The “Portion of Jacob”

March 31, 2023 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these,
for he is the Maker of all things,
including Israel, the people of his inheritance—
the Lord Almighty is his name.
Jeremiah 10:16 (NIV)

Wendy and I have really enjoyed the first three seasons of The Chosen. We have found this cinematic retelling of the Jesus story as amazing as the story of its crowd-funded making. We both honestly felt like it took about three episodes of Season 1 for the writing and story to catch its stride, but from that point on we’ve been enthralled.

One of the things that we both love about this production is the way that it is telling the story. Many of the well-known cinematic retellings of the past have confined themselves to only those episodes and words which are recorded in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The Chosen, on the other hand, has remained true to these episodes while imagining the storylines of the characters around Jesus. In doing so, it places the episodes into the context of real, ordinary, daily lives of those involved – lives that are just like mine or yours. In the most recent third season, Peter and his wife are having marriage problems and a personal crisis that Jesus seems to completely ignore, James (who walks with a permanent limp) struggles with Jesus sending him out on a mission to heal others when Jesus has never once addressed James’ obvious handicap, and Matthew returns to Capernaum to face his estranged parents whose lives have been ruined because of his collaboration with the Romans as the local tax collector.

One of the other subtle things that I have loved about The Chosen is that the writers observe that Jesus loved nicknames. In the show, within The Twelve, He refers to “Big James” and “Little James.” Then there’s Simon the Zealot who is given the moniker “Zee” while the other Simon has yet to be given his nickname “Rocky” (the literal translation of “Peter”). I can’t wait to see how and when they work that one into the story.

I have observed many times along this chapter-a-day journey that God has always loved names and nicknames. As I’ve always said, God’s base language is metaphor. The nicknames that Jesus gave to His followers and that God gave to characters throughout the Great Story usually had a metaphorical meaning pointing to their character or transformation. The myriad of names of God used throughout the Great Story are a testimony to the power of metaphor to give us an increased understanding and appreciation for God, who cannot be truly understood within the limits of my finite mind.

In today’s chapter, I was intrigued by a moniker of God that I never remember noticing before. Jeremiah refers to God as “the Portion of Jacob.” There is only one other time in the entire Great Story in which this name of God is used when Jeremiah uses it again in chapter 51.

And so, in the quiet this morning I sat with and meditated on this nickname, “Portion of Jacob.” Of all the great ancestral heroes of Jeremiah and the Hebrews, Jacob is among the most intriguing. Jacob (which means “deceiver”) was a liar and a deceiver. His is a story of lowly person struggling against his place in life and one who wrestled with God. And yet, God shows Jacob unmerited favor and grace. God uses Jacob despite his flaws. God does not abandon Jacob, but continually humbles and hones Jacob throughout his story.

What a great metaphor for the very people, Jacob’s people, whom Jeremiah describes in today’s chapter. Jeremiah has six times (FYI: in numerology, six is the number of sinful man) described his people as deceitful to this point in the anthology of his messages. Jerry could have chosen to identify God as the God of Abraham, Isaac, Moses, or David. He chooses instead a moniker for God that he alone uses in all of the Great Story. God is the “Portion of Jacob,” the God of the deceitful, rebellious, hard-hearted people who descended from Jacob the deceiver who wrestled with God.

As I pondered this, I was reminded of many of the characters in the Great Story whose earthly lives and paths wound through rebellion, sin, and scandal. I thought of people in my own circles of influence who could be tagged as the spiritual descendants of Jacob the deceiver based on their own scandalous and tragic actions. I couldn’t help but think about my own stretches on this life journey, like those I’ve recently referenced, in which my own actions warranted being identified as a spiritual child of Jacob.

But, that’s the subtle beauty and the meaning of Jeremiah’s nickname for God, which is likely lost on most readers as it’s been lost on me until this morning. God graciously loved and used Jacob despite his very obvious human flaws. Jeremiah is pleading with his flawed and rebellious people to spiritually return to the God who will graciously welcome a repentant prodigal. God graciously loved me despite my own years of wrestling. God calls me to be gracious with those who are in their own stretch of life walking in the shoes as spiritual children of Jacob.

Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Today’s featured image is The Vision after the Sermon (Jacob wrestling with the Angel) by Paul Gaugin. Public domain. Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, UK.

