Christian Counseling Service -- Devotions

Of mice and men

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Zephaniah 3:1-13
Woe to the city, rebellious and polluted, to the tyrannical city! She hears no voice, accepts no correction; in the Lord she has not trusted, to her God she has not drawn near ... I will leave as a remnant in your midst a people humble and lowly ... they shall pasture and couch their flocks with none to disturb them.

The Lord hears the cry of the poor. And there are poor everywhere, in the city and the country.

In God Is in the Manger, Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Advent sermons return again and again to Jesus taking on our guilt in his sinlessness. Neither can we be satisfied with our personal freedom from the guilt of sin. We too must take on the guilt of others.

There is a pendulum in my life, and I swing from one side to the other. On the one side is the freedom of forgiveness. "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free" (Galatians 5:1). On the other side is staining, remorseless, personal guilt because I continue sinning. "O wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death" (Romans 7:24)?

Can I get off that pendulum? Those violent swings slowly kill me; they take all my energy and then I fail to join in the suffering prayer of Jesus for the sins of the world. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.

We are country mice or city mice; we are from red counties or blue counties. But we are all rebellious and polluted, and Jesus insists that we accept his forgiveness, get over our own personal guilt and start praying for each other.

Zephaniah's picture of pastoral holiness draws me in, as I put out new bedding for our chickens. I remember Dad's consistent cows, which he milked every day at 5 am and 5 pm. That's 730 times a year. Dad was a humble man, quiet, beautiful smile. Was he humble because he milked the cows, or did he milk the cows because he was humble?

I never bought the dream of dairy farming. When I was sixteen Dad's cows went out the door at a public auction. He was busy that day, but I imagine him in tears before and after all the crowds came and bought him out.

My happiest day, his saddest. I have to think he was the humble one, and I ... well, I was ambitious for what seemed right to me. In other words, rebellious and polluted and not quite touched by grace.

But Dad would have seen himself the same way. Selfish, tyrannical ... and perhaps he was. But seeing himself as he is ... that's the nature of humility. It allowed him to fall on his face and ask forgiveness. More than anything, that's what I learned from him.

Let me learn from my father and mother, Lord, and bless the Lord at all times. Let your praise always be in my mouth, and let my soul glory in you and be glad.

Devotions Archive

Of mice and men

Tuesday, December 13, 2016