The Sins of the Fathers

I have always been puzzled by such verses in scripture as:


Exodus 20:5: "...I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments."


Exodus 34:7: "...Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation."


This is repeated several times.  I have heard commentators and pastors try to explain these verses away, but I was never convinced, and it left me with an unsettled feeling about God's character.


Now, I am reading the book of Ezekiel in my daily devotions, and I was thrilled to find this yesterday:


Ezekiel 18;14 - 20:

¹⁴ "But suppose this son has a son who sees all the sins his father commits, and though he sees them, he does not do such things:

 ¹⁵ "He does not eat at the mountain shrines
       or look to the idols of the house of Israel.
       He does not defile his neighbor's wife.

 ¹⁶ He does not oppress anyone
       or require a pledge for a loan.
       He does not commit robbery
       but gives his food to the hungry
       and provides clothing for the naked.

 ¹⁷ He withholds his hand from sin ^[a]
       and takes no usury or excessive interest.
       He keeps my laws and follows my decrees.
      He will not die for his father's sin; he will surely live. ¹⁸ But his father will die for his own sin, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother and did what was wrong among his people.

 ¹⁹ "Yet you ask, 'Why does the son not share the guilt of his father?' Since the son has done what is just and right and has been careful to keep all my decrees, he will surely live. ²⁰ The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him."

Now this makes sense!  This describes God's just judgement in the way that I understand it.  All those pastors and commentators were right all along, when they interpreted the previous verses to mean that our bad actions can have long-lasting and far-reaching consequences that affect many others, whether we chose to believe it or not. I praise God that he clears up the misconceptions and confusing ideas within the entirety of his word.  One more reason to continue daily study!

Fog

This morning I woke up to a gorgeous day!  By the time I left  home, the sun was shining in a cloudless sky, and the nearly full moon was still visible.  As I drove to town, I noticed how the leaves of the trees were turning various shades of red and yellow, showing that fall is indeed here.  As I drove down out of the mountains and into town, however, everything changed.  I drove into a thick fog bank.  Now the only sunlight I could find was scattered beams that broke through the mist every now and then.  You could tell it was daytime, but the light was muted and greyish to amber in color.  The bright fall colors were even drab.  I knew that the fog was only a temporary condition, and soon the bright sunlight that I had seen above the fog would reach the valley.

This made me think of my experience with God.  In reality, he is everything I know he is and more.  His brilliance is more than many suns.  His goodness, tenderness, love, and mercy are deeper than anything I have experienced on earth.  But all of his glory and goodness are hidden from us, much like the sunlight is hidden by the fog.  We know it is there, we can see glimpses of it now and then, and there is a constant, muted glow around us that reveals his presence in our lives all the time.

But imagine the glory, when we finally get to see him as he is!  When the fog of sin is lifted from between us and we can know true love for what it is.  1 Corinthians 13:12 says, "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." (KJV).

Forgot my camera!

Would you believe it...I forgot my camera when I went hiking yesterday, and I saw a pika for the first time!  He (or she??) was sooo cute!  My husband and I were crossing a bridge over a dry creek bed, and there it was, peeking out at us from a gap between some rocks.  I threw him a piece of a granola bar that I had brought for lunch, and then I trew him several more.  He went running after them (I was throwing left-handed, so my aim wasn't quite accurate).  If I wasn't really wanting to get to the waterfall I had promised to share with my husband, I would have stayed with the pika all day and fed him my whole PB&J sandwich, too!

What a blessing to interact with God's creatures in unexpected ways!

Walking with God

I am about half way through reading "Walking with God," by John Eldredge.  He is one of my favorite authors.  Only another tightly-wound type-A person is able to really get into my head and share deep new thoughts, like he does.  This book is great!  I picked it up thinking it would give me more insights on what steps I can take to get closer to God.  But it is so much better than that.

Eldredge really gets people like me.  He, too, would like a step-by-step manual on how to "do" Christianity.  But this book, like all of his others, is about "being" not "doing".  He, too, struggles with just remaining in the presence of God, and connecting at the heart level.