Chapter-a-Day

Mourners Need Not Apply

March 30, 2023 Tom Vander Well 2 Comments

This is what the Lord Almighty says:
“Consider now! Call for the wailing women to come;
    send for the most skillful of them.
Let them come quickly
    and wail over us
till our eyes overflow with tears
    and water streams from our eyelids.”
Jeremiah 9:17-18 (NIV)

I love the photo that I’ve featured on this post. It was taken after my mom’s funeral two weeks ago. The thing that I love about it is the sincere joy my siblings and our dad were feeling despite the occasion. In my eulogy, I talked of the ways that I observed her continually bearing the fruit of the Spirit in her life and daily actions. She was a woman of simple and absolutely sincere faith.

In her final days, I learned a tremendous amount about the physical, mental, and spiritual process of death from the hospice nurses who lovingly cared for her. I also learned a lot from @hospicenursejulie on Instagram and Facebook (or hospicenursejulie.com) and I’d recommend that anyone with a loved one nearing death follow her. Her short videos were both instructive and reassuring for me and my family in the final months of mom’s life.

One of the things I learned was that whoever a person is at their core, their true self, is what comes out in the end. I asked a psychologist friend about this and he confirmed it. As the body dies, he explained, there is no energy to maintain any “false self” charades that a person may have put forward their whole lives to hide their “true self.” I saw one video from a death doula who had just been with a family through the death of a person who was a true narcissist. Even as an experienced expert, she was obiously shaken by the toxic spirit and venomous words that poured out of the deceased in their final hours. She ended with a recommendation that family members get counseling before an unhealthy person like that begins the descent to death.

My mother’s true-self was evident in her death despite the fact that Alzheimer’s Disease had wreaked havoc on her mind and body for over ten years. I’m happy to say that it was nothing like what I just described. In her final days, her moments of consciousness were few, but she was still playful constantly making us and those caring for her laugh. The hospice nurses and caregivers loved her. I don’t know how many times we heard, “She’s one of my favorites!” Her death was simple, quiet, and humble. It ended with a gentle whisper of breath and my dad saying, “I think she’s gone.” That was my mother.

It is a holy moment when there’s suddenly one less person in the room than there was a moment before.

I couldn’t help but think of my mother as I read about God telling the prophet Jeremiah to “call for the wailing women” in today’s chapter. Professional mourners were an ever-present part of the landscape in the ancient near-east, and the tradition continues in many mideastern cultures today. Women are paid to gather, wail, cry, sing dirges, and improvise signs of grief for one who has passed. Grief is not just a natural emotional reaction but a ritual production. God’s instruction for Jeremiah to call them was a powerful metaphorical message that would have resonated with his audience. Calling for them to lament the impending deaths that Jeremiah is prophetically assuring his listeners will happen provides a visual word picture of how serious his prescient laments really are.

This contrasts so sharply with my experience of mom’s death. Yes, I’m going to miss her. Yes, there is a sadness in the reality that the woman who gave me life, who nurtured me, and who was always present when I needed her is suddenly not here. At the same time, I truly believe what I say I believe. She really is in a better place and I wouldn’t wish her back, trapped inside the frail prison of her Alzheimer’s riddled brain and body. I feel a very real peace with her passing.

The ancient sage of Ecclesiastes said that there “is a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.” As a disciple of Jesus, I find that those contrasting times can also happen simultaneously. Just as Jesus said,

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” John 14:1-3 (NIV)

Our family’s celebration of mom just two weeks ago was filled with more laughter than tears, more joy than sorrow, more peace than pain. For me, that is a testimony of both faith in Jesus, and the true-self my mother’s faith led her to be each day of her earthly journey. In that, I can laugh and dance a jig.

Professional mourners need not apply.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

“Good Luck Charm” Religion

March 29, 2023 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

“How can you say, ‘We are wise,
for we have the law of the Lord,’
when actually the lying pen of the scribes
has handled it falsely?”
Jeremiah 8:8 (NIV)

A few years ago, I was working with a group of leaders who were tasked with teaching the book of 1 Corinthians to a larger gathering of Jesus’ followers. Before we began, I made a copy of the text without any of the chapter or verse numbers listed. I changed the type face to a font that resembled actual handwriting and printed it and handed it out. I encouraged the team to put themselves in the sandals of a leader of the Jesus followers in ancient Corinth and to read the words as they were originally intended: as a personal letter from their friend Paul. It was a transformative exercise for us.

