March 16 ▪ Day 75

Scripture Readings

Proverbs 13:12
Exodus 19–20
Luke 4
Psalms 75

Verse Focus (Proverbs 13:12)

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
     but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

Meditation

Day 75! Congratulations, everyone. 🙂

Proverbs 13:12 says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” We all understand this proverb. Who hasn’t hoped for something, only to be disappointed when nothing happens or seems to happen? Hopes of news from family or friends, hopes for shiny new toys, hopes to hear from prospective employers — you can easily name a dozen things that you have hoped for that took so long to arrive that you began to despair. Likewise, you can also point to some hopes that never got fulfilled. But when those desires did get filled? Oh, the joy!

So, as I said, we all understand this proverb. It’s not a difficult concept, nor is there a lot of variation between translations. So, I wondered what I could write about that might add a little bit of insight to this verse.

There’s something to be said about a Scripture verse that is easily understood. If you have a current longing that has not been fulfilled, there’s instant resonance. If you remember a time when you did get that long-hoped for thing, again, there’s resonance. This verse vibrates with its truth. But I believe there are surface meanings and deeper meanings in all of Scripture.

For instance, let’s talk about the “tree of life.” You remember the Garden of Eden — and Revelation — there is a tree whose fruit literally gives eternal life. The proverb very carefully does not say that a longing fulfilled brings life — no, the longing fulfilled is a tree of life. Meaning, perhaps, that the longing fulfilled produces fruit first, and after the fruit comes, then comes life. And perhaps this fruit is meant for others besides yourself….

When I read this verse, I usually put myself in the position of the person who is hoping. That’s what I identify with easily, so that’s the perspective I take — that of the one waiting. And as one who waits, I often feel helpless to affect the outcome of what I hope for. It’s out of my control, I think. And whether I am heartsick or overjoyed really depends on God.

But, maybe not so fast. We do have control about where our hopes are placed, and what we hope for. Knowing that deferred hope can make one sick, I can at the very least look at what my desires are. And there may be some there that should be weeded out of my life, rather than letting them flourish so that my heart becomes crowded with unsatisfied desire. I also have control over whether or not I take these hopes to God. Am I praying about these things? Or ignoring them because I feel like it’s out of my control (or because I’ve already despaired)?

Also, many of these hopes that I’ve been thinking about are all temporal things. Let’s talk about our eternal hope — Christ Jesus. When our longing for God is fulfilled in Christ Jesus, we do have a tree of life. Am I focusing on the spiritual tree of life that is already in my life?

And that brings me to my final point. Today, as I was praying about this verse and meditating on it, God pointed out to me that I may be the agent of hope for someone else. The proverb doesn’t have to be about me. Parents understand this instinctively, I’m sure, and likely have encountered this situation many times already with their children. But what about spiritual children? We have Christ Jesus, the tree of life, inside us. Are we offering the fruit of this tree to those God brings into our lives? So many people are feeling hopeless right now. So many people are lost and heartsick — this pandemic has made it even more apparent. I know that I can do more than I have been doing to share the hope I have in Christ Jesus. And I hope that’s something you’ll also think about a little bit more today.

Father God, thank you for your Scripture. Please continue to give us knowledge and insight as we look at your words. Help us to really apply what we’re learning, so that it transforms not just the way we think, but the way we behave. Thank you for Christ Jesus, and the life you give us in him. We pray in his name, Amen.

In Exodus 19, God makes the offer of his covenant to the people of Israel and they accept. The covenant has not been ratified yet — that will come later — but we do have a verbal agreement, making this a very pivotal chapter. In the next chapter, we get the Ten Commandments — the beginning of the law, and the basis of what God will require of them.

In chapter 19, verse 1, the Israelites arrive at Mount Sinai. Again, we see the importance of seasons and dates. They arrive on “that very day” — the third new moon since they left Egypt. We don’t know if the first new moon was on the very day they left or some time afterward, but it’s still a significant marker of time.

Verses 5 and 6 give the initial offer of the covenant:

⁵Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant,
     you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples.
Indeed, the whole earth is mine,
     ⁶but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.

What struck me about this offer was the little phrase, “the whole earth is mine.” As Christians, we read about this covenant knowing that it has been superseded by the covenant that was written in Jesus’ blood. Now those in the Church are the holy nation and the saints are God’s priests (1 Peter 2:9). We cherish our position as God’s “treasured possession.” But the words “the whole earth is mine” is still true. When this first covenant was offered, God had in mind how He would embrace the rest of the world in His plan of redemption. The Israelites were being offered a chance to model justice and righteousness — to be a witness to everyone else who belonged to God. It occurs to me that perhaps Israel didn’t do as good of a job with respect to the rest of the world as we or they might have hoped they would have. But I wonder if we are doing any better.

