Are We There Yet? Fear's Demands on Faith

Back in my day, we didn't have all those new-fangled technologies to dull our senses and lull us into a comatose silence during long road trips.

We might--MIGHT--have had a cassette player or CD walkman, but once your batteries died (which was shortly after you left your driveway) you were left without your tunes and subjected to whatever hillbilly nonsense your parents were listening to on the car radio.

As a result, I often found myself looking for signs that we were near our destination.  Every landmark and road sign was subject to my analytical scrutiny and speculation.

It dawned on me the other day as I was thinking about the ways that FEAR has impacted my FAITH over the years that the "are we there yet" angle is one that FEAR has played a major role in.

Let me explain.

GOD's plan for our lives often invites us to interpret His motives or the deeper meaning.  Every blessing or struggle is viewed as a window into God's character and motives.  And we then begin listening to our own (often fearful) interpretative spin on things.


And as we FOCUS on the TRIVIAL we DIMINISH the ETERNAL.

Now, I'm not saying that questioning and reasoning has no place in our faith.  In the right context it is one of the ways that God grows our faith in Him.

HOWEVER, if we apply the wrong interpretations and come to the wrong conclusions, we might find ourselves fearful of a God that we define in our own failed logic.  If the obstacles in our path become larger or more significant than the One who made the path, we will have officially handed over the wheel to FEAR.

Moses had some issues here in seeing the big picture.

"What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'the LORD did not appear to you?'"

This is from Exodus 4 when Moses is conversing with the burning bush.  The LORD has to walk Moses through some seemingly endless scenarios as Moses inundates Him with a stream of "what if" questions that any person who wrestles with FEAR will identify with.

Now, it's easy to mock Moses' cowardice from the comfort of our living room.  Dude was literally speaking with the LORD via a burning bush.  What is there to worry about?  How could you diminish the power of God by focusing on your problems when you are standing on Holy Ground?

Simply put, Moses allowed his fear of failure to distort God's message and character.  And we do the same thing every day.

When we lose a job.

When we have a fight with a loved one.

When someone betrays us.

When terminal illness strikes our family.

When prayers go unanswered.

With his FEARS dwarfing his view of the LORD, Moses continues to throw "what if" scenarios at the great I AM.  #SMH

Finally, in Exodus 4:11 the LORD said to him, "Who gave human beings their mouths?  Who makes them deaf or mute?  Who gives them sight or makes them blind?  Is it not I, the LORD? Now go, I will help you speak and will teach you what to say."

The problem with my trying to interpret the landmarks and signs on our long road trips is that I had no idea where we were actually going and was reading into those signs and landmarks with a distorted or uninformed view of reality.

The problem with Moses was that he was reading into the future what his own fear of failure saw instead of what the LORD behind the burning bush did.

I did not, at the age of 10, know how to drive a car.  My dad did.  And yet I spent many a minute in the back seat questioning where we were going and how close we were as if I did have that knowledge.

Moses didn't yet fully understand who God was.  He was trying to figure out the entire plan at the beginning because his FEAR OF FAILURE was bigger than his FAITH.  And here's the kicker--many of the worries that Moses brings up to God did actually happen.  And God knew that they would.

But the plan wasn't necessarily that Moses would know all the details from the beginning and could trust in the plan.  It was that when the plan did go awry, he knew enough about his HEAVENLY FATHER to LEAN INTO HIM during those trials and experience a new intimacy and understanding not possible via a pre-journey lecture.

FAITH is ACTIVE, FEAR is PASSIVE.

The lens of FEAR turns the PATH that God has mapped out before us into a pothole-filled trail of terror and lead us to a life of apathy and inaction.

FEAR doesn't want you to act because in doing so, you will grow in your CONFIDENCE and FAITH in the LORD and FEAR will be weakened and diminished.

FEAR focuses on life's obstacles, FAITH focuses on the character of God.

FAITH isn't about always knowing exactly where we are going or how things will turn out, it is trusting the God who does.