One of the things that I have to always remember on this chapter-a-day journey is that the chapter and verse designations were not part of the original writings for centuries. Manuscripts as early as the 4th century AD contain some evidence of text being divided into chapters, but it wasn’t until the 12th century that Steven Langton added the chapter divisions and it wasn’t until 1551 that a man named Robert Estienne added the verse definitions. In 1560, the first translation of the entire Great Story referred to as the Geneva Bible, employed chapters and verses throughout. They’ve been used ever since.

Chapters and verses are an essential method for study, referencing, and cross-referencing. That’s why they remain. However, in my forty-plus years of studying, I’ve found that they can also hinder my reading, understanding, and interpretation. Chapters and verses gain individual attention apart from the context of the whole in which they were intended when written. Individual verses get pulled out of context. In other cases, like today’s chapter, the entire chapter is merely a piece of a larger message. I can easily read and contemplate just today’s chapter alone without connecting it to the chapters before and after into which they fit.

In today’s chapter, I noticed that the Hebrew people of Jeremiah’s day were saying, “We are wise, for we have the law of the Lord.” Something clicked and I remembered something I read in yesterday’s chapter: “Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!” Both chapters are really part of one message or series of messages to be read together as a unit.

Taken together, I realize that there’s a theme in Jerry’s message that I would never see if I confine myself to each individual chapter and don’t consider them together as a whole. The Hebrew people of Jeremiah’s day had misplaced their trust. They trusted in Solomon’s Temple, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. They trusted in the “Law of the Lord” which had recently been rediscovered and made known to them. They had not, however, placed their trust in the God who gave them the Law, nor the God who inspired the building of the temple. They were treating the temple and the Law the same way they treated the other gods who they had worshipped, sometimes within the temple they were worshipping. The temple and the Law were basically good luck charms like all the other stars, idols, and pagan images they worshipped along with them.

In the quiet this morning, I thought about people whom I’ve met and known along my life journey whom I’ve observed treating their religion and their local church building, much like the people Jerry is addressing in his message, as good luck charms. When trouble comes in life (and trouble always comes in life – God even says so) I have observed their shock and anger. I have heard them express rage at God for not warding off their troubles and making their lives free of difficulty, pain, or sorrow. But God never promised that.

In fact, when Adam and Eve sinned by eating the forbidden fruit of their own free will, God said specifically that the consequences would include pain and conflict, sweat and toil, along with death and grief on our earthly journeys. Going to church and dressing my life up in religious traditions does not save me from any of those earthly realities. However, a trusting relationship with God gives me what I need to endure troubles in such a way that qualities like faith and perseverance, peace and maturity, along with joy and hope hone me to become more like Jesus, who endured more undeserved trouble than I could ever imagine and did so on my behalf.

Once again, a Bob Dylan lyric came to mind as I pondered these things this morning:

Trouble in the city, trouble in the farm
You got your rabbit’s foot, you got your good-luck charm
But they can’t help you none when there’s trouble…

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

The Smorgasbord of Words I Want to Hear

March 28, 2023 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

“But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.”
“Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips.”
Jeremiah 7:8, 28 (NIV)

I walk this earthly journey in fascinating times.

With the dawn of the internet age, I have access to more words, information, and voices than any human being has ever experienced in history. It’s instantly accessible through the phone in my hand every minute of every day. With this phone I can constantly read and listen. Often when I can’t sleep I will stick an AirPod in my ear and listen to a voice reading a favorite story. Last week I woke up and remembered that, in my dream, there were two boys who amazed me because they were quoting long passages of one of my favorite stories from memory! The words from my phone, through my ear, were being regurgitated through my brain into my dreams.

As I stop to consider this amazing reality, I also observe that few people seem to be considering how this is changing our lives. Parents are concerned about screens, of course. Sociologists and experts are studying it, writing papers and books, and publishing articles. But any words or information posted, published, tweeted, or spoken now competes with all the information and entertainment available to every individual on the phone in their hand. Every person can listen and endlessly read whatever they desire. I think about this every morning when I hit the “Publish” button on these posts like a sower sowing his seed. How do you compete against the unlimited number of options every human being has at their fingertips?

