Be angry - sin not

Sooooooo, we need to be very careful when we are righteously angry at sin. We aren't God, and righteous anger is a bit difficult to identify!

After all, there are not very many times when, in the heat of a moment, we can step back and say, "Oh, you know what? I'm not being fair, here. I am unjustly angry."  

(Grin)

As humans, we can ALWAYS justify our anger. We always feel that our anger is in response to someone else's sin. Of COURSE we are showing righteous anger!

Well, think about it . . . have we ever been angry when we didn't think we had a right to be? I suppose it could happen sometimes, but usually, we are mad at someone or something because we feel we are standing up for the right. We think we are on the side of justice.

And yet . . . . 

Some of the most horrible things Christians have ever done were done in the name of righteous anger. Most human anger (even if it starts out correctly) is sinful and is very destructive. James said that we don't accomplish the righteousness of God:

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. (James 1:19-20)

And Paul says to "give place" for God's wrath:

Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
    if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:19-21)

Paul is quoting from both Deuteronomy and the Proverbs here. In other words, the Bible is warning us that anger is extremely hard to handle; it's best to leave anger, vengeance, and retaliation to God. 

What do we do instead? 

Oh, here is the tough part!

Rather than love our enemies, our Savior told us to love them! 

But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. (Luke 6:35)

When it comes to anger, it's best to leave things up to God. And yet, Paul does speak realistically here......he says, "Sure, you are going to get angry, but....."  what does he say next? Make sure we don't allow it to turn into sin.

In all the times I have read that passage, I don't think I paid very much attention to the scripture that Paul was quoting from! He's emphasizing his point by quoting from Psalm 4:4:

4 

Be angry, and do not sin;
    ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah (Psalm 4:4)

Psalms 3 and 4 were written by David at a time when he had every right to be righteously angry!!

David's kingdom had been unjustly taken from him. His own son, Absalom, had lied and tricked a whole lot of people; many of them had rebelled against the king and followed Absalom. In the rebellion, David fled for his life! In addition to rummaging around in the palace and trying on the crown and throne, Absalom also tried on the harem -- he set up a tent on the roof of the palace and had sex with all of David's concubines in the sight of all of the city. (II Samuel 15-16)

Absalom was a wicked man doing wicked things -- it moved David's heart to anger. That's why he wrote that verse, "Be angry and do not sin." 

And David didn't sin.

If you read in II Samuel, he acted kindly and behaved justly; he even tried to spare the life of his wicked, treasonous son! All of his actions were kind and loving.  He was righteously angry, yes, but he continued to act in love, and did not sin.

If you recall the story, in the heat of battle Absalom's long, flowing locks got caught in a tree and he was killed by one of David's loyal commanders. But David was even upset at this -- he didn't want his son to die; he wanted to forgive and love him.

This story that Paul reminded us of is a positive example. David was angry, but he kept his anger from turning into sin. Our Bible is the best book ever, though, and is 

 ......useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, (II Timothy 3:16b)

Along with David's positive example, the Bible shows us negative examples, too. Where other people allowed their anger to become sinful.

Remember the scene where Jacob lies and deceives his dad and steals his older brother's birthright? Esau was certainly angry about being cheated. I expect that we could say his initial reaction was righteous anger -- but his anger led him into sin when he vowed to kill his cheating brother.

Jonah the prophet was righteously angry about the terrible sins of the people of Nineveh. But he let his anger get the upper hand -- he failed to preach the whole message that God had given him to tell the sinful Ninevites. Jonah was spiteful and got comfortable so he could watch the fireworks as God punished the people. But lo and behold, the fireworks never happened. Then Jonah got mad at God, too! 

No wonder that Paul is exhorting us to "be angry but sin not"! Anger can so easily burn out of control, and when it does, we fall into sin.

Anger management 101

Two weeks ago, we were studying Nehemiah's response to the evil that piled up like a load of dirty laundry whilst he was back in Persia . . . 

At the time, we noted that there's a big difference between righteous anger and sinful anger. I really dug into this and thought it would be a good discussion topic for this week.

Ready?
Let's dive in!

Sometimes it's the little things . . . .

I've told you before that I'm a big fan of C. S. Lewis -- in The Screwtape Letters, a demon by the name of Screwtape is advising his nephew (a demon-in-training, I guess we could say) on how to be more successful in the task of tempting and influencing humans entrusted to his "care."

