We the People

     Tom and I listened to the worst possible documentary before trying to sleep Friday night: How Nazi mass murder methods began and evolved during WWII.  Germans who were still licking their wounded pride after losing WWI, were looking for a scapegoat and for ways to regain their foothold in the world. They were ripe to hear Hitler's views that other races and nations were less civilized. He despised Russians and Poles for their poverty and communism.  He played on his nation's hunger for blame and retribution, claiming Jews had conspired against Germany in WWI. He fostered and encouraged distrust and hatred and his propaganda fell into darkened ripe hearts. 
    The Nazi regime started with abuse but quickly escalata to  murder. They used stronger captives for hard manual labor while starving, beating, torturing and killing the elderly and weak, women and children. When gas chambers were later put into place, one Nazi leader's journal revealed he could sleep better since the newly devised method of murder made life easier for his soldiers.  
    Tom and I both asked, as you do when you're reminded how blatantly evil people can be, "How?"  "Why did people follow Naziism and Hitler?"  "How could they do those things to other human beings?" "How could others allow such things to happen?"

     My sleep disturbed, my mind filled with images and questions, I dreamed ugly dreams.

     So, it was early to rise, meditate, pray and ponder on Saturday. With coffee steaming in the mug and a bruised heart ready to hear God speak, I was disappointed to realize I left my "go-to" devotional books at the office. I fingered through what's here at the house, skimming past Kay Arthur's, "Search My Heart, O God," and decided to read from God's Word first. 
   
     The heavy hardback Bible fell open and the following verses leapt off the page:

"Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting. " 
Psalm 139:23-24

A Godwink! Of all the verses in the 66 books of the Bible, Scripture pointed me back to Kay Arthur's book. I opened it to Sauturday's entry and read the first question (because it's a book of helpful questions to search our hearts): 

"Do you want to weep when you see the suffering, the pain, the sin?

The abortions performed daily in this nation?"

"Yes, yes, Lord, I do! That's how I feel right now - like weeping because of what we the people are capable of doing to each other - to our own babies - to other nations and to those we don't accept or understand."   
That's when I glance back at the open Bible and see the verses following Psalm 139:23-24
"Rescue me, O LORD, from evil men; protect me from men of violence, 
who devise evil plans in their hearts and stir up war every day.
They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent's; 
the poison of vipers is on their lips.
Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked;
protect me from men of violence
who plan to trip my feet.
Proud men have hidden a snare for me;
they have spread out the cords of their net
and have set traps for me along my path." 
Psalm 140:1


It all started and starts in hearts: Hitler's hateful heart, but also in the hearts of prideful people ready to receive his rantings, in the hearts of weak people ready to take the poison others are drinking, and, in the hearts of those too frozen by the fear of persecution to stand up to him.  

 "They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent's; the poison of vipers is on their lips." 

We the people do terrible things when we allow Satan's poison to penetrate our pride. The first example? Eating the one forbidden fruit because we don't want to be less than God. Another? Keeping our mouths closed in the face of evil rantings because we'd rather fit in than be persecuted for taking a stand for what's right. 

"'Even now,' declares the LORD, 'return to Me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. Rend your heart and not your garments.  Return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and He relents from sending calamity."  Joel 2:12-13
Search our hearts, O God, and root out the anger, bitterness, pride, fear, and attitudes of entitlement that leave us vulnerable to evil traps, snares, and nets.  Help us recognize how our pursuit of acceptance, safety, comfort, pleasure, money, knowledge, intimacy, less responsibility, more responsibility, power, control, fame, and revenge leave us wide open to Satan's traps.  Deliver our minds, desensitized and darkened by a constant barrage of compromised godliness, by evil, and by the sharpened tongues of self-guided people.  Wake our vigilance over any root of evil in our own hearts and
embolden us to uproot it.  Protect us from falling in with Your enemies and make us courageous to face sure persecution when we stand on Your Word.  Don't let us fool ourselves into thinking we're superior to those before us who thought they were superior, but keep us guarding our own hearts. Help us learn from history. Search us and bring us to our knees in repentance and to our feet to act as You lead us.
In the Name of Jesus Who wept and fasted, Who died for the least of these, and for "we the people"

Overdressed

Lord, you have seen what is in my heart.
You know all about me.
You know when I sit down and when I get up.
You know what I’m thinking even though you are far away.


                             You know when I go out to work and when I come back home.                             You know exactly how I live.
                             Lord, even before I speak a word,
                             you know all about it.


You are all around me. You are behind me and in front of me.You hold me in your power.
I’m amazed at how well you know me.
It’s more than I can understand.

Psalm 139:1-6

 

     A trunk of dress up clothes waits for Addy in her room at my house.  She, like her mother and her Uncle Nick did, loves to put on costumes. She's going to be a cupcake, sprinkles and all for the Harvest celebration at their church. In the box there are superhero capes Nana made for Nick, an assortment of hats, a magic wand, gloves, beads, a fireman's jacket, apron, and a safari shirt and binoculars, among other items. Addy will be able to imagine being whomever she likes.

 

     I've noticed God's people, including me, like to play dress up. When we're growing in Him we're front and center, hearts open and fertile to receive the seeds of transformation in His Word.  We're authentic in our search, about our needs, and when it comes to admitting fault. But when our attitudes slip into apathy or anger or the fear of being discovered as hypocrites, we hunt down the dress up trunk and throw on something to give the "right" impression:

We throw on a cape and do something good in a big way;

We add bling by tossing extra coins into the collection plate;

We stack on another hat, put on an apron, and serve more people in more ways;

We might even pull out the binoculars and start hunting for specks in the character of another believer.

 

When our costumes fail to cover what we want to hide, we move to phase two: we slide into "fellowship" at the last minute and slip away as soon as possible. We escape before one of our brothers or sisters in Christ sees our lack, our need, our frailty, our sin.  Now if even I, one of the dull bulbs in the chandelier, can see this pattern and sense something's wrong, then none of us (God's people) are too bright if we think we can dodge God's all-seeing eyes. 

 

What's the answer? Authenticity - with both God and His people. We learn to relax in God's Presence and accept His acceptance. We relax inthe warm bath of His love for us in spite of our imperfections and sin. We remove the dress up clothes and admit our faults and sins to each other as the first step in living accountable lives. Acceptance and authenticity, authenticity and acceptance: gifts God gives us and we learn to give one another. 

 

"the LORD replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."

Exodus 33:14