As I read today’s chapter, the words of the ancient prophet Jeremiah felt eerily prescient to these fascinating times. He stood at the entrance to God’s Temple in Jerusalem and proclaimed the words God had given him. He did this even as God told him, “When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you.”

I find it fascinating that in a time when we have more information at our fingertips than could have been been imagined just a generation ago, I observe the actual denial of facts and truths that have not been questioned in the history of humanity. With this unprecedented access to more words and knowledge I would think that profitable conversation and productive discourse would flourish. Instead, I observe in our culture the demand to abolish discourse, debate, and the free exchange of ideas under the misguided notion that words are hurtful and disagreement is violence.

Just this morning I read these words from a professor at one of the nation’s large universities. The academic described his observations of colleagues who:

“…work desperately to remain in a state of denial, not to think about the obvious. The exhausting labor of self-deception pushes them into more extreme behavior. Just as lies beget lies, self-deceptions metastasize into new self-deceptions.”

Please don’t read what I’m not writing. It’s the spiritual issues of my observations that are stirring my mind and soul in the quiet this morning. It is a spiritual matter that Jeremiah pokes at and that Jesus would address hundreds of years later. Those who have eyes don’t actually see. Those who have ears don’t actually hear. Simple truths are hidden from the “wise and learned” while perfectly understood by a mere child. Knowledge doesn’t lead to truth, but deception. As God said in today’s chapter through Jeremiah: “Instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward.”

Immediate access to a smorgasbord of information, words, and voices does not necessarily lead to my increased knowledge or wisdom. It can also lead me to an intoxicating indulgence in only those voices, words, and ideas that affirm my darkest and most unhealthy inclinations. They can facilitate in me the same thing that tripped up Adam and Eve; I can be like God so as to create my own reality. I can easily follow my appetite for self-deception and self-justification by gluttonously feeding on an endless stream of affirming words and voices to the point that any words or voices of dissent become unbearable and send me repeatedly back to the buffet of voices who will tell me exactly what I want to hear and call it truth. As they do, they proclaim that doing so is loving, caring, kind, and good.

No matter how much the internet age has changed my access to information, words, and voices, what has never changed since the days of the ancient prophet Jeremiah is the human condition.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Cross Road Blues

March 27, 2023 Tom Vander Well 3 Comments

This is what the Lord says:
“Stand at the crossroads and look;
    ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
    and you will find rest for your souls.
    But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
Jeremiah 6:16 (NIV)

It is the quintessential legend in the history of the blues. It was 1930. A late teenager named Robert Johnson got up to play in a Mississippi juke joint. No one was impressed. He was told his guitar playing was below average. He played harmonica slightly better.

That night, Robert Johnson disappeared for three years.

Upon his return, the young man had not only improved, he was a master. To many, he had been transformed into the master of the blues. From one of the most famous songs he ever recorded sprung a legend that lives to this day: That Robert Johnson met the devil at the crossroads of highways 49 and 61, where he sold his soul in exchange for becoming the greatest blues man of all time. Here, feel free to give a listen while you read the rest of the post:

Standing at the crossroads is a powerful metaphor. How many times in my life journey have I found myself with multiple roads that lie before me? How many times have I stood in a “crossroads moment” between doing what I know to be right or choosing to do the wrong thing, the destructive thing, the foolish thing, or the defiant thing? I’ve stood at that crossroads countless times, and I have my own stories of choosing both and the consequences of doing so. Buy me a pint or a cup o’ Joe and I’ll be happy to share few with you.

The Cross Road Blues is far older than Robert Johnson, even though he was the one who set it to music and made it famous. In today’s chapter, God speaks through the ancient Hebrew prophet Jeremiah to tell His people to wander out to the Cross Road. Once there, he tells them to find the path that will lead them back.

Back to the time He delivered them from slavery.
Back to the time He provided for them in the wilderness.
Back to the time He protected them from their enemies.
Back to the time He prospered them in the Promised Land.

Long before Jesus had ever shared the story of a man with two sons, God tells His prodigal people to pick themselves up out of the pig slop of their circumstances and hit the road for home.

In the quiet this morning, I think about some of my loved ones and the crossroads of life at which they stand.

My father comes to mind who, after my mother’s death two weeks ago, stands alone at the Cross Road for the first time in 65 years. What will he do with the remaining days God has granted him on this earth?