This book is about his struggle to listen to God.  Wow!  I struggle with that, too.  I spend a lot of time talking to Him, but listening is really HARD!  I love the way this book shows and describes how this plays out in real life.  As everyone that follows this blog knows, I have been struggling with prayer for years.  I am voraciously reading and studying everything I can find about prayer, but have still come up so empty.  I think what I am learning now, about listening, is at least part of the key to my struggles.

Not only does this book open up a whole new world in the area of prayer, it also delves deeper into spiritual warfare.  He explains a lot about agreements that we make with the enemy and how that plays out in our lives.  I can identify with many of his examples.  I have realized that when the voice in my head reminds me in a given situation: "This is just like the last time.  Won't you ever learn?  You need to protect yourself.  You can't open up to people.  You need to keep things inside.  You are really on your own in this world," etc., I am really making an agreement with the devil and allowing him to control me.  I need to recognize it and not make the agreements and allow Satan a stronghold in my heart.

He also mentions something that totally intrigued me:  He thinks that when someone is struggling with an issue, such as doubt, that this is part of spiritual warfare.  And the same spirit that is pushing the person into this struggle can catch on to us when we try to help that person fight it off, causing us to struggle with it, too, unless we are aware of it.  I don't know if I agree, but it is an interesting concept that I think I will ponder for a while.

Very interesting book.  Can't wait to finish.

How people grow

Our Pastor recommended to all of our small group leaders that we read a book, by Townsend and Cloud, authors of the "Boundaries" series, called, "How People Grow."  My first impression was, "Oh,no!  Not another psychobabble book to help us feel good.  Ughhh!"  But because I have had life-changing help from the "Boundaries" books and am familiar with and trust the authors, I decided to read it.

I finished it this week, and what a blessing I found.  It wasn't about how people grow, with step-by-step charts on growth and development and lots of psychology, as I had expected.  It was a refreshing look at examples of how people have experienced growth, or not experienced it, as the case may be, and lessons we can all learn.  It was just like their other books, in that it offered tangible lessons that I can and will apply to my own life, as I grow in relationship to God and others, and as I help others in their life journeys.

For example, in a chapter on temptation, they write:

This is exactly how temptation occurs.  Satan tempts us at our weakest moments and in our weakest areas.  We need something, or we are in pain.  And the temptation answers both of those for the moment.  If someone needs love or is lonely, the deceptive sin of illicit sex (the lust of the flesh) can momentarily masquerade as love.  If someone needs validation, the lure of power and the "boastful pride of life" can trick him into feeling as if his existence is worthwhile because of that power.  If someone is feeling "not good enough," the lure of materialism and the "lust of the eyes" can momentarily dull that pain.  In those three areas, John tells us, "Do not love the world or anything in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For everything in the world -- the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does -- comes not from the Father but from the world" (1 John 2:15 - 16).

The book then goes on to describe ways that we can avoid temptation and recognize it for what it is.  It explains several reasons that people go through suffering, and how we can grow and help others through this process.  It shows how to be good friends to our suffering brothers and sisters, without being like Job's friends, who were of no help to Job at all.

I am so grateful for the lessons I have learned in this book, and encourage everyone that reads this blog to give this book a try.  It might open up a whole new life to you.

Hiking with My Daughter

Yay!  My daughter came home on leave for a few days, and we got to go hiking, (and to a barbecue, and the 4th of July fireworks display in our community, and to a rodeo, and to a birthday party, and to church, and out to dinner, whew!).  We hiked to a new place on Sabbath afternoon:

It was so refreshing to get to renew our relationship in the splendor of God's creation!  What a blessing!

Back Home

Eric did not call me with any recent updates, but late Friday night, he showed up at home.  Apparently, the challenge was not on the up and up.  A lot of things were happening, both on the part of the organizers and by other riders that were making the challenge something that Eric could no longer find himself ethically being involved with.  So, he came home.  He still made it from Key West, FL to southwest Washington in 6 days, which is not bad! 

He was disappointed that the event was not legitimate, as it was something he had been so proud to be a part of, and something that made his heart stir, to push himself to the limit doing something he loves so much.  He walked away with his integrity intact and still had an amazing adventure!