This is why Moses, so terrified in Exodus 4 at the burning bush, was able to calmly rally the Israelites standing in between an advancing army and the Red Sea.  It was not because Moses suddenly had no FEAR but because HIS GOD was much larger than the "what ifs" of life.

Instead of asking if we are there yet, perhaps we should just sit back and enjoy the ride and kick FEAR to the curb.

That Egyptian Army, Though...

One of my favorite people in the Bible is Moses.

I mean his story is a story of redemption, of fighting against the powerful on behalf of the downtrodden, of submitting to God and having a front row seat at a display of His power.

It also comes with a long time of wandering around in a dry, hot desert while leading a bunch of complaining cry-babies.  To be honest, I don't know how Moses put up with his people as long as he did.  And when he is denied entering the Promised Land because he hits a rock in anger, you have to wonder as a reader how he didn't get to that level of frustration earlier, amiright?

He goes up to talk with God on the top of the mountain and comes down and the gang is dancing around a golden cow, having totally forgotten and forsaken the powerful God who has delivered them from their oppressive slavery.

It's easy from the comfort of a 2016 existence to look at such behavior and mock them for their lack of faith or consistency.

When you dig beneath the snark of how stupid and weak these people were, you actually get a realistic and gritty depiction of how stupid and weak we are.  Just like the Israelites, our HEARTS are often COATED in FEAR.

One of my favorite passages of scripture comes during the excitement of the Exodus.  Here the Israelites have left their bondage and are on the banks of the Red Sea.  A literal pillar of fire and clouds has been leading them.  They've seen countless miracles and plagues demonstrating God's power.  And they saw the most powerful leader of their day, the Egyptian Pharaoh, lose his resolve and let them go.

I mean dude was like a defiant teen with his tremendous refusal to accept reality and submit to a greater authority.  It seemed like he would never give in.  But he finally did.  And then about 10 minutes later when he realized that his slaves were gone and that he and his boys might have to lift a finger and work.  So, he gets all confederate on the Israelites and chases after his "property."

And of course the Israelites melt into a pile of cowardly goo when they see the advancing Egyptian army.  They literally start whining that it would be better to go back and be slaves then to experience freedom with God.  (Another blog post for another time but very telling on our view of "freedom" and "slavery" when it comes to our society and submission to God!) As a response, Moses gives one of the most epic statements in the entire Bible in Exodus 14:13-14:

"Moses answered the people, 'Do not be afraid.  Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today.  The Egyptians you see today you will never see again.  The LORD will fight or you; you need only to be still.'"

Be still.  The LORD will fight for you.  Stand firm.

In fact, the pillar of smoke and fire then goes between the Israelites and the Egyptians.  And the Bible tells us that one on side it brought "darkness" and to the other side it brought "light" so that neither side went near it.  God is darkness, confusion, and foolishness to those who don't trust Him.  To those who do, however, He is a shield, a protector, a LIGHT that illuminates every aspect of life and history to make sense in a way not possible to someone not open to the things of God.

And just for kicks, God threw the mighty Egyptian army into confusion.   Then Moses lifted his hands and raised his staff and God parted the Red Sea for His people to make perhaps the most dramatic exit in the history of the world.  Oh, and then he made the Red Sea crash down onto the heads of the Egyptian army as they attempted to cross.

Pretty epic, right?

It's easy to mock the folly and fear of the Israelites as nothing but foolishness.  And it was.  However, it is a foolishness that we all share in.  Whether it is the Israelites in the desert, Peter on the water, the disciples in the boat, or those of us today fretting about our family, our finances, our health, or even just whether or not people will mock us, FEAR has played a huge part in warping our conception of God.

GOD stands ready to FIGHT for you.  You literally have to do nothing but stand firm and keep focused on HIM instead of your FEAR.  An advancing Egyptian army, or a broken marriage, or a troubled son or daughter, or a broken relationship, or a financial hardship are all pretty frightening in their own way.  They ALL, however, pale in comparison to the POWER of the GOD who is FOR YOU and WHO DELIGHTS in FIGHTING FOR YOU.