Our children stare down a myriad of paths that lie in front of them which will determine where they live and what their lives will look like in the coming years. Some of the paths might be blocked. Paths that are currently open don’t seem right.

Friends stand at the Cross Road of career choices, spiritual choices, relational choices, and some who stand at the Cross Road and (as Bob Dylan sang) “now behold this chain-of-events that I must break.”

The truth of Robert Johnson’s legendary story will forever be shrouded in mystery. Such is the stuff of legends. Nevertheless, his lyric on Cross Road Blues seems to fit the story of what God’s people did with their crossroads moment in today’s chapter:

“Standin’ at the crossroad, baby, risin’ sun goin’ down
I believe to my soul, now, poor Bob is sinkin’ down.”

For myself, my friends, and my loved ones standing at a Cross Road today, I pray we find the result that Bob Dylan did in the song I quoted a moment ago:

“In the fury of the moment I can see the Master’s hand,
in every sparrow fallen, in every grain of sand.”

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Book Summary List, Chapter-a-Day

2 Kings (Jan-Feb 2023)

March 26, 2023 Tom Vander Well 3 Comments

Each photo below corresponds to a chapter-a-day post for the book of 2 Kings published by Tom Vander Well in Jan-Feb 2023. Click on the photo linked to each chapter to read the post.

2 Kings 6: The Difference a Dinner Makes

Tom's Photos, Travel Journal, Uncategorized

Scotland! Oct-Nov 2022

March 25, 2023 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

Wow! How did I get so far behind in keeping everyone up-to-date on the seasonal happenings of the Vander Well clan? My apologies. It has been a very full season of life since I published The Latest: Summer 2022. While I’ve got Autumn 2022 and the Holidays 2022 still on the blogging task list, I wanted to start catching you up with the most fun event of the last seven months!

In October Wendy and I flew across the pond to visit our kids and grandkids in bonny Scotland. It was our first trip back since Christmas of 2019 when we celebrated with the kids in London. We were especially excited to meet our granddaughter Sylvie for the first time. She was born June 28 and it would be our first opportunity to get our loving arms around her. The timing of our trip was planned to coincide with Milo’s Fall break from primary school.

Wendy and I stayed at a VRBO flat across the street from the kids’ flat in Edinburgh. It was so convenient, and allowed us to get some work done during the day while we were there. We arrived on a Monday morning and spent the first few days simply enjoying the opportunity to be together. Papa and Ya-Ya had the joy of bed time reading. We took walks and enjoyed the fall colors. We enjoyed the kids’ favorite local pizza pub, One Canon Mills.

Taylor took us on a date that week. We started with cocktails and a small lunch at The Alchemist, where they make the most amazing craft cocktails. We then walked to the to see Girl From the North Country at the Edinburgh Playhouse. a thoroughly enjoyable musical based on the songs of Bob Dylan. It was so much fun. That evening Wendy and I had a little date ourselves at O’Connors Pub. I had the most amazing plate of bangers and mash! Wendy and I also enjoyed taking Milo on a lunch data with Ya-Ya and Papa which, of course, included a stop at the toy store! ☺️

On Thursday of that week, we rented a van and headed to the highlands! Taylor secured us a lovely VRBO in a caravan park on the River Tilt in Blair Atholl. From there we headed to an annual event in the picturesque town of Pitlochry called The Enchanted Forest. It was so cool to walk through the misty Scottish forest that was so beautifully lit as music played in the background the entire time. Gorgeous.

We also spent time enjoying being together, taking walks in the beauty of the Scottish landscape and hanging out together. Papa and Ya-Ya watched the wee ones one evening so that Tay and Clay could have a little dinner date. Most of all, we got as much fun with the grandkids as we could.

We spent a day driving into the Highlands, beginning with a stop in quaint Fort William for lunch at The Geographer. I should probably mention the adventure of driving a nine-passenger van into the Scottish Highlands. Driving from the right-side of the car on the left-side of the road is adventurous enough, but then to be on very narrow, windy roads that have no shoulder is kind of nerve wracking. Wendy spent much of the trip lying down in the back seat with her eyes closed. I will confess to filling out my first damage report on a rental car ever. I’m happy to say that no one was hurt, not counting my pride. The retaining wall suffered no damage, but the bumper of the van didn’t fare so well.