The response to the covenant offer is in verse 8: “The people all answered as one: ‛Everything that the Lord has spoken we will do.’ ” So, the people are consecrated. On the third day (did you hear that drum roll?), they stand at the food of the mountain. God comes down “in fire,” the mountain smokes and shakes. Moses speaks, and God answers in thunder. The people are warned not to go up onto the mountain, “otherwise many of them will perish (v. 21).” However, Moses and Aaron do go up higher onto the mountain to speak with God.

In Exodus 20, we have the giving of the Ten Commandments (also known as the Decalogue). These are repeated again in Deuteronomy chapter 5. Hearing these words from God Himself at Mount Sinai was a terrifying experience for the Hebrews. Finally, in verse 19, they beg Moses to be their intercessor: “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die.”

Although the Ten Commandments are part of the legal system given to the Hebrews, most Christian denominations believe that these first ten commandments have special moral and ethical significance. The theologians basically say that the Ten Commandments are moral commandments that are binding on all people. Some have further expounded on the relationship between the Ten Commandments and Jesus’ words about the two greatest commandments of the Law (to love God and to love your neighbor), saying that the Ten Commandments are how we implement these two greatest of commands.

When the early church considered the question of Gentile believers and the Jewish law (in particular with regard to whether the Gentiles would need to be circumcised), they freed the new believers from the burden of the entire law, giving an extremely simplified version of things to avoid. Christians were “to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood (Acts 15:20).” Two of these four commands come directly from the Ten Commandments. However, part of the reasoning for simplifying the law in this manner was stated in Acts 15:21: “For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.” To me, this reasoning implies that believers will gradually learn of God’s laws, resulting in further laws being incorporated into their lives — at least in the spirit of the law, if not in letter.

As we read this list of commandments, we cannot help but recognize how we have fallen short. I could write an essay about every single one of these commandments — indeed, books have been written. But today I will confine my remarks to the fourth commandment, as written in verses 8 through 10:

⁸Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.
⁹Six days you shall labor and do all your work.
¹⁰But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God;
     you shall not do any work — you, your son or your daughter,
your male or female slave, your livestock,
     or the alien resident in your towns.

Jesus told us that the Sabbath was given for man’s benefit. We were not created to serve the Sabbath; rather, the Sabbath was created to serve us. The pattern of six days to labor, and one to rest is meant to keep us healthy and sane. It is to promote life, not steal it away from us.

Keeping the Sabbath day holy is not something that the Church universally practices. For those who do try to honor the Sabbath, the means of doing so vary strikingly from individual to individual and from group to group. Even though I am convinced of the importance of this law, it is something that I have struggled with for years. Perhaps one reason why I’ve had such a hard time is because I studied religion — it gave me more variables that I could worry about.

To begin with, in Judaism, Saturday is the Sabbath. Christians worship on Sunday, and when they keep a kind of Sabbath, they mostly try to do it on that day. I was raised in the Presbyterian church — keeping the Sabbath is not something that was taught to me in this tradition. However, my father’s family and his immediate ancestors were Seventh Day Adventists, Christians who believe we should be worshiping on Saturday. Even though I knew why the early church changed from Saturday worship to Sunday worship (to commemorate Christ’s resurrection), I struggled with whether Sabbath-keeping was meant to be kept literally on Saturday or merely on one consistent day of the week — on Sunday, as most Christian churches view the Sabbath. I do believe that some of God’s word is meant to be read, interpreted and kept quite literally. But not all of it is. And, especially in the Christian faith, we also place a lot of emphasis on not being legalistic as we celebrate our faith.

For many, many years this question — Saturday or Sunday — was the stumbling block to me. Sometimes I would take Saturday off… but then I’d end up taking Sunday off, too. And having two days off — the American weekend — didn’t seem to me to be what God intended.

I received some very good advice from an observant Jew, who told me that celebrating on the same day that your particular faith community celebrates is very important. In my worrying at this question, I was only thinking about what was the right thing for me to do, but I was thinking of myself as an individual rather than as part of the larger church community. And the more I grow in faith, the more I realize that faith is not solitary — we need community. We need the body of Christ.

