Ensign: Pause And Reflect

All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3

AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS                      31 March 2017


"In an emergency," he announced, "it is always a good thing to pause and reflect. Please excuse me while I pause and reflect."


(The Scarecrow, from L. Frank Baum's The Land of Oz)


The Hebrew term Selah appears seventy-four times in the Old Testament. You find it seventy-one times in Psalms (ex. Psalm 3:2, "Many which say of my soul, no help for him in God. Selah.") and thrice in Habakkuk -- but we don't know what it means. Notes I've read cite this term appearing at the end of a sentence as a musical rest or an expression meaning "pause and reflect" or "stop and think about it". In any event, it sounds like a good idea.


To pause. And reflect.


It's very easy in our techie age to take in so much information from so many different sources and be communicating with so many people -- or believe we are, for on the Internet nobody knows you're a dog -- that even when we want to, we can't back away. But that is the time we need to the most. To give anyone or anything the primacy in our life that God is supposed to have (and I've got to put Bible study and church attendance in here as well as family and friends and enemies and life) makes us go through the motions and miss the point entirely.


Pause, and reflect.


As I'm writing that it occurs to me how Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, refers to anger in His Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5:21-26 begins with the sixth of the Ten Commandments from Exodus 20, "Thou shalt not kill". Not every one of us is going to go murder somebody today, but we may think about it. (Our word murder, I've read in some commentaries, is closer to the meaning of "kill" there because you make a choice to murder someone and to kill someone can be an accident.)


This is why I'm pro-death penalty because it's based on a choice the offender made. But I digress.


I'm inclined to go with the simpler explanation, that the Word of God means what it says, because whoever is killed or murdered is dead either way. Continue to verse 22; "whosoever is angry with his brother [or sister, I expect] without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment". SO THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH BEING ANGRY! I put that in caps because it's important. But it's when we let our anger cloud our judgment and make us reckless that we tread on God's prerogatives.


When we sin against God, and others, and ourselves.


I'm not skipping the rest of verse 22 deliberately -- although I must admit that I think, in darker moods, when I call someone a fool I could still go to hell if I don't ask forgiveness -- but the rest of the passage through verse 26 tells us that we need to ask the forgiveness of others as well and not let piety get in the way. (Another generation would say "false piety", but pause and reflect. True piety can be just as bad.)


We are not doing God favors when we have hard hearts toward others.

"Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and then rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift." Verses 23 and 24. We want to do this before it mushrooms, no matter how right we think we are (there's nothing wrong with being angry, but what we could do as a result of it is wrong, up to and including murder) because when the authorities

-- and verse 25's judge, officer, and prison doesn't just have to be legal authorities --


the power to deal with a matter is taken out of our hands. Jesus' warning in verse 26 that we "shall by no means come out thence" until we have paid all we owe to whoever we've offended is kinda final. If we only take a moment, sometimes many moments, to pause and reflect on whether what we're about to bring up is a really big deal, or whether God sees it as one (hint: He doesn't, but He cares that we do) we can save so many people, especially ourselves, a world of hurt.


Selah,


David


P.S. I will continue as long as God allows me to write this devotional to keep in touch with you, and I hope it encourages us too! If it's not or you would like me to get lost, please let me know. Thanks!


Thank YOU, Lord, that we can come to You in prayer and that we can count on You to provide for all our needs according to Your riches in glory, even when we don't know what our needs are. And we come to You in prayer for the peace of Jerusalem on both sides of the fence and all over the world.


Thank You as well, Lord, fo everyone in leadership and service, in authority and power, both here and abroad. Thank You for the opportunities we have and the promise of new life through You by Your Son Our Brother, Jesus the Christ.


And now I pray that we all seek and have a blessed week! Amen.