Several recent messages have been added to the “Messages” page at tomvanderwell.com where there’s an archive of Tom’s messages from the past decade. Cheers! New Messages added:
If you’re looking for a schedule of Tom’s upcoming messages you can find them at tomvanderwell.com. Click on “Upcoming Messages & Performances.”
But as soon as Jeremiah finished telling all the people everything the Lord had commanded him to say, the priests, the prophets and all the people seized him and said, “You must die!”
Jeremiah 26:8 (NIV)
When I was a child, there was a popular English nursery rhyme that every child knew:
“Sticks and stones may break my bones,
but words will never hurt me.”
Of course, we know that words can have a negative effect on others, but the rhyme was a great reminder during childhood not to take childish words on the playground too seriously. It built resilience in me.
Freedom of speech is a hot topic in these days of the cancel culture in which we’re currently living. I hear it argued that disagreement with another person’s beliefs and opinions is an act of violence.
Today’s chapter got me thinking about this. God sends Jeremiah to Solomon’s Temple to proclaim a version of the same prophetic message he’s always given. Basically, he tells the public crowd that they need to repent of their idolatrous ways or the Temple and the city of Jerusalem will be destroyed.
In the culture of Jeremiah’s day, prophetic words were taken seriously. And there were many prophets. Every deity, shrine, and idol had their prophets. That culture believed that prophetic words didn’t just point to a future event, but the prophet’s spoken message was actively instigating those events. In publicly proclaiming the potential destruction of the temple and the city, they believed that Jeremiah was launching the event. So, they took him by force and attempted to have him sentenced to death.
As I contemplated this in the quiet this morning, it struck me that most prophets of that day must have confined their messages to predictions of peace and prosperity. They would have been careful to say what was generally acceptable. In fact, throughout Jeremiah’s messages are complaints about those whom God deemed “false prophets” because they did just that. No one would want to face the consequences that Jeremiah did in today’s chapter.
But here’s the thing I’ve learned and observed along my life journey: The truth sometimes hurts, and not all pain is bad.
When a culture begins to value what is socially and politically acceptable above that which is rationally true, that culture is headed in the wrong direction. This was at the heart of Jeremiah’s overarching message. What he was saying wasn’t popular, but it turned out to be true. The mob of priests and prophets were calling for Jeremiah’s head because they didn’t like what he was saying will soon be living in Babylon or lying in the rubble of Jerusalem.
What I found interesting is that this mob was so crazed by the potential doom that Jeremiah described that they appear to not have even considered the part of Jeremiah’s message in which they could avoid this disaster by simply repenting of their idolatry and return to follow the God of Abraham, Moses, and David alone.
Jeremiah escaped the death sentence in today’s chapter as the king and elders remembered that there was a precedent. Similar prophetic messages of doom were preached by the prophet Micah just a hundred or so years before when the Assyrian Empire came knocking on the gates of Jerusalem. Then King Hezekiah listened, repented, sought the Lord, and the city was miraculously delivered. This is enough to prompt the king and elders to let Jeremiah go, but they appear unwilling to follow Hezekiah’s example. Fascinating.
In the quiet this morning, I find myself praying for our nation and our culture. I believe strongly in free speech and the fact that it is foundational to a free and healthy society, even when other say things that I don’t agree with. Sometimes I need to listen to words and messages that hurt in order to hear that which is true.
If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.
These are slides and referenced source material for a message I’m delivering this morning.
Hey friend, I hope your weekend is going well! I wanted to thank my friend Reuel Sample at the Pastor’s Voice Podcast for inviting me to be a guest this past week. I had a fantastic time and look forward to future conversations. You can listen online at thepastorsvoice.net and you can subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcasting platform.
Below you’ll find my latest message from this past Sunday. Don’t forget that there’s an archive of past messages on the Messages Page at tomvanderwell.com.
From the time [Potiphar] put [Jospeh] in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field.
Genesis 39:5 (NIV)
Along my spiritual journey, about 30 years ago, I became aware of the soul whispers. The whispers are subtle, yet powerful messages whispered into my soul from childhood. The whispers form, and then reinforce, deeply held beliefs about myself, others, and my place in the world. The whispers are typically incongruent with what God says about me. The whispers are typically unhealthy. As I progressed in my journey, I discovered that it is important for me to be aware of the whispers, to identify the messages that are being whispered, and to examine them in the light of God’s Message. I’ve discovered that this is not a one-and-done event, but a perpetual process on my earthly journey.
One of the things I’ve discovered on this chapter-a-day journey is that sometimes it’s God’s Message that reveals my whispers in the quiet. The lyrics of Psalm 119:130 say “the unfolding of your words give light.” Sometimes as I read each morning the “unfolding of God’s words” is like hitting a light switch in my soul, and suddenly I see things in myself that had been previously hidden. Things like the message of a soul whisper.
As I read today’s chapter, I became aware of a pattern. Joseph, the kid brother of Jacob’s sons, had been sold by his brothers into slavery. He ends up being purchased by an Egyptian official named Potiphar. Potiphar recognizes that the Lord’s favor is on Joseph, so he puts Joseph in charge. Joseph gets wrongly accused and ends up in prison, and the warden sees the same thing Potiphar did. The Lord was with Joseph and blessed him, so the warden put Joseph in charge within the prison.
This is not the first time I’ve seen this. Jacob’s uncle Laban repeatedly stated that he could see that the Lord blessed Jacob. He was blessed because of Jacob’s blessing. Abimelek said the same thing about Abraham. He saw God’s blessing on Abraham and wanted to make sure that he got in on the blessing and not on any kind of disfavor. Abimelek, Laban, Potiphar, and the prison warden hooked their wagons to the gravy train of Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph’s blessings.