In one missive that is particularly enlightening, Screwtape advises Wormwood that in order to keep his human safely on the path to hell, it's best to focus on tempting him to do "little" sins instead of the "big" ones like murder. The things which seem innocent. Insignificant.

He tells Wormwood, "....the safest road to Hell is the gradual one...."

One of our focus passages for this study on anger is in the fourth chapter of Ephesians; it's snuggled into some other verses that Paul calmly lays out as a primer on good behavior and a good testimony. 

“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. (Ephesians 4:26-27)

None of the rest in the list seem to be what we would call "big" sins. They all seem to be the small and less important garden variety. But that is where we can be deceived, just as Screwtape says. Take for instance, lying -- Satan is the father of lies, and he and his minions have deceived people for years, so that they think "little lies don't matter." Else why would these phrases be so well-used in our language? Little white lies. Half-truths. Bending the truth. Twisting the facts. But the reality is that all of these lead us to larger and larger lies and away from our Father God, the source of truth!

So as we look at the rest of the list, no "biggies" jump out at us, right? Don't kill anybody. Don't commit adultery. They are not there! But all of these other sins were important in Paul's mind and he stressed them.

Let's dig a little deeper . . . .

Paul starts verse 26 by saying, "Be angry." What? Is Paul telling us to sin?

Nope.

We are back at our original premise: there are two kinds of anger. The first is righteous anger directed toward sin and evil in our world today. It's the kind of anger that God has. Many times in the Bible, we see verses that speak of the wrath of God.

So Israel yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor. And the Lord’s anger burned against them. (Numbers 25:3)

Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; 15 for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. (Deuteronomy 6:14-15)

So put on sackcloth,
    lament and wail,
for the fierce anger of the Lord
    has not turned away from us. (Jeremiah 4:8)

Two weeks ago, we also mentioned the anger of Jesus when He cleared out the temple. He was filled with fury at what the religious leaders were doing in God's temple. He was also angry at the Pharisees and other who sought to accuse Him:

He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” (Mark 3:5a)

So, being angry at the damage and destruction caused by sin is natural and normal for believers. The danger comes, as we briefly discussed two weeks ago, when we humans try to have righteous anger. We are sinful and selfish, and we also don't see everything and know everything the way our Father does! So for us, even though we may start out with righteous anger, it is extremely easy to slide into sinful anger. It's that sinful anger that Paul is warning us away from. 

I think one of the most graphic examples of this in the Bible is an incident in the life of Moses. It shows us in stark contrast the two faces of anger.

Moses was one of the most righteous and humble men ever -- but he allowed righteous anger to degenerate into sin. We all know the story . . . he led the Israelites out of Egypt, across the dry bed of the Red Sea, and onward to the foot of Mount Sinai. Then they went right up to the border of the Promised Land. They could have entered then, but the people doubted that the Lord God could provide for and protect them, so instead, they wandered about in the desolate wilderness for forty years! 

If you were Moses (you'd have been eighty years old at the time) wouldn't you have been frustrated at these stubborn, rebellious people? These people are ungrateful! I'm eighty years old and I want a rest! I don't want to march about in the desert for forty years! 

Sigh.

But our buddy Moses took it in stride. Over the next forty years, there would be times that the Israelites would again show a lack of faith, or stray from God's teachings, and there he'd be, interceding for them. 

But then, right before they entered the Promised Land, Moses hit his limit. In the twentieth chapter of Numbers, we can see the Israelites complaining (again) about the lack of water. So, God told Moses to speak to a rock nearby for water to come out of it. 

Moses was by now righteously angry with the Israelites, and he let his anger get the best of him. He spoke harshly to the Israelites (they did deserve it), but then in anger he struck the rock with his staff instead of speaking to it as God had told him.

The water did flow. And the people did stop their murmuring (for a while).

But the consequence of letting his anger get the best of him? For allowing his righteous anger to become sinful anger? Moses wasn't allowed to enter into the Promised Land when the glad day finally arrived.

Anger, when it gets away from us, exacts a terrible price.

Week of praise - Day 5

Counting our blessings starts our hearts to singing!

This old hymn does a great job of reminding us of all of those wonderful gifts that God has given us. 

Prayerfully consider these lyrics as the video reminds us of the lovely tune . . .

For the beauty of the earth,

For the beauty of the skies,

For the love which from our birth

Over and around us lies,

Lord of all, to thee we raise 

This our grateful hymn of praise.

