"Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who reproves God answer it." (God to Job in Job 40:2, NASB-- from today's Poetic/Wisdom Books reading)
"Faultfinder," is another word for "blame-finder." The four "theologians" who sought to put Job straight were experts at this.
"Faultfinder," is a good description of man. Adam said to God when questioned as to why he rebelled against the Word of God, "The woman You put here with me...." Eve's response when questioned was similar, "Wasn't me." Everyone of us has been plagued by this demon ever since The Fall, "faultfinder." Look at the world today and I find it difficult to argue with this. Ray Rice's fiancee hit him, then he hit her. Woman hit vs. man hit. He won. A women's mouth is her greatest weapon against a man. Man does not discuss, just swings. Now the "blame game" continues, the pundits, the media, the water cooler philosophers, the "Well, if you ask me," all are the classic, "faultfinder." How humanists love to fulfill their title, "faultfinder." If you and I, if the Church, if a nation is to experience any transformation, we will need to get rid of the Divine pronouncement, "faultfinder." (And, no, I don't approve of wife-beating.)
It is difficult for all of us to embrace our sin as our sin, to embrace life's failures as our failures. Yes, there have been others involved in our history, "the good, the bad, and the ugly." But our Lord Jesus Christ can do nothing if I am not living in the spirit of repentance, a repentance which embraces, confesses, and intends to walk in obedience to Jesus and His "Law/Word." When I do, I no longer am a, "faultfinder." Rather, I am as Job, "Behold, I am of small account and vile! What shall I answer You? I lay my hand upon my mouth" (Amplified). This is Biblical repentance. One example of this in American Christendom is the continual plague that over half of professing Christians do not vote. That same "half," however, is dominated by the "spirit" of, "faultfinder." My experience has been that the, "faultfinder," is usually a do- nothing, who then blames others for the results.
When you and I can honestly say, "Behold, I am of small account and vile!...I lay my hand upon my mouth," then the "stage" is set for God's Mighty Hand of Power to move in our midst, our communities, our nations. Modern Christendom, with it's version of "I'm okay; you're okay," will never see revival, Biblical transformation. But a people whose worship, whose service in Jesus Christ and His Church, whose life style before God and man in total obedience to Jesus is, "I lay my hand upon my mouth," is a people who will see what we all say we so desperately want, what August Hermann Francke so eloquently stated in the 17th century, "A life changed, a church revived, a nation reformed, a world evangelized."
Father, in Jesus' Name, deliver me from any, "faultfind[ing]," to fault-remedying. Amen.
***************************
* Shelly's and the baby's doctor report was good. Thanks for you continual prayers? I pray so.
* One week tomorrow I head for DC. I'm sensing the hour is "here."
"Faultfinder," is another word for "blame-finder." The four "theologians" who sought to put Job straight were experts at this.
"Faultfinder," is a good description of man. Adam said to God when questioned as to why he rebelled against the Word of God, "The woman You put here with me...." Eve's response when questioned was similar, "Wasn't me." Everyone of us has been plagued by this demon ever since The Fall, "faultfinder." Look at the world today and I find it difficult to argue with this. Ray Rice's fiancee hit him, then he hit her. Woman hit vs. man hit. He won. A women's mouth is her greatest weapon against a man. Man does not discuss, just swings. Now the "blame game" continues, the pundits, the media, the water cooler philosophers, the "Well, if you ask me," all are the classic, "faultfinder." How humanists love to fulfill their title, "faultfinder." If you and I, if the Church, if a nation is to experience any transformation, we will need to get rid of the Divine pronouncement, "faultfinder." (And, no, I don't approve of wife-beating.)
It is difficult for all of us to embrace our sin as our sin, to embrace life's failures as our failures. Yes, there have been others involved in our history, "the good, the bad, and the ugly." But our Lord Jesus Christ can do nothing if I am not living in the spirit of repentance, a repentance which embraces, confesses, and intends to walk in obedience to Jesus and His "Law/Word." When I do, I no longer am a, "faultfinder." Rather, I am as Job, "Behold, I am of small account and vile! What shall I answer You? I lay my hand upon my mouth" (Amplified). This is Biblical repentance. One example of this in American Christendom is the continual plague that over half of professing Christians do not vote. That same "half," however, is dominated by the "spirit" of, "faultfinder." My experience has been that the, "faultfinder," is usually a do- nothing, who then blames others for the results.
When you and I can honestly say, "Behold, I am of small account and vile!...I lay my hand upon my mouth," then the "stage" is set for God's Mighty Hand of Power to move in our midst, our communities, our nations. Modern Christendom, with it's version of "I'm okay; you're okay," will never see revival, Biblical transformation. But a people whose worship, whose service in Jesus Christ and His Church, whose life style before God and man in total obedience to Jesus is, "I lay my hand upon my mouth," is a people who will see what we all say we so desperately want, what August Hermann Francke so eloquently stated in the 17th century, "A life changed, a church revived, a nation reformed, a world evangelized."
Father, in Jesus' Name, deliver me from any, "faultfind[ing]," to fault-remedying. Amen.
***************************
* Shelly's and the baby's doctor report was good. Thanks for you continual prayers? I pray so.
* One week tomorrow I head for DC. I'm sensing the hour is "here."
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