Then, last year, when I was re-reading Acts 15, it struck me for the first time that Sabbath observance was not part of what was asked of Gentile believers. And for the first time I felt really freed from this dilemma I’d set for myself: Saturday worship versus Sunday worship. I now understand that either day is fine in God’s eyes, so long as I am with a local church community that also celebrates that same day that I celebrate. And I have been trying my best to keep to a rhythm where I am “resting” on Sundays, as part of Sabbath observance. I don’t believe this is what God will tell every believer, but it is what God has revealed is right for me.

In practical terms, this means that — so far this year — I have worked diligently to write two meditations on Saturdays, so that I can take Sundays off from creative effort. And I have been very grateful to celebrate the Sabbath in this manner. Recently, however, with my health not being as strong, I have had less success writing two meditations on one day. And this past Sunday I was put to the test. I had a devotional ready to post for Monday, but nothing else was written. Should I spend Sunday writing? Or do I believe Jesus’ words that the Sabbath was meant for me? Do I believe that if I take the day to rest, it will be of more benefit than getting another day’s meditation ready? Or do I push myself to write out of worry that I have no margin left?

I chose to rest. Even though that scares me. This devotional here is being written the very same “day” it will be posted (technically, since I’ll post it just after midnight, it will be posted on the next day, but in terms of my waking hours, this is being posted on the very same day). Having no margin left is terrifying — but I will rely on God. And if I fail to have a devotional written sometime in the next week, now you’ll know why. 🙂

I’m not sure if sharing what’s been going on in my head about Sabbath observance is helpful for you or not. Possibly not, especially if God is dealing with you on another one of the Ten Commandments. But I write this today in hopes that my experiences will help someone, somewhere, some day.

Luke chapter 4 tells us stories that are already familiar to us from Matthew and Mark. We read of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness by the devil. We read about the beginning of his ministry in Galilee, and how he was rejected in his own home town of Nazareth. Jesus heals a man that had a demon, he heals Simon’s mother-in-law, and he continues to spread the good news of the kingdom of God throughout Judea.

One thing that I realized when I read this chapter was how Jesus initially taught people through the synagogues. I don’t think I’d realized that, since, as his fame grew, he ended up teaching people from boats and out in the countryside. Of course, I knew he attended synagogue, since we have several stories about what happened in certain synagogues. But it hadn’t become part of my thinking that his ministry was originally based in the community centers of worship.

As Luke describes the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry, he tells us in verse 15: “He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.” At the end of the chapter in verse 43, we get Jesus’ second “must” — the priorities that drove his actions. “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose.” Luke tells us in verse 44, “So he continued proclaiming the message in the synagogues of Judea.”

The other thing that struck me was the story about how Jesus was received — and then rejected — in Nazareth. Matthew and Mark told us that he could not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith. We know that his hometown did not receive him well. But Luke tells us the Scripture from Isaiah that Jesus read in the synagogue, how the people of Nazareth actually became enraged when he talked about God’s mercy as given to two Gentiles, and how they even tried to throw him off a cliff. I remember marveling at how Jesus was able to just walk away from this crowd that was ready to kill him — talk about a miracle! — but I hadn’t connected this incident to Nazareth. How very saddened Jesus must have felt about his hometown. And no wonder Capernaum became his base of operations.

Psalm 75 is another psalm of Asaph. It also has the inscription “Do not destroy” — as some believe, this is citing a tune called “Do Not Destroy.” Others believe the inscription is meant to reference God’s promise to preserve a remnant.

It is an interesting psalm. Either the entire psalm is being spoken by the Messiah, or the voice is changing back and forth from the psalmist to God and back again. Sometimes “I” is God speaking; sometimes “I” is the psalmist and the reader.

Today I particularly noted verse 3: “When the earth totters, with all its inhabitants, it is I who keep its pillars steady.” Even though other psalms have talked about God creating uproar and devastation, this psalm talks about how it is God Himself who is the calm center of that uproar. It is I who keep its pillars steady. This world has been rocking all the past year from the COVID-19 pandemic. We have had terrible turmoil and social unrest as we have seen the injustice facing our black citizens. Our country had become divided politically and more and more ideologically. I would classify us as “tottering.” But God is our center. He keeps us steady. Christ is the one who holds all things together.

Father God, thank you that even as our world is rocking, we can turn to you for peace and calm. Thank you that you are able to keep all of us steady. Even though the world is tottering, you are able to keep us from falling. Lord, please turn hearts towards you. In all this upset and uproar, may people seek you and your strength.

Help us to honor your word and your law. Thank you that you created the Sabbath for mankind. Thank you for giving me rest. May you help us to walk in a way that honors you. Keep us from twisting your words into legalistic formulas, but may we walk with the Spirit in all things. We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.