For the beauty of each hour

Of the day and of the night,

Hill and vale and tree and flower,

Sun and moon and stars of light,

Lord of all, to thee we raise

This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the joy of human love,

Brother, sister, parent, child,

Friends on earth and friends above,

Pleasures pure and undefiled,

Lord of all, to thee we raise

This our hymn of grateful praise.

For each perfect gift of thine,

To our race so freely given,

Graces human and divine,

Flowers of earth and buds of heaven,

Lord of all, to thee we raise

This our hymn of grateful praise.

For thy church which evermore

Lifteth holy hands above,

Offering up on every shore

Her pure sacrifice of love,

Lord of all, to thee we raise

This our grateful hymn of praise.

Week of praise - Day 4

How deep and wonderful the love of God for us! Praise the Lord!

Week of praise - Day 3

Music is truly one of God's gifts to us . . . this song of praise will lift your heart today!

Week of praise - Day 2

This praise song is sure to have you tapping your feet and singing along! Enjoy the Oslo Gospel Choir!

Week of praise - day 1

 

I hope that it's alright . . 

I need a bit of time to recharge my batteries spiritually. And to listen for the Spirit to let me know where we are headed next. I believe we had a good study in Ezra, and followed it with some really timely lessons in Nehemiah. I hope that y'all were blessed; I know I learned a lot!

I'd like to take a week to challenge myself with my prayer time and study, and figure out where our focus will be in the coming weeks.

To that end, I will be posting some worship songs and hymns that can guide us in praising our Father God and lifting our hearts and spirits in these difficult times.

See you next week!

Friday slowdown

It's been an intense couple of weeks of study. Lots to learn and to remember. I hope that something here has blessed your heart and encouraged you to hold your head up and keep pressing on.

Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13b-14)

We're almost home! It won't be long . . . but while we are here, let's keep loving others and working for Him.

 

Conclusion (and some questions)

Many of us weigh ourselves every day. We want to keep an eye on our weight. Some may have an app that logs daily changes. It's easy to see then, when it's time to make revisions in diet or exercise.

How about other areas of our lives?

It's easy to see other peoples' faults but remain blinded to our own permissiveness. We must begin with ourselves, because we have to be careful -- we may not see our own compromise. As we read our Bibles, we need to ask ourselves where we may have slipped into the ways of the world. We need to ask the Spirit to show us where we have compromised and become more like the godless culture of today.

And we need to be careful when pastors or godly friends warn of spiritual dangers -- instead of getting angry and saying it's time to leave the church, we need to stop and prayerfully think about what we say and think and do . . . . is it all in line with God's Word?

Spiritual permissiveness is an everyday, every year problem. Like Nehemiah, we must immerse ourselves in God's Word to detect it, and we must carefully exercise righteous anger to confront it. Then we will hear the Lord say, "Well done" when we stand before Him.

Let's have some discussions today -- if you have time to leave thoughtful answers to these questions, I would love to hear your responses.

How can we know when to be restrained and gentle and when to be emotional and bold in confronting someone's sin?

What distinguishes righteous anger from sinful anger? How can we guard ourselves against justifying sinful anger as being righteous?

To what extent should we shelter ourselves and our families from the world as opposed to seeing how corrupt it is?

Choose one!

Choose two!

If you have time, answer all three! (Grin)

I look forward to reading what you have to say.

The next step - he kept his sandals on

Last time we studied, we noticed that Nehemiah actually SAW the problem as a problem. The other leaders had just let things go or had not noticed the problem of compromise. Step two was that he got upset -- he had righteous anger (not sinful anger) about the permissiveness and compromise that he saw. We'll see that the next step was one of strong action.

Again, this fits what we know about Nehemiah. He was a man of prayer and a man of action. It wouldn't fit if we thought that Nehemiah simply walked in his house and sat down in his recliner. He could lean down and untie his sandals next. Picking up the paper, he would begin to open it, while he leaned back in the chair and bemusedly said, "You know, it just makes me so mad to see how Israel is drifting from the Lord!" and then bury himself in the latest sports scores or an account of a skirmish at the edge of the territory.

Ummmmm, no. Not Nehemiah!

He met problems head on!

