Obedience | The Hard Facts

Am I the only one that does this?

For the past few weeks, I felt like God was wanting me to explore the book of Jeremiah, in particular, chapters 35 through 45. Jeremiah was one of the Old Testament prophets who by all accounts, did not live a life of comfort. (He also wrote the book of Lamentations, which is a great read on a stormy, lonely, Saturday evening . . . ) He was constantly instructed by God to inform the people of Israel what God thought of their decisions and news flash, it was rarely positive. And here is a even greater shock, the people never listened!

The chapters that I have been reading chronicle the disobedience that at times seem comical. When God tells them to stay where they are, they leave. When He instructs them to leave, they stay. When He reminds them that He alone is their protector and provider, they nod and continue to look for any other resource to protect and provide for themselves and their families. 

I mean, you talk about a nation of clod heads! (And I'm being sarcastic because unfortunately my behavior eerily mirrors the nation of Israel way too many times.)

Here are a few examples of the people of Israel's views of God, as described in these ten chapters:

Psalm 121

 

"I lift up my eyes to the hills.

From where does my help come?

My help comes from the Lord,

who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved;

he who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, he who keeps Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper;

the Lord is your shade on your right hand.

The sun shall not strike you by day,

nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all evil;

he will keep your life.

The Lord will keep

your going out and your coming in

from this time forth and forevermore."

Psalm 121

Grief

Grief.

Five letters that make up a word that can only whisper of the transformative impact of loss. Loss of a friend, loss of a parent, but perhaps one of the most painful losses of all, the loss of a mate, whom God Himself has prepared for you and whose loss is, to quote C.S. Lewis, "The crushing blow, the loss, which is Satan's corruption of that great gift of loving and being loved." 

I believe in the following truth, that God ordains all our steps, and nothing escapes his attention or providence. Which, of course, means that what God brought together, He, as the Creator and Sustainer of all that is in the universe, is the only One that can allow that dissolution. That divide, can come about due to death, or perhaps worst of all, the culmination of a thousand silent (and not so silent) cuts by all involved. 

Bobby Cox's Three Rules

Interview Notes: John Smoltz is a former major-league pitcher who is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. He played for manager Bobby Cox for almost 20 years with the Atlanta Braves. Cox is fourth all-time with 2,497 wins and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014. Cox, 84, died on Saturday.

"There’s no player in the history of the game who was impacted more by Bobby Cox than me.

He was the general manager of the Atlanta Braves who traded for me in 1987, and then he became my manager for almost 20 years with the Braves.

In the 1991 season, I was 2-11 and headed nowhere. The cries for sending me down to the minors or moving me to the bullpen were getting louder and louder. Bobby just didn’t pay attention to it. He kept staying with me — he just knew that I would turn it around.

He gave players confidence when they had zero. He just had this quality about him that said to you: I believe in you. You’re going to get this done.

I did and the rest is history.