As I became aware of this, the light came on in my soul. There was the whisper staring me in plain sight. It said, “You are only blessed by your association with others God has truly blessed. God’s blessing isn’t yours. You’re simply eating off the gravy train.”
As soon as I saw it in the Light, I knew that it isn’t true. A passage from Paul’s letter to the believers in Ephesus immediately came to mind:
How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son. Ephesians 1:3-6 (MSG)
At the same moment, I realized that this whisper has been with me for a very long time. That’s the way the whispers work. They keep reinforcing their unhealthy messages so quietly in my subconscious that I’m deaf to them amidst the din of everyday life.
“You’re hopelessly flawed.”
“You’re unworthy.”
“The blessings aren’t really yours.”
So, in the quiet of this morning, I find myself realizing that it’s one thing to read and know what the truth is, but it’s another thing to embrace it. God’s Message says that faith is “the evidence of what we do not see.” This morning I’m wondering how long the evidence of the whisper I did not see has hijacked the evidence of what God has been clearly telling me all along.
This is a faith journey. Progress requires this perpetual process of transferring faith in what I believe about myself to faith in the truth of who I am in the light of what Jesus has done for me.
If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.
FWIW: Three messages posted to the “Messages” page today. Cheers!
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 12:2 (NIV)
I realized somewhere along my life journey that I had a tape recorder playing in my head. The recording was a montage of voices of the past and negative blurts that had clung to my soul as though someone had stuck them there with velcro. The recording played on a loop in my head like Muzac in a department store. I was largely unaware of it most of the time, but the recording played over and over and over again reinforcing certain negative messages:
There came a point in my journey when I became aware of these shame-full messages whispering in the background of my consciousness. I began to realize just how insidious and powerful they were in framing my self image, my perspective, and even my behaviors. They contributed to nagging attitudes of insecurity and defeat.
I began to listen more carefully. I began to write these negative blurts down as I heard them and then identified them. Where possible, I identified the source of that negative blurt from my past. If possible, I tried to identify how and when it was that I came to believe that negative message about myself. I brought them out into the light of day and examined them thoroughly, memorizing what they looked life, sounded like, and felt like.
I began consciously, day-by-day, to create a new recording. This recording was based on affirming messages sourced on what God says about me:
From that point on, whenever I recognized one of my old negative blurts whispering to me, I turned up the volume on my new recording. It wasn’t a quick process. It took time and tenacious effort. Slowly, however, things began to shift. My mind began to transform and let go of the old messages as it embraced the new.
Today, I’m thinking about the story that I have for so long told about myself deep in the recesses of my soul. I’m thinking about how much that story contrasts with the story that God tells about me. So often I’m the prodigal child approaching God, hat-in-hand, repeating the self-written story of my wretched unworthiness. God is the prodigal’s father believing and telling a very different story of just how loved, honored, and valued I am.
The question is: Which story will I choose to believe?
These are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said as he told his sons good-bye. He blessed each one with an appropriate message. Genesis 49:28 (NLT)
What we say as parents and, perhaps more importantly, what we left unsaid can create soul-wounds which can and will negatively affect generations of a family. A few months ago, Wendy and I had the privilege of participating in a service project in which we read part of an audiobook that will be used by our local hospice when families have a loved one who is dying. The book, The Four Things That Matter Most, was written by Dr. Ira Bock who is an authority in the area palliative and end-of-life care. In his book, Dr. Bock recommends four messages that need to be said between loved ones before death:
I thought about Dr. Bock’s book this morning as I read Jacob’s death-bed words to each of his sons. I put myself in the shoes of each son and considered what each might have felt upon hearing the words. I came up with a broad range of emotions from shame, guilt, envy, curiosity, hurt, anger, bewilderment, and pride. While there were some positive emotions in the list, they were overshadowed by the negative.
I believe Jacob spoke the right words, but they were at the wrong time. I’m sure that he spoke spoke truth to his sons and expressed what his heart felt before he died, but as I look at the diverse list of emotions I jotted down I can only imagine that Jacob’s words created more wounds and division than healing and harmony among the brothers. Furthermore, Jacob purged his heart and mind before he died, giving no opportunity for conversation, reflection and relational healing.
There is a time for everything, a time to wound and a time to heal. There is a time for confrontation and honesty, but confrontation and honesty right before one breathes his or her last tends to create a one way monologue that may open wounds in their loved ones which will never heal this side of death. The time for that crucial conversation is when both parties are able to have a conversation, perhaps a series of conversations, along with the necessary time and space to work things out and come to a mutual understanding. When this is done in a timely way in life, there is a greater opportunity to hear the four things that matter most to be said before death.
Our words have the power to wound or to heal. Let us be careful how we wield them, especially with those whom we love most in this life.
Here is God's Message to the prophets, the preachers who lie to my people:"For as long as they're well paid and well fed, the prophets preach, 'Isn't life wonderful! Peace to all!' But if you don't pay up and jump on their bandwagon, their 'God bless you' turns into 'God damn you.' Micah 3:5 (MSG)
Life is a mixture of good times and bad, of hope and despair. The journey takes us through peaks and valleys. Sometimes we need an encouraging pat on the back. Sometimes we need a swift kick in the pants. When life is out of balance, my perceptions quickly become clouded.
The prophets of Micah's day were out of balance. Their motivation was selfish ("I only care about my own personal needs") and their message was a bubble off plumb ("I'll say whatever you want to hear as long as the money keeps rolling in"). I can think of many of today's "prophets" and see parallels. There is nothing new under the sun.
I can't control others, but I can control myself. Today, I think about the messages I send to family, friends, clients and co-workers. I want to make sure that the words and messages out of my own mouth reflect a healthy balance. I don't want to reflect my own selfish motives, but as much as possible I want to objectively reflect what is true.