Let's see what he did:

I was greatly displeased and threw all Tobiah’s household goods out of the room. 9 I gave orders to purify the rooms, and then I put back into them the equipment of the house of God, with the grain offerings and the incense. (Nehemiah 13:8-9)

In fact, he really did keep his sandals on. No relaxing in the recliner for him. He personally threw Tobiah's household goods, trinkets, and furnishings out of the storerooms! Then he gave orders to purify the rooms.  And then he helped personally put the grain offerings and the temple furnishings and tools back into the storerooms.

This is strong, unmistakable action. There's no room to misunderstand his intentions nor the reasons behind his actions. Can you imagine how Tobiah looked when he came "home"? Imagine his surprise when he saw the pile of furniture and clothes outside, and then his face when he opened the door to his "apartment." There would have been bowls and urns and special boxes of incense, and also bags and bags of grain!

We saw that Nehemiah had reprimanded the officials -- he followed up those words with more actions; he restored them to their posts and appointed faithful men to oversee the collection and distribution of the tithes (verses 12-13).

He had scolded them about the Sabbath -- now he took action on that problem, too. 

 When evening shadows fell on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered the doors to be shut and not opened until the Sabbath was over. I stationed some of my own men at the gates so that no load could be brought in on the Sabbath day. 20 Once or twice the merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem. 21 But I warned them and said, “Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you do this again, I will arrest you.” From that time on they no longer came on the Sabbath. 22 Then I commanded the Levites to purify themselves and go and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy.

Remember me for this also, my God, and show mercy to me according to your great love. (v. 19-22)

He not only commanded that the gates be shut and locked on the Sabbath, but he found faithful men to enforce the closure. When merchants (maybe those merchants from Tyre) camped outside the gates, he warned them to leave or he would use force to make them leave. And he commanded the Levites to purify themselves, and then to stand as gatefkeepers.

Remember the problem of marrying outside the faith? We already saw in those verses that he contended with those who were guilty pretty strongly! Verse 28 is another example of his strong actions:

 One of the sons of Joiada son of Eliashib the high priest was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite. And I drove him away from me. (v 28)

He left no room for misunderstanding there, either! Chasing the young man out of town! Why? Remember who Sanballat was? Go back and check those first chapters if you like -- Sanballat was a mocker, a schemer, a hater of YAHWEH, and he was determined to do all he could to stop Nehemiah and the people from restoring the temple and the walls. So when Nehemiah discovered that the high priest's grandson had married Sanballat's daughter, he took action!

Just like when we looked at the contrast between righteous anger and sinful anger, we need to be careful before we confront anyone in sin. We must check our flesh and our hearts; we must be sure that our motives are God's motives, not our own. We must be accountable to God.

And it's true: sometimes a more gentle approach will work more effectively. But being gentle doesn't mean being nice. Not so nice that people don't really "get" what we mean.  Jesus was gentle when he pronounced woes upon the Pharisees and called them hypocrites. Paul was filled with the Spirit when he told the magician that he was a fraudster and a son of the devil (Acts 13).

We see that Nehemiah was well aware of his accountability to God. Four times in this chapter, he utters brief prayers about his actions. He was doing all of this for God's sake, not for his own. I'll just bet, too, that he was going to be under attack after this, even though the Bible's look into his life ends with this chapter. I expect that the people whose lifestyles he was changing were pretty upset with him! But Nehemiah wasn't doing this for a popularity contest - he was seeking to please God by calling the people back to godly living.

A focus on God, just like Nehemiah had, is essential if we want to confront and change the permissiveness of our world. If we lose focus, we can easily become self-righteous and full of pride. We can fall into the trap of forgetting our own sins, and looking down on others. 

Living with awareness and gratitude for His presence will give us the courage to stand, alone if need be, and show His love.

Verses that inspire

Gotta practice what we preach!

My grandma advocated for that. (Grin)

I fell right off the wagon on that one last week . . . .

A problem had come up that required some paperwork. And some legwork.

And working with a division of the government.

Oh, joy.

That's a happy prospect, right?

Proofs of documentation. Documents in duplicate. In triplicate.

Well, it wasn't quite THAT bad.

But we did have to go around and around on what kinds of documents we were willing to send them.

You see, all of the government offices are closed.

You can't just walk in there and hand them some paperwork and walk out later with the problem solved!

What to do?

"Just put them in the mail" sounded so risky!

Well, to make a long story short, we were blessed to have the number five person that we talked to be a friendly, problem-solving type of person. We finally agreed on a less risky form of document and a secure way of sending it.

And a few days later, an email that made us happy dance -- problem was resolved!

