Forgiving Others

 

This is my friend Marji Laine, who I met at the Blue Ridge Writer's Conference in May of 2013. She is a homeschooling mom of 4 with the oldest working in the mission field in Africa. She spends her days transporting to and from volleyball, teaching writing classes at a local coop, and directing the children’s music program at her church.

With decades of leading worship, directing and performing in theatre productions, and script-writing, Marji took the plunge to creating scintillating Christian romance and romantic suspense novels with a side of Texas sassy. She invites readers to unravel their inspiration, seeking a deeper knowledge of the Lord’s Great Mystery that invites us all. She has written a devotional blog post for this week.

MarjiLaine.com

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Jesus spoke often of the need to forgive. “For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.” Matthew 6:14-15. (NAS)

He wants us to practice forgiveness, but how? I don’t know about you, but personal attacks against my family or my kids bring out the momma bear in me. Such affronts leave a bitter residue that makes forgiving a difficult task.

And yet, letting the frustration of an insult continue to smolder destroys a joyful attitude. That’s why Paul instructs in Eph. 4:26-27 “In your anger, do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry and do not give the devil a foothold.” (NIV)

I remember one time someone completely misunderstood me. That person, imagining a slight, proceeded to twist my words and secretly spout what a horrible person I was to those within our circle. By the time I found out what was happening, the person had moved away. Robbing me of confrontation.

And for years, I rehashed the conversations I wanted to have, not only with the person responsible, but with all of those who actually believed the lies. With every moment I spent on the imagined confrontations, bitterness curled around my heart like kudzu.

The cure? Prayer. Not the type of prayer I initially had where I proceeded to relive the anger under the premise of talking to God about it. Like He didn’t already know. And that only succeeded in getting me all stirred up again.

The prayer I needed, the one that really started to help me heal, didn’t come until I longed to forgive the injury, but realized that I didn’t know how. I had to make it up as I went along. When the conversations started drifting into my mind, I started praying blessings on the injuring party. And no, I didn’t ask for the blessing of conviction. (Though I did think about it!)

I prayed God would bless with love, family, health, finances, purpose, and a rich relationship with Him. Well, that’s what I ultimately prayed. What I started out praying was something like, “God I can’t bring myself to ask blessings on that person. Could you please make me want to ask for those blessings?”

A slow process, but well-worth the effort. The object of my prayer received blessings and I received the grace to forgive. Win-Win!

Your turn: How have you learned to forgive others?

My latest collaborative novella, A Dozen Apologies, deals with forgiveness. Mara had humiliated so many men, but having accepted Christ as her Savior, she felt she must attempt to right the wrongs she’d committed. She sets out to find each of them. But they have an equally hard task of forgiving her. To read Mara’s story, find the posts on Write Integrity Press and watch for the notice of the free e-book. (WriteIntegrity.com)

What's in the Root?

Have you ever seen an olive tree? When I first saw a picture of one I have to admit I was disappointed. They're not tall and straight like a redwood or a palm tree. And they're not majestic in height and foliage like a maple or willow tree. But the tree in spite of its unique appearances does have some honors. The oil produced from it's fruit is very popular and in great demand. And, the nation of Israel has adopted it as the national tree.

I learned another interesting fact from the December 2013 newsletter from Jewish Jewels concerning olive trees. I knew olive trees grow in odd shapes, but what I didn't know was that the odd shape came from shoots that will spring out from the roots of the trees and at times wrap around the tree itself. And according to the newsletter that shoot wrap helps the trunk to hold up the tree

Does this mixed-up intertwining system work? Well, there is an olive tree that is said to be between two thousand to three thousand years old. That's right, thousands of years old. That means in it's mixed up root trunk system it has lasted through calm seasons and storms, through peaceful times and wars, through famines and feasts. So, yes, a good set-up can keep a tree from collapsing.

If that wasn't an interesting enough fact about the tree, get this. The word (notzrim) that's used to describe this root-shoot-trunk action is the same word that's used for 'christian' and 'watchman.' I find it interesting that a thing called a christian would hold up a tree that has often symbolized the country of Israel.

God has us dependent on one another, even in his creation. Just as the tree is dependent on the root shoots to surround it and protect it from the elements as well as from it's own weight, Christians are needed to watch and pray over Israel. Israel is strong and prosperous, just like the tree. But the nature of the countries that want to attack Israel requires us to be aware of when and how to pray for her. It's essential to the survival of both of us.

Fact or Fiction

Do you remember the scene from the Walt Disney film Dumbo when the storks are flying in the baby animals to the circus train? Other cartoons often showed the same scenario with human infants. For years I would hear adults joke around about the storks bringing babies. I just figured that's where the animator's got the idea for a tall gangly bird to fly babies to their mothers.