Every time we allow our FEARS to shrink our view of the unfathomable SIZE and POWER of GOD,
we allow our CIRCUMSTANCES to DEFINE our FAITH as TINY and TIMID.

FAITH is the exact opposite of FEAR, and that's why FEAR works so hard to undermine it.  The larger our faith, the smaller our fear.  So as we allow our FEAR to EXPAND, our FAITH begins to rapidly DIMINISH.

Exodus 14 ends with verse 31: "And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in Him and in Moses his servant."

Put your trust in the GOD who sees you as a BELOVED SON or DAUGHTER.  In the GOD who is LARGER than your FEARS.  In the GOD with the UNMATCHED POWER to demolish your FEARS so that you never see them again.  Let your FEAR shrink and your FAITH expand.

Don't be captive to fear.  Embrace the freedom in God's security.

Calvary Chapel Gloucester County Kid Min Blog: The Determination of Moses!

This Sunday your child learned about the determination of Moses.  We looked at the adventures of Moses' life through the lens of needing to finish what you start and working with GOD to do that.  

Moses accomplished a  lot of great things during his life.  He led the Exodus of God's people from oppressive slavery in Egypt.  He parted called down the plagues on Egypt.  He parted the red sea.  He led the Israelites for 40 years in the wilderness and he met with God personally on top of the mountain and brought down the Ten Commandments (not the movie) to God's people.

He intervened time and time again for God's people when they lacked the determination to keep following God.

Through Moses, we saw that another aspect of developing a life-changing faith determination is to keep doing what is right because God is AWE-some.

To read the rest of the post, visit our church Kidmin blog by clicking below...

Calvary Chapel Gloucester County Kid Min Blog: The Determination of Moses!: 

Peter: Dissing Jesus One Minute & Loving Him The Next

"Feed Me!"  

You have to love Peter.  Or maybe you don't.  I don't know you so I won't presume to tell you what to do.

Anyway, Peter is a man of high highs and low lows.  Dude jumped out of the boat when he saw Jesus walking on the water toward them when everyone else was messing themselves and shaking like a leaf.

Then he sank into the water because his fear and lack of faith got the best of him.

He was also eager to build tents for Elijah and Moses when they networked socially with Jesus during the Mount of Transfiguration experience.  They weren't planning on hanging out long enough to need the digs, so he never got to build them.

Then during the Last Supper when Judas was all-Satan-ed up, Peter dramatically declared that he would never betray or leave Jesus only to have Jesus rebuke him by predicting his betrayal as a prologue to the exciting event of a rooster crowing.  Me thinks the burly fisherman doth protest too much.

You get the sense when you read John's Gospel that there was a friendly rivalry between these two.  John-boy was the "beloved disciple" and often subtly refers to himself as such when writing his Gospel narrative.  I guess it's a way to try to remain humble about the honor.

To read his account, you see that when Jesus was arrested and Peter was warming up for his betrayal performance of a lifetime, John was also there:

"And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest, and went with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest.  But Peter stood at the door outside. Then the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to her who kept the door, and brought Peter in."  JOHN 18:15-16

Now, it's true that the account doesn't specifically say it was John, but among the 10 possibilities (let's go ahead and rule out Judas) for this mysterious other disciple, only John is recorded at being at the cross during Jesus' crucifixion.  John and Peter are almost ALWAYS referred to as being together.  Pretty much any major narrative involving one of them involves the other.  Symbolically their partnership serves as a glimpse of the collaborative relationship between FAITH & DEVOTION (John) and ACTION (Peter).   Additionally, John ALWAYS refers to himself in third person, but typically names the other disciples. 