And a few minutes after the relieved conversation and dancing around, I realized I had not yet given credit where credit was due . . . I'd not yet thanked the Lord for working things out for us.

Wow. 

I wasn't practicing what I preach.

Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name;
    make known among the nations what he has done.
9 Sing to him, sing praise to him;
    tell of all his wonderful acts.
10 Glory in his holy name;
    let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
11 Look to the Lord and his strength;
    seek his face always.

12 Remember the wonders he has done,
    his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced, (I Chronicles 16:8)

Believe me, I sat right down, then and there, and offered up a prayer of praise to the Lord who had worked out a "wonder" and a "miracle" for us!

What has God done in your life recently? 

Have you thanked Him for it?

Hmmmmm?

Nehemiah's steps for taking care of compromise

Step one is kinda obvious.

You have to know what the problem is, in order to resolve it, no?

Let's check out verses six and seven:

Some time later I asked his permission 7 and came back to Jerusalem. Here I learned about the evil thing Eliashib had done in providing Tobiah a room in the courts of the house of God.  (Nehemiah 13:6b-7)

It's a bit of a "no-brainer" as they say today, but we have to discover and point out the problem first. After all, why had the leaders of Israel not figured out that something was wrong? Why hadn't they discovered it and dealt with it? 

Wasn't it obvious?
Nehemiah saw what others did not see. And the reason for this is he compared what he was seeing in Jerusalem with what he knew from the scriptures.

Verse seven says he "learned" about the evil . . . he didn't try to be diplomatic.

Well, Eliashib, I see you have come up with a creative alternative use for the temple storerooms. What an innovative mind you have . . .

Nope.

He called it evil.

Don't guess that made him too popular to apply that word to the high priest, but Nehemiah didn't tone it down, because he was certain of his knowledge of the scriptures.

If we continue through the chapter, he says he "discovered" that the Levites had not received the tithes (v. 10). Then he "saw" the violation of the Sabbath (v. 15). And he "saw" that the Jews had married foreign women (v. 23). Each time that he observed something, he compared it to God's standards for the people and the religious leaders. 

They came up WAY short.

That brings us to step two: he got upset.

We've seen all through the book of Nehemiah that he is a man of action. He heard of the troubles in the city of his ancestors, and he asked the king for a furlough so he could go and help. He came up with plans to rebuild, and he carried them out. He met opposition, and he prayed and worked and prevailed. This will be no different; we will see that.

Let's re-read some verses and look for the "action" words. (My elementary school teacher called verbs "action" words; her terminology is very apt here!)

I was greatly displeased and threw all Tobiah’s household goods out of the room. 9 I gave orders to purify the rooms, and then I put back into them the equipment of the house of God, with the grain offerings and the incense. (v. 8-9)

He was "displeased," and not only that, he "threw" Tobiah's things out!

So I rebuked the officials and asked them, “Why is the house of God neglected?” Then I called them together and stationed them at their posts. (V. 11)

Some translations say "reprimanded," and the NIV above says "rebuked." I kinda think the decibel level went up a notch there.

I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this wicked thing you are doing—desecrating the Sabbath day?" (v. 17)

There it is again -- Nehemiah rebuked them.

In verse twenty-five, he kicks it up a notch again:

I rebuked them and called curses down on them. I beat some of the men and pulled out their hair. I made them take an oath in God’s name and said: “You are not to give your daughters in marriage to their sons, nor are you to take their daughters in marriage for your sons or for yourselves." (v. 25)

The scholars say that he did not use profanity, but instead used verses that pronounced a curse on those who willfully broke God's standards. And that the hair pulling was a traditional thing, probably pulling from their beards.

This graphic display of disappointment and righteous anger was probably powerful to those who saw it. Ezra's seeming breakdown years earlier over his grief at the people's sins was hugely effective. I expect that Nehemiah's explosive "shock treatment" for the religious leaders in this situation was pretty effective, too. 

Both of those situations bring to mind the Lord's reactions to encountering evil. 

Jesus lamented over Jerusalem in much the same way that Ezra had, many years earlier.

 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing." (Matthew 23:37)

Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. (Matthew 21:12)

John's gospel records His work there in even more vivid words; His actions were shocking to some, but they were the result of His righteous anger. Nehemiah's "action words" reveal the same kind of righteous anger regarding the permissiveness of the leaders and the people in Jerusalem.

