From the Net to the Blanket

Daily Reading: Obadiah, Psalm 1, Psalm 31

Obadiah verses 17 & 18 “But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. (18) And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the Lord has spoken it.”

I have never understood what the deal was with Esau. Jacob cheated Esau out of his blessing as the eldest son and from then on Esau was just cast out and on his own. It seems like Jacob would be the one that should be punished. Jacob did reap a lot of the lies that he sowed but still he is the one that gets all the attention from his birth to right now. Was Esau punished because he didn’t care enough? I remember even as a kid hearing the story of how Jacob bought Esau’s birthright with a bowl of soup and thinking couldn’t he make his own soup? Grab a sandwich or something, surely one bowl of soup isn’t worth your birthright. I felt sorry for him. Now I wonder if that is just a picture of his character. Maybe he just didn’t care about anything and Jacob did. Maybe he was guilty of apathy and it was just distasteful to God. I don’t know. From a bowl of soup to his descendants being devoured is a pretty long road of bad circumstances. I’d like to know more about this.

Psalm 1 “Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. (2) But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. (3) And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. (4) The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. (5) Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. (6) For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.”

One of my favorite scriptures. Psalm one is so simply complete. Here is how to be blessed. Just do this and don’t do this and you’ll have it. And how blessed you’ll be! Like a tree planted by water, you’ll bear fruit and WHATEVER YOU DO WILL PROSPER! I love that. You can’t get more blessed than that. I pray that for Kris and for Owen all the time. I know that God has great things in mind for those boys.

Psalm 31:4 “Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength.”

So many of the Psalms talk about the traps laid out by the enemy and how trusting in God causes you to be delivered or may even cause the enemy to fall into his own trap. This verse is one that admits…I’ve fallen into the trap. I love to see the humanity of the Psalmist. He’s triumphant and full of praise and can almost seem too good to be true at times, but every now and then you hear him weeping and confessing his inadequacies. Here in verse 4 he says…they laid this net for me and I didn’t see it. I was just walking along and I fell. And now, I can’t get out. Please God, you’re the only strength I have. Can you help me out of this mess? Then from his experiences he says in verse 24 “Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.” He doesn’t just say that God will pull you out of the net like He did for me. He say…He will strengthen your heart. No matter how long you’re in the net…your heart can remain strong in the Lord. No matter how deep the pit is…your heart can remain strong in the Lord. Hope in the Lord.

One thing that God is showing me is not how strong He is, but rather, how kind He is. He doesn't want to just pull me from the net, he wants to revive me. When the Psalmist says He will strengthen your heart I had to imagine how. God doesn't just pull us from danger or pain and then say...now run, get out of here before they get you again. He pulls us up, cradles us and carry us to safety. He wants us with Him. He wants to warm us by a fire, wrap a warm blanket around us and feed us with something so filling and so satisfying we'll never want to leave His side. We can snuggle up to Him and know that He will never let us go. That's the hope we can have. Hope that isn't wishful thinking, Hope that's secure in the knowledge of truth. Hope that expects good things and waits with anticipation.