Our return trip to Blair Atholl in the afternoon took us to the breathtaking spot where Clayton and Taylor got married during the pandemic. It was so fun to be there and take family photos on the shore of Loch Achtriochtan outside of Glencoe. Our return trek took us by the remote road where the scenes of James Bond’s boyhood Skyfall estate were filmed. We also stopped at a really cute town called Killin where we had coffee and a snack.

We enjoyed our final morning in the Highlands window shopping in Pitlochry. Clayton and I spent some time checking out a Whisky shop and sampling a small batch single-malt Scotch, Daftmill, that has created a bit of a stir there.

Our final day in Edinburgh I got to help Taylor walk Milo to school where I met some of his friends as they queued up for class. Taylor and I then enjoyed a Daddy-Daughter coffee date (they never get old). We took a bus to the Royal Mile for lunch at The Devil’s Advocate. Clay took me to his favorite Scotch shop so I could buy a bottle for the Vander Well Pub. The kids then headed home to put Sylvie down while Wendy and I enjoyed shopping along Victoria Street and enjoying a pint at the White Hart Pub, which we fell in love with on our first trip to Scotland. I should also mention the Pub Trivia evening that Tay, Clay, and I enjoyed with a colleague of Clayton’s. I’m happy to report that we won a beautiful pub mat that now graces the bar of the Vander Well Pub for having the worst score of any team in the competition!

Wendy and I spent our final days in the UK with a train trip to London that took us through Leeds, where our friends James and Hannah live. We had promised to pay them a visit when we were in the UK. We also enjoyed an amazing dinner in Leeds at Riva Blu Italian Restaurant. We really enjoyed traveling by train. It prompted an enjoyable text conversation with Wendy’s dad back in the states with regard to Oreo cows and different sheep breeds. We found it relaxing and enjoyed watching the countryside fly by. Our final three days of this trip were spent in London. We saw the iconic The Mousetrap (the world’s longest running show) along with the musical Six. We had great dining experiences at El Camion, The Porcupine and The Breakfast Club. We can’t wait for our next UK trip!

Book Summary List, Chapter-a-Day

Jeremiah (Mar-Jun 2023)

March 25, 2023 Tom Vander Well 5 Comments

Each photo below corresponds to a chapter-a-day post for the book of Jeremiah published by Tom Vander Well in Mar-Apr 2023. Click on the photo linked to each chapter to read the post.

Jeremiah 1: Certain Calling in Uncertain Times

Jeremiah 7: The Smorgasbord of Words I Want to Hear

Jeremiah 11: Dictates Don’t Change Hearts

Jeremiah 15: Learning the Lesson (or Not)

Jeremiah 23: The Shepherd & the Hired Hand

You’re all caught up! Posts will be added here as they are published. Click on the button below for easy access to other posts indexed by book.

Chapter-a-Day

When to Say “Enough”

March 24, 2023 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

They are well-fed, lusty stallions,
each neighing for another man’s wife.
Jeremiah 5:8 (NIV)

Wendy and I have been listening to a really great podcast of late that explores the Bible from the perspective of the original Hebrew language. I know it doesn’t sound like everyone’s cup of tea, but it is actually very fascinating.

There was something that was mentioned in the very first episode of that podcast that has stuck with me ever since I heard it. After creating the universe in six days, God rests on the seventh. The commentator pointed out that God rested, not because He was tired, but because “God knows when to say ‘enough.'”

The point is that the problems of humanity, beginning with Adam and Eve’s original bite of the forbidden fruit, are really about appetite control. We don’t know when to say “enough.”

I have a natural appetite for food for survival, but when I don’t know when to say “enough” it turns into gluttony.

I have a natural appetite for sex for procreation and intimacy, but when I don’t know when to say “enough” it turns into destructive lust.

I have a natural appetite for the things I need to survive, but when I don’t know when to say “enough” it turns into greed.

I have a natural appetite for justice, but when I don’t know when to say “enough” it turns into wrath.

I have an appetite for rest, but when I don’t know when to say “enough” it turns into sloth.

I was designed to live in harmony and community with others, but when I don’t know when to say “enough” I become envious of them, their possessions, and/or their lives.

I am made in the image of God and designed to live in communion with God, but when I don’t know when to say “enough” my pride leads to me wanting to be my own god.