If it is indeed John (and since I'm the author of this blog, I'm declaring that it is) it is interesting that the only disciple to see Jesus through to the cross and the one who bore such a deep and abiding love for Jesus was probably a first-hand witness to at least one of Peter's denials.  According to the text, Disciple X (see also John) was allowed into the courtyard but the salty rough and tumble Peter was not.  Physically, John-boy was probably not nearly as menacing as Petey and yet he doesn't deny Jesus for fear of peer pressure the way Mr. "Rock" does.  Anyway, John used his street cred with the door-lady and "brought Peter in."  Then the very next verse says, "Then the servant girl who kept the door said to Peter, 'You are not also one of this Man's disciples, are you?' He said, 'I am not.'"  

So, John went to get Peter, vouched for Peter and then "brought Peter in" and in that very same instant, Peter was questioned by this door-lady and denied Jesus.  Ouch.  

That my friends is a literary contrast.  And this English teacher likes it.

So, after Peter denied Jesus and runs from the courtyard weeping, John stays and watches his Savior die for the sins of the world.

The two then also face off in racing to the empty tomb.

And then there is Peter's restoration.  Peter was previously described as a "rock" by Jesus and then he had that epic rooster-crow-inducing FAIL of denial.

So when Jesus appears to the disciples after His resurrection, it should be no surprise that He makes a special point to restore Peter's rock-ness. And just as John gave Peter access to the courtyard that night, it's again John that confirms to Peter that it is Jesus speaking to them from the shore in John 21:6-7:

"And He said to them, 'Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.' So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish. 7 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, 'It is the Lord!' Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it), and plunged into the sea."

After Peter gets to the shore, Jesus engages him in a little game of "Do You Love Me" where He asks Peter THREE times whether he loves Him or not.  Peter basically answers that he likes him a lot.  And each time Jesus commands him to feed and tend His sheep.  This is to restore Peter to his rightful position as a rock of the faith that will help lay the foundation of the early church.  Jesus knew that Peter had the tenacity and the ACTION to get it done, but here He's restoring Peter's love and devotion (see also relationship) with Him after the nasty denial episode.

Again, interestingly enough, Peter will now get his wish to follow Christ even to death as Jesus predicts that Peter will also die via crucifixion.  Jesus is allowing Peter to truly go where He has gone even after Peter dropped the ball and cajoled a rooster into breaking the serene morning hours with his obnoxious wake-inducing melody.

And even still Peter is comparing himself to John.  He wants to know about John's type of death.  Perhaps because he now feels like he's in the inner circle of relationship again and wants to confirm that all folks in the "in crowd" will suffer and die like that.  Jesus' answer is to again turn the wayward eye of Peter back to Him and not on others.

(Side note:  It's always troubled me that Jesus seems to suggest that John would live to see the end times and the typical "Jesus was just redirecting Peter's attention" explanation never quite cut it.  Thankfully this time reading through the Holy Spirit reminded me that John did in fact see the end times when he wrote the book of Revelation.  Mystery solved.)

John and Peter represent the need for faith and action to work together.  Peter may have had shortcomings and failures but Jesus demonstrated through his story that He is all about restoring broken people by giving them opportunities to learn from their failures and grow closer to Him as a result.

As parents and world-changers in the lives of children, we need to understand that our kids are the same way.  We need to build up both a deep and abiding love of Jesus AND the boldness to act and rock this world to the foundation.  There's a lot to learn from the lives of Peter and John.  

And there are a lot of the Master's sheep to tend and feed.  And if we truly LOVE HIM we will do just that!

Stand With God Or Be Mauled By Bears (The Choice Is Yours!)

Awesome: Elisha has bears maul his mockers!

I am often treated to the following conversation with my daughter Reagan:

"Daddy, I wish you had hair," sighs Reagan as she runs her little hands over my shaved sides of my head.

"Me too, Reagan, me too," I say, remembering what it was like to actually have hair growing on the top of my head.

"Well, you have a little bit of hair," she says, clearly trying to comfort her father.

