh, otherwise it spoils.  None of the cleaning supplies we use everyday are available.  If a dead lizard fell and landed in your clothing or food or water, it would be contaminated.  Just because they didn’t know about bacteria and microbes doesn’t mean they couldn’t become seriously sick from them.  Getting a clay pot or clay oven cleaned out?  There’s no way they could guarantee that they had disinfected all parts of that super-porous material…the Israelites really were better off smashing them and moving on.

God gave these rules (and others) to both set them apart from the practices of the surrounding nations and to protect them from potential dangers/illnesses they could not foresee or understand. 

This is where the ancient rules in Leviticus actually teach us modern-day believers something…there are some commands that God gives in the New Testament that we might not fully understand.  For those instances, I would propose that God is doing with us the same thing He did for Israel – He wants us to live distinctly from the culture around us and He wants to protect us from potential dangers that, right now, we can’t foresee or fully understand.

So maybe you don’t memorize a verse from Leviticus that is nothing more than a list of lizards…but do remember the principle that God has a purpose in everything He commands, even if we don’t fully understand it at the time.

Keep Pressing,
Ken