To apply this to our lives today, when we see sins or false teachings that are damaging to God's people, it's wrong NOT to be angry! To put it another way, if we are complacent in the face of evil, we are NOT being like Jesus. And isn't that what we are striving for? To be more like Him?

Now, let's slow down a minute and make sure that I get this clear: we need to be truly careful with righteous anger. We need to be discerning and use wisdom even as we are angry at the sins or the false teachings. It's awfully easy to cross the line and excuse sinful anger as being righteous. Thank the Lord that we have some guidance in our Bibles:

 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. (Ephesians 4:26-27)

Righteous anger is the kind of anger that God has.

But there's a danger when we humans try to have righteous anger. For humans, since we are sinful, and sometimes selfish, and because we don't see and know everything as God does, righteous anger is extremely difficult to maintain. Maybe even impossible for most of us. Even if we start out with righteous anger, it usually morphs into unrighteous anger. It degenerates. It becomes sinful anger. The kind that Paul warns us to get rid of.

When anger gets away from us, it can exact a terrible price. It can burn out of control. It can burn up relationships, and burn up our fellowship with Christ. We must be super careful to immerse ourselves in the scriptures, as Nehemiah did, and to follow his lead . . . we will see what his next steps were, and how he avoided sinful anger.

 

Friday slowdown

It's my earnest hope that everyone who stops by here to read, to listen on Fridays, to leave prayer requests, is a believer. I pray that if you do not know Christ as your personal Savior, that you will take a moment to click on the tab on the right, and learn more. (It's the one that says "What is Salvation?")

I can promise you that if you repent of your sins and accept His gift of mercy, He will transform your life. He will transform you. 

And for those believers who do pause here, I'd like to offer some encouragement in the midst of this crazy world . . . 

This song says a lot of what I'm trying to say.

Blessings to all who visit here.

What will you do, Nehemiah?

Ever heard the phrase "pussy-footing around"? It's an extremely descriptive phrase . . .

My grandma used to say, "Don't go pussy-footing around, just come right out and say what you mean!"

Cats have such soft little paws (but watch out for the claws!) and they are sooooooo quiet. You hardly know they are around, some times.  When they see something that they find distasteful, they will carefully circle around it. They may reach out cautiously and juuuuust barely touch it with the tip of their paw. 

People "pussy foot" around an issue or a difficulty when they are soooooo quiet and cautious trying to address that issue. They don't really come right out and say what they mean . . . 

Sometimes they are downright timid!

I think you know where I'm going with this. You've read the thirteenth chapter by now, right? You already know how Nehemiah acted about the permissiveness and compromise that he found?

Now, some would criticize Nehemiah for not being tactful.

He wasn't very polite.

He wasn't diplomatic.

But he WAS aware of this in the scriptures:

Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison. (Deuteronomy 29:18)

He was so immersed in the scriptures that he realized the permissiveness was just like a poison . . . the turning to other gods, the compromise in the homes, the permissiveness of finances and time . . . . it was all just like a poison to the people of God.

And he knew that when God's people were being poisoned, being polite might not be the best. 

What would happen if you saw a friend or acquaintance about to drink what you knew was deadly poison? Would you smile politely as they raised the glass to their lips? Would you think, "Well, I sure wouldn't drink that, but I don't want to impose my own views on them. Every person has a right to their opinion."  Or, "I don't want them to think that I'm so rigid and opinionated."

In a word, no!

It would be best to throw politeness to the wind and holler, "Stop! That's poison, and it will kill you!" And if it were necessary, it would be best to knock it out of the person's hand, too.

In other words, if we find spiritual permissiveness, we need to confront it strongly!

And that is just what Nehemiah did.

He didn't worry about being polite.

He didn't worry about what others would think of him. And I bet that he made some enemies by what he did! But I'm convinced that he was God's friend. There may have been those who grumbled and muttered about how "harsh" and "intolerant" he was. But Nehemiah himself describes what he did with the Hebrew word "hesed." It's translated "loyal deeds" which is used in the Old Testament when mentioning God's loyal love for His people. You see, it's more loyal to our friend to take the risk of appearing rude -- knocking the poison out of their hand, instead of smiling politely and watching them drink that poison. 

Nehemiah is going to risk appearing rude, and harsh, and intolerant. He is going to confront the problems head on! No pussy footing around, no being timid or cautious.

Next time we study, we will dig into how Nehemiah handled these problems!

I think there are some lessons there for us!