Reagan doesn't mean anything by it.  She speaks from the naive perspective of a little girl who adores her Daddy, hair or no hair.

However, it's not always that way.

Baldness is one of those things in society that it seems to be cool to make fun of.  Random people you don't know will mock you, or make some joke about the glare off your head.  Even if they don't know you.

So I can relate to Elisha.  I really can.  And to be quite honest with you, dude was awesome.

Pretty early in his ministry he finds himself the victim of anti-bald hate crimes.

Poor Elisha, minding his own bald business as he goes about his way, is greeted by a gang of thugs on his way to Bethel.  It's unclear what (besides rabid anti-bald prejudice) motivated this attack.  Perhaps after a long day serving the Lord Elisha is quite simply tuckered out.  Perhaps he's moving a little slowly.  Maybe "healing the water" took a lot out of Elisha in the previous verses.

For whatever the reason, this gang of ne'er-do-wells come up behind the follicly-challenged prophet on his way to Bethel and begin their mocking in 2 Kings 2:23:

"From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. 'Go on up, you baldhead!' they said. 'Go on up, you baldhead!'"

(For the King James folks, he is referred to as "thou baldhead.")

Now, Elisha the prophet who just healed the water and is on his way to Bethel (translated as "House of God") doesn't turn the other cheek.  He doesn't try to reach out in love to these ruffians.  How does the prophet respond?

His response makes him a hero to bald folks across the world.  In his fierce defense of bald folks all across the globe we find inspiration and comfort.  His bold rebuke of these dastardly anti-bald radicals demonstrates without any question how much God loves baldies.

For after being mocked as a "baldhead" by these agents of evil, 2 Kings 2:24-25 tells us that:

"He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths. And he went on to Mount Carmel and from there returned to Samaria."

He didn't pray for the wayward youth.  He didn't ask God to forgive them for not knowing the glory of bald-headed people.  He called in the name of the Lord and two bears came out of the woods and "mauled" 42 of them to pieces.

Mauled to death by divinely guided bears.  Now that's awesome.

And even more awesome is the following line whereby he just continues on his way like nothing ever happened.  So he calls two bears to maul 42 hooligans to death in the name of the Lord and then just turns around and continues on his way to Mount Carmel.

Mount Carmel, interestingly, is where his predecessor Elijah had the big showdown with the prophets of Baal where fire came down from heaven to consume the offering made to God by Elijah in one of the most awesome displays of God's power recorded in history.

It would be a cool place to visit in their day.  A reminder of how powerful God was and how awesomely he could rout his/your enemies.

So in my mind, Elisha went up to Mount Carmel and said "who's bald now, punks?  Yeah, that's what I thought!"

Although this story is awesome, it is a comfort to know how powerfully God fights for us.  This is why the scriptures always tell us to "be still" in knowing that He is God.  (Or perhaps be still to not draw attention to yourself while in the presence of blood-thirsty bears.)

It is this same power and protection of God that Moses chided the whimpering Israelites about right before the parting of the Red Sea.  Confronted with the advancing Egyptian army, the Israelites had already begun murmuring, whining, and sniveling about how God was going to let them die in the desert and how they should have stayed being slaves instead.  Moses, however, commanded them to stand firm and see the deliverance that God would bring to them today.  Those scary Egyptians advancing on you, you won't see again, he promised.

And then they were devoured by the crashing down of the Red Sea and the Israelites were safe and sound on the other side.

Elisha surely smirked as he probably thought to himself "stand firm and these anti-bald radicals that taunt you will be silenced by blood-thirsty bears."

The bottom line is that you have before you this day a choice between life and death.  You can stand with God or be mauled by bears.  The choice is yours.

Of God and Volleyballs

It's your volleyballs Lord that lead to repentence...

Recently, I read through that action-packed romp through the wilderness that Moses and the gang went on after the Exodus.