Recently, I read the December 2013 Jewish Jewels newsletter. They included an interesting fact about storks. (They're in the Bible several times.) Storks pass through Israel on their way from Europe to Africa and then back again in the spring when the weather warms up.

Their tour guide, Hanna Ben Haim, told them that many children in European countries were conceived after the harvest was completed, which placed the time of the births around the return of the storks. This became the root of the old wives tale of the storks bringing the babies to their homes. My dad always did say there was an ounce of truth in every old wives' tale.

I have to embarrassingly admit that until I traveled to Romania I thought the stork as portrayed in cartoons was a fictitious idea of animators. My basis for this was the roadrunner from cartoons. Having lived in Texas for several years the only roadrunners I ever saw were short. I figured animators had lengthened the legs of the roadrunner as well as storks for the purpose of a story. I had no reason to think the animals were portrayed in true nature.

Of course I knew long legged birds such as flamingos and cranes existed. But up to that point I'd never seen a roadrunner or a stork in a zoo. And I didn't have the desire to do any research that might correct my distorted thinking. I know that sounds archaic and severely lacking in knowledge but remember this was before the internet age of instant information. Back then it took time to find the right encyclopedia or magazine in the library. . .I had other teenage things to do.

But when I traveled through the Hungarian and Romanian countryside as an adult, I experienced an educational moment. Sitting atop many of the houses and buildings were these giant nests. And inside the nests where huge birds. Only when they took off from the nests did our bus load of people realize just how big a stork truly is. Turns out the animators had done a wonderful job of depicting a stork flying babies to mothers.

Oh, and by the way, most information I've found on roadrunners only shows a short-legged variety. But I'm here to say that a long-legged variety, just like in the cartoons, is alive and well and living in my area. The little rascal tried to eat some of the baby barn swallows around my house a couple of years ago.

Praying in The New Year

How many of you when you read about Abraham arguing with God for Sodom have thought, just do away with the place? Why save it? Or have you looked at it from a different perspective and asked. . .are you arguing with God? You're trying to tell God what to do? Have you ever marveled that God didn't strike Abraham down for having the guts to speak to him that way? In fact, he's not the only one in the Old Testament who argued with God.

Perhaps you've been told that you shouldn't be so demanding or argumentative with God. That you shouldn't be angry with him or tell him your true feelings. But we must remember he is our heavenly father not our heavenly CEO. When we speak with him we can approach him about anything and everything we deal with. We can come before him as a child who speaks to a loving busy father, which sometimes means we have to ask more than once.

And after reading Listening to the Language of the Bible, by Lois Tverberg, I have a better understanding of the necessary need to repeat our requests to God. And that in arguing with God it can be seen as a righteous heroic thing to do, with no worries of being punished for our disapproval.

She speaks of Chutzpah (HOOTS-pah) which is a persistence in asking God for whatever we want. Some of our Biblical examples include Abraham arguing with God in Genesis 18 for Sodom; Moses pleading for Israel after they sinned in Exodus 32; the Gentile woman wanting healing for her daughter in Mark 7. I'd also like to point out Jonah, who though he argued with God and tried in his own way to change what God was asking of him did not sway God but did not die from what he did either.

It's true when many of us pray, we look to our own needs, our wants and desires. Lois pointed out that in Ezekiel 22 God is looking for someone to stand in the gap for the land, but he didn't find anyone. How often do we pray for the lost? Do you ask God to punish the people who sin and lead others away from God? Or do you ask for God to forgive the sins of our nation?

Do we have the courage to go before God as a child goes to his father and ask for something so big we can't take care of it? And not just once but repeatedly? What if he keeps saying "no"? Do we have the boldness to keep asking and arguing with him until we know he's heard us? I guess it's like the old saying, "you won't know until you try." Shall we try?

Christmas Miracles

Have you ever thought about the little miracles God performed in order to bring us the hope that Christmas delivers? There's so much behind the scenes stuff to consider, so much more than shepherds seeing and hearing from angels in the sky.

First God moves a southern small town man, Joseph, to another small town up north. From a quick modern glance this doesn't set off warning flares. But on a closer look it does resemble a little miracle to me.

Joseph moved from renowned Bethlehem to can-anything-good-come-from-there Nazareth. This means he went from being located just off a main road leading to Jerusalem and the temple to a town positioned on a dead end road leading up a steep hill, where you couldn't see the place until you were almost right up on it.

This would be like going from walking thirty minutes to church to walking more than a couple of days to get there. And while there's a home Bible study group in town, all the major church celebrations still need to be done at the church now a couple of days away.