In today’s chapter, Jeremiah describes his idolatrous people as “lusty stallions” (btw: Am I the only one who immediately thought of Bill and Ted?) in reference to the overtly sexual nature and practices of many of the pagan gods his people didn’t want to give up. The metaphor points to humans being driven by their appetites like an animal in heat, instead of controlling them. Instead of being able to say “enough.”

In the quiet this morning, I was reminded of the “fruits of the Spirit” – the qualities that are supposed to be increasingly evident in my life as I follow the path of Jesus. The list of character qualities begins with the preeminent love and it’s anchored with the quality of self-control. In other words, as I grow in my relationship with Jesus (the Alpha through whom everything was created), I should increasingly exhibit the very quality He expressed from the beginning of creation on the seventh day: knowing when to say “enough.”

And with that thought, I believe I’ve written enough this morning.

Have a great day, my friend.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Shooting the Messenger

March 23, 2023 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

Circumcise yourselves to the Lord,
circumcise your hearts…
Jeremiah 4:4a (NIV)

“Yet the first bringer of unwelcome news
Hath but a losing office…”
Shakespeare, Henry IV (Part 2)

As Wendy and I drove down to the lake yesterday, I listened to the Cubs’ Spring Training game against the A’s. The regular season starts next week and this is the time of year when baseball prophets and prognosticators predict which teams will contend for the postseason and World Series this year. Like most fans, I like to hear “experts” giving me hope for a winning season and the potential of watching my team play in October. I equally despise hearing “experts” giving doomsday predictions of another season of being the doormat of our division rivals no matter how accurate they might be. I shut them off. I tune them out. I refuse to listen. And, if I’m honest, I don’t like them very much.

No one likes the bearer of bad news. “Shooting the messenger” is a commonly used metaphor. It is rooted in sentiments by Plutarch and Sophocles. Shakespeare used it in two of his plays.

The ancient Hebrew prophets were not particularly popular in their day. You’ll find that Jeremiah will face a fair amount of persecution as we trek through his writings and story. His prophetic prognostications are almost always bad news. Even Jesus lamented, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you…” (Luke 13:34). The Hebrews gained a reputation for “shooting the messenger” when it came to the doomsday prophets God sent their way.

Get ready. Jeremiah has a lot of doom and gloom to proclaim, starting with today’s chapter.

Among the things I find most fascinating about the ancient Hebrew prophets is the way they connect to one another, and the way they foreshadow what’s to come in the Great Story in ways they could never have known.

In our recent chapter-a-day trek through Daniel, we read one of Daniel’s visions in which the coming succession of empires was represented by different beasts. The Neo-Babylonian empire that had taken Daniel into captivity was represented metaphorically as a lion (Daniel 7:1-4). In today’s doomsday message for the people of Judah, Jerry writes:

A lion has come out of his lair;
a destroyer of nations has set out.
He has left his place
to lay waste your land.

The lion in Jeremiah’s prophetic poem is the same lion in Daniel’s vision. Jeremiah is recording the message in today’s chapter sometime around 620 BC. The events he’s accurately described will tragically take place 40-50 years later. Of course, no one wants to hear this.

When Jerry tells the people of Judah and Jerusalem to “circumcise your hearts,” he is foreshadowing a tectonic shift that Jesus would usher in some 600 years later. The Hebrews of Jerry’s day thought they were in good standing with God simply because they were “God’s people” as evidenced by their heritage, DNA, and traditional physical signs such as circumcising males. But this was exactly the point God is making through prophet Jerry. Just being a member of the tribe was never the point. It is from the heart that our motives give birth to action. Having a circumcised penis is simply a physical sign. God is looking for a spiritual sign, a circumcised heart. Jesus said as much:

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matthew 6:21 (NIV)

“Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.” Matthew 15:17-19 (NIV)

Just as Jeremiah was persecuted for his words, Jesus would be persecuted and executed for His.

The apostle Paul would make this same argument in his letter to Jesus’ followers in Rome:

“A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.“
Romans 2:28-29 (NIV)

Just as Jeremiah and Jesus were persecuted for their words, Paul would be persecuted and executed for his.

I promise to have mercy on those prophets who are predicting another losing season for the Cubs. They could well be right. In the same vein, I ask mercy, dear reader, for anything I write that you don’t like. “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”

Please don’t shoot the messenger! 😜

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Wayfarer

Monthly Archives: March 2023

The “Portion of Jacob”