In Numbers 12, Aaron and Miriam are doing what a lot of leaders do--trashing their superior. Instead of remaining in awe of God's deliverance for the Israelites or humbled by their inclusion in the high honor of leading God's people, they decided to trash Moses out of petty jealousy.

Then Miriam gets leprosy.  For some reason Aaron is spared from this.  Only Miriam is punished.  Perhaps it was out of sympathy for Aaron who had previously witnessed two of his sons devoured by fire after disrespecting the Lord.

While we don't see unruly kids incinerated in church anymore, and often don't find the church gossip consumed with a flesh-eating disease right in the midst of a juicy update, the Bible still warns us today that God will not be mocked.

When I was in high school, I was able to witness a modern day smack-down.  In gym class.

First of all, it should be stated clearly that gym class was not a favorite part of my day.  What with all of the running and sit-ups involved.

And don't get me started about the female gym teacher that made us do Paula Abdul aerobics and encouraged even the boys in the class to do push-ups on account of the "cleavage" it would help create.

But on this particular day, gym class rocked my world.

We were playing indoor volleyball (in a rare break from the Paula Abdul aerobics) and I was fortunate to be in a class with a rather portly mean girl that we will call Lindsay Lohan (LiLo for short) in order to avoid the sin of gossip.  

LiLo was mean.  She was large.  She was intimidating.  She even had a gang of gargantuan women who were all rejects from society.  Many of these "ladies" had mustaches, beards, and other unsitely blemishes gracing the surface of their faces.  Each member of the gang was frightening in her own right, but they all submitted to the menacing authority of LiLo.  

On this day, LiLo was ruling the volleyball court through her usual brutality and gang-related violence.  Then it happened.  The most amazing display of modern day smiting the Lord has ever shown me.

A volleyball careened across the gym at lightning speed towards the face of LiLo.  

All of the folks present froze and every eye was on the Amazonian gang leader. 

It was as if time and space had frozen in place and the previously chaotic insanity that is a high school gym class transformed into one long pregnant pause.

The ball had been travelling across the gym at an impressive height and began its descent at exactly the right time and angle so as to converge with LiLo's face perfectly.

The ball literally slammed directly into her face with such precision it was as if the finger of God was poking her eyes out in a moment of holy fire.

The ball didn't sorta hit part of her face.  It hit her face with such force that the ball bounced off of LiLo's face and raced back across the gym from whence it came.

I can only guess as to the reason why this mysterious volleyball chose LiLo out of the lot of us to hit in the face.  Perhaps she didn't offer the proper sacrifice.  Maybe she complained about the manna or quail. For whatever reason, LiLo's face was chosen as the bullseye for the volleyball from afar.

LiLo, of course, was not pleased.  A volleyball had questioned her absolute supremacy of the gym class and this could not stand.

And in that moment every member of her gang exploded into such hysterical laughter that no gym could contain the merriment.

Soon all of us were overtaken with such a fit of laughter that it was nearly impossible to breathe.  Vomiting and fits of asthma soon overtook many of my classmates.  There were some reports of peed pants.

LiLo began shouting and berating her gang to silence their insolent laughter and submit to her authority immediately.

It was a moment that some 15 years later continues to make me giggle.

Apparently, sometimes God needs to take us down a peg or two to get us under control.

I'm not sure that any of us will be consumed in fire like Aaron's kids or struck down with leprosy like Miriam.  I am certain, however, that many of us need to be.

Pastor Jesse Eisenhart at True North recently gave a message about character.  He made the point that our circumstances don't magically create our character out of nothing.  Daniel, he argued, was already a man of prayer and integrity before he went into captivity.  While circumstances are often used to further develop our character, they are more powerful in revealing our character as it is.

God probably isn't going to slam you in the face with a volleyball.  Then again, He might.  He does, however, do a lot of things in your everyday life that are meant to grow your faith and get your attention.

We shouldn't let ourselves get to the point of Miriam or LiLo.  As a Christian, it is so easy to continually compare yourself to others and take pride in your absolute supremacy over the folks around you in terms of spiritual growth.  That was LiLo's downfall.

