Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. – Hebrews 4:11-13
No time at all yesterday and not much today, so this will be
quick and dirty. With regard to the
constant presence of the Holy Spirit, what bothers me and probably others is
how to discern what He is saying from things that sound good and arise from
other sources. That’s one of the things
that the word of God does – pass like a surgeon’s scalpel between spirit and
soul. The word, as it is quickened to
us, reveals what is false and illusory mixed in with the truth we know, if we
will allow it. I often fail in this for I
would cling to some fleshly and comforting illusion even when something is
telling me that it is wrong. I get caught
up in appearances and arrogance and convince myself that I can embrace fire and
not be burned.
I rarely think of Hebrews 4:12 in context, but we note that
the verse begins with the word “for”, that is, the writer is stating the power
of God’s word as being the basis for what he has said up to this point. He has been talking about entering into God’s
rest and how the Israelites despised the Lord’s promises, in particular at
Kadesh Barnea. That entire generation,
except for Joshua and Caleb, was rejected and doomed to wander for forty years and
to fall in the wilderness.
The word of God reveals to us what is true, and, by the power
of the Spirit, convicts and convinces us of that truth. To enter into God’s rest is to trust in the
goodness, the righteousness, the mercy, and justice of the Almighty Lord.
It’s fashionable to complain. Sneering and scorn seem to comprise most of
what passes for humor these days. To be
content and grateful seems to be generally equated with passivity, ignorance, and
a lack of intelligence and sophistication.
From all of our various electronic devices to beer and coffee to denim
and shoes to houses and spouses, everybody is supposed to find fault with
whatever it is they or anyone else has.
I know people whose lives revolve around the quest to uncover whatever
is wrong with whatever they are experiencing.
Instead of going to a restaurant for a meal, they go to whine about the
service or that some particular item didn’t meet their expectations, so it
seems. I don’t suppose that does any
particular harm aside from the long-term corrosion of their souls and their
relationships with others.
We all complain to God now and then, I’m sure. We should not complain about God. I have done it, and I am sorry for it. We may, in the midst of suffering, ask the
Lord why. We can never, though, doubt
His love for us or that it is by His grace, kindness and long-suffering that we live.
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