Not only was the distance a new issue for this righteous man, but his new town is in a part of the country thought to be a disgrace to the nation. Between the people slurring their words with other languages and keeping peace with the cruel Roman guards in the area, they were not respected by the rest of the Israelites. So now we're talking about going from an acceptable place to the bad side of the tracks. But Joseph goes to Nazareth anyway and miraculously stays.

While we don't really focus on the repercussions of Joseph following God's encouragement to take Mary as his wife, that in itself was a miracle as well. Joseph chose to put his reputation on the line and marry a girl who was already pregnant. Hello rumors. And then he has a woman living under his roof but he has to contain himself because he knows she must remain a virgin until the prophecy is fulfilled. Only with God's help was he able to do this. . .another miracle.

Then there's the census, which according to my commentaries occurred for some unknown reason. It didn't follow the need-to-take-a-census patterns in place in those days. But it was the means to get Joseph to leave Nazareth and return home to his family's land. Oh and by the way, a little food for thought, since Mary's family came from David's blood line also, more than likely her family came along for the census too.

And while our celebrations don't focus on these details as miracles, they are. God hasn't changed. He still works these little miracles into play, you know, putting the right people in the right place at the right time in order for his will and plan of action to take place and be fulfilled. We just never know what he has up his sleeve until we find ourselves in the midst of the bigger miracle.

May the miracles of the Christmas season bring you hope for eternal peace.

For a follow-up post on the birth of Jesus and the shepherds you can read my guest post on gingersolomon.blogspot.com on December 26th.

Why Take Jerusalem?

Last week I mentioned David and his army finding the water tunnel that gave them access to take the city Jebus. The big question is, why did David feel compelled to take the city from the Jebusites in the first place?

Perhaps the draw for David may have come from the city once being called Salem when it was the home of God's prophet, Melchizedek, to being in the hands of a foreign people, the Jebusites. (Genesis 14; Psalm 76, Judges1) But, according to The Bible Knowledge Commentary the city was located in neutral territory because no one had conquered any of it since the nation returned from Egypt. I say neutral because the nation was already divided between the northern and southern kingdoms when David began his reign. I somehow overlooked that fact.
 
When David settles his army on the hill near what would be called Jerusalem he challenges his men to find a way into the city. It wasn't until they captured the walled city atop the steep hill that the two locations were united into one city and then called the City of David.

What I find interesting is that the Jebusites were so confident that David wouldn't find a way into their safe haven city that they taunted him (2 Samuel 5) by saying even the lame and blind people in the city could defeat him. Can you imagine how much arrogance it takes to bring lame and blind people into an argument that might lead to fighting? I've always wondered why both sides were picking on those weaker people. I feel sorry for them. They couldn't fight for their home let alone fight off David's army.

In any case, David and his army took the city and established it as the headquarters for his kingdom. Did you notice he used parts of the former names to unite into one name, calling the place Jerusalem? It united the nation and the people. And, eventually, David brought the ark and the temple to Jerusalem to the high hill where everyone could see God's resting place.

Where's the water?

Did you know that the Romans had aqueducts around Jerusalem? At one point I figured they brought the water into the city so that they would be able to follow their traditions of bathing. But recently I discovered the water was already there. I've heard about the Gihon Spring, but I didn't realize the significance of the city's water source, even before it became the City of David.

Before it was known as Jerusalem the city was called Jebus, and had remained in the hands of the Jebusites for centuries. It was quite secure, mainly because it had a steep hill topped with tall walls. And in addition to that, the Jebusites achieved a remarkable feat. In order to hold off attackers for an extended period of time and secure their safety, they needed access to the water at the base of the hill. So the Jebusites carved out a tunnel.

And this tunnel was quite a task to build - descending to the water level then digging out sixty five feet in order to reach the mouth of the spring at the base of the mountain - all of this done through solid rock. And then they hid the entrance to the tunnel, which until King David and his army arrived on the scene remained hidden.

According to the Chronological Study Bible the tunnel still stands to this day and is viewed by visitors to the city.

I find the hidden entrance aspect fascinating. Imagine all the people who tried to capture the city from the Jebusites never finding the entrance to the tunnel. And then there's the fact that some of the tribe of Benjamin peacefully lived at the base of the hill along side the Jebusites.

I've got to wonder what the Benjaminites thought to themselves centuries later when King David and his army found the secret entrance leading up to the city at the base of the mountain. Did they wonder why their people never found the secret way in? Or were they in no hurry to fight for the mountain? In any case, you've got to admit it's interesting how long that spring entrance remained hidden.