Being a follower of Christ means remaining teachable and humble.  When circumstances drop into our lives like out-of-control volleyballs, it really is best to follow the Moses model.

After God intended to wipe out the Israelites, Moses interceded on their behalf with such sincerity and passion that God spared them.  This was a lesson Aaron learned after the fiery deaths of two of his sons. During their incineration, he said nothing.  After he noticed Miriam's leprosy, however, Aaron begged and pleaded for forgiveness from God.

A volleyball to the face can simply be a funny way of breaking your nose.  Or it can get your attention and lead toward spiritual growth.

The choice is yours.  Don't be another LiLo.

God Don't Make No Junk...Except Stink Bugs

Stink Bugs are the latest army of Satan...

In New Jersey, where this food-loving Christ-follower calls home, we are being over-run by stink bugs.

They are disgusting and clearly minions of satan sent on a mission to destroy mankind.

As I type this, one such dastardly evil-doer is eying me up from the window pane.

He's probably communicating with the prince of darkness right now about how he's going to dive-bomb me or squirt some of his gross stinky slime at me.  That's their way.  Knowing neither God nor mercy, these evil creatures seek to steal, kill, stink and destroy.  And if they can't do that, they'll creep the poop out of you and make you and your house stink so badly that your friends will abandon you and your whole social standing will be reduced to nothing but a steaming pile of horse manure.

Mr. Peanut: evil incarnate 

 Not since my childhood when I was scared out of my wits by the maniacal Mr. Peanut on the boardwalk have I encountered such pure unadulterated evil in one place.

That's right, I just said Mr. Peanut is evil.  Why do you think so many kids today suffer from peanut allergies?  He's a maniacal villain wearing a monocle, top hat and cane, but don't let that facade lull you into complacency.  Peanuts are not supposed to walk around and talk to people.  Make no mistake, he's evil run amok and his peanut allergy strategy is just the first stage in his plan for world domination.

Anyway, back to the evil stink bugs...

What was God thinking when he created these things?

"I know, I will create a gross thing that has an armor-like shell and swarms into unsuspecting people's houses.  It will dive-bomb them and attack their faces when it is annoyed and it will squirt gross stinky slime that will not only stink up the area but call more of his friends to join him.  That's a great idea."

In fact, so against this satan-led stink bug menace am I that I am prepared to amend the beloved church and Sunday School catch phrase of "God don't make no junk" (which already causes this English teacher to cringe at the grammar) to a more appropriate "God don't make no junk...except stink bugs."

As swarms of these forces of evil have descended upon our house this year, I am actually thinking about Egypt.

Remember Pharaoh and Moses?  Moses was used by God to unleash all those nasty plagues and yet Pharaoh continued to have a "hard heart" and not let the Israelites go.

Wow.  I don't think that it really dawned on me how hard the heart of Pharaoh must have been until I had to vacuum up or kill over 100 stink bugs per day that had invaded my kitchen and bedroom.

Take your pick: frogs, flies or locusts, they are all nasty.  I could probably deal with frogs more because they are not so scary or gross.  Annoying to have to step over in the morning and probably messy when you accidently do step on them, but I will give my man Pharaoh the benefit of the doubt and say that many people would have hung in there with the frog plague.

The flies and locusts not so much.  Bugs are gross and nasty.  They are so nasty, in fact, that they have even curbed my appetite.  I mean I'm wasting away to nothing here because of stink bugs.

Wait, maybe that's not such a bad idea.

Anyway, after experiencing the joy of stink bugs, I'm kinda thinking that if I'm Pharaoh, about the first appearance of locusts and I'm saying "Moses, take your peeps and head on out.  I'm done, yo."

That he could be overtaken by such nasty bug infestations and still oppose God gives me a new insight into what having a "hard heart" means.

And the sad thing is that there are a lot of folks out there in the world who also have the heart condition of Pharaoh.

Pharaoh said in Exodus 5:2, "Who is the LORD, that I should obey him and let Israel go?  I do not know the LORD and I will not let Israel go."  

Pharaoh's heart was hardened because he didn't know the Lord.  (Also because God said he would harden his heart!)  His distance and indifference towards the one true God led him down the path towards heart-hardening.  It's a well-worn and rather wide path that many in history have walked towards their own destruction.

His response when confronted with the power of God was to fight and rebel against it.  As was the response in the Garden of Eden, in the days of the prophets, in Jesus' day, in the days of the apostles, and even today.  We grown-up know-it-alls don't like to be told what to do and we certainly don't like relying on others.  Perhaps that's why Jesus dug kids so much.

That's why many men in particular don't ask for directions.  A problem that you would think would have been ended in the age of GPS, and yet, I find myself strangely drawn to going a different way than the GPS indicates because I am convinced it is wrong with all it's high-tech fancy pants satellites and such.  I know where I'm going thank you!

It's also why so many fans of food like myself enjoy all-you-can-eat buffets.  We don't have to rely on the waiter or waitress to bring our food, and we can take as much as we like.  We don't like relying on skinny waiters or waitresses because they might not bring us enough and/or might judge us when we ask for 2nd dinner, and yet we fear the fat ones because we think they might be eating off our plates on the way out.

You have to be pretty dead-set against God, however, to put up with a plague of locusts and not freak out and give in.

If only we could use our rebellious energy in a better way, to rebel against evil in our world (as evidenced by the previously mentioned Mr. Peanut and Stink Bugs but also in the works of Satan and his other minions) instead of God.

A lot of us Christian folks are familiar with the verse that we should "be still and know that I am God" from Psalm 46:10.  We like to quote it to others while not applying it to our lives.  We like to cling to it only when we really have no other option but to sit still, having exhausted all of our own plans and courses of action.

Moses and the Israelites were commanded that as well.  After leaving the Egypt, they were chased by Pharaoh's army.  They began to lose heart.  Moses commanded "Stand firm and you will see the deliverance that the Lord will bring you today," in Exodus 14:13.  It's one of my favorite portions of scripture because I love Moses, and being a rather creative and dramatic chap, I can imagine in my mind what the scene must have looked like (usually while I eat a bowl of ice cream).

I see the Israelites cowering in fear, much like my family as the nasty stink bug army infiltrates our house.  I see the menacing stink bugs, er, Egyptian army, racing toward them, and then I see Moses.  He's all cool, calm and collected.  This man just really never got rattled.  Okay, maybe at the burning bush he was a nervous Nelly and he eventually hit that rock and was banned from the promised land, but dude put up with a lot from those Israelites.  How many times did he save them from being wiped out by a disappointed God?  He'd come back from a one-on-one session with God and they'd be dancing around a golden calf like idiots.  Even his brother Aaron would just claim that he had no idea how it happened, that the people were mean and scary and that a cow just came out of the gold on it's own.

Me?  I would have been so done with these folks long before the hitting of the rock.  Not Moses.  He started out as a chattering coward, but by Exodus 14, he was a man of confidence.  Confidence not in himself, but in God.

I see the wind blowing his hair and him standing and shouting this exhortation to the folks as he reminds them that God will do the fighting for them.

So to me, this is one of those pivotal moments in mankind's history where God intervened directly in the affairs of men to show his power and his deliverance.

It's enough to melt a heart, even one hardened by years of opposition to God.

So, while I'm still standing and waiting to see the Lord deliver me from stink bugs, at least I can look at those nasty things and be reminded about how hard the hearts of some folks are and how powerful my God is.

I think if I can remember that, I might just be about my Father's business a little bit more killing the "stink bugs" of the enemy with the word of truth.

And, at the very least, now I have a good opening line for my arrival in heaven when I get to see God face to face: "Dude, what were you thinking when you created stink bugs?"