“Three Lawyers in Conversation” by Honore Daumier (PD-ArtlPD-old-100)
“Talk no more so very proudly; let no arrogance come from your mouth, for the Lord is the God of knowledge; and by Him actions are weighed” (1 Sam. 2: 3).
In case you have not noticed, we lawyers have a tendency toward arrogance. The trait is not what anyone would call Christian, and does not exactly endear us to others.
Oh, arrogance has its uses. Arrogance can intimidate those who believe the sight of a chest being pounded signifies strength. Sometimes we pound our chests to convince ourselves of that very thing.
Arrogance may be employed defensibly, as armor against the barrage of barbs, disappointments, and failures we must be prepared to endure, in the hope of ultimate success on behalf of our clients. The world, by contrast, views hope as an emotion not worth acknowledging. Hope might imply weakness, because it admits of the possibility of defeat. Defeats bounce off arrogance; they can be blamed on circumstances or the errors of subordinates – though, deep down, we know the truth. Read more…
Golden Gate through which it is said the Messiah will return, Source https://www.flickr.com, Author Chadica (CC Attribution 2.0 Generic)
A legend from the Talmud:
Rabbi Yoshua ben Levi came upon Elijah, and asked the great prophet when the Messiah would at last come. “Go and ask Him yourself,” Elijah replied. Astonished, the rabbi then asked where the Messiah was to be found.
“Sitting at the gates of the city, among the poor and covered with wounds,” Elijah replied.
Sure enough, Rabbi Yoshua found the Messiah sitting among the poor at the gates of the city. After some hesitation, the rabbi inquired respectfully, “When is the Master coming?” “Today,” the Messiah responded.
Disappointed, Rabbi Yoshua returned to Elijah, who asked why he appeared so dejected. “The Messiah deceived me,” responded the rabbi, “for He said, ‘Today I am coming’ and He has not come.” Elijah gently corrected the rabbi, “This is what He told you: today if you would listen to His voice.”
Today He stands at the gate to our hearts. Today He knocks and seeks entry. Today we are invited to join in His supper. Today we are called to follow in His footsteps.
“Today, if you will hear His voice: ‘Do not harden your hearts…’” (Ps. 95: 7-8).
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse
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European Chemical Bureau’s Hazard Symbol for Toxic and Highly Toxic Substances
“Their wine is the poison of serpents, and the cruel venom of cobras” (Deut. 32: 33).
In Takhar province, Afghanistan, 160 school girls were poisoned this week. A puzzling headline, hardly a blip on the screen. But this is not the first instance of such poisoning. Last week, more than 120 school girls were hospitalized in another poisoning incident. In April, over 170 women and girls were poisoned by well water at a school. There have been other incidents in the past several years.
Under the Taliban’s rule from 1996-2001, few Afghan girls were permitted to attend school. Though the Taliban denies responsibility for these latest poisonings, the prohibition against schooling for women is deeply rooted. Schools have gradually reopened since the US invasion in 2001, but conservative Afghan families frequently prohibit their wives and daughters from pursuing an education. Domestic abuse of women is, also, tolerated with victims blamed for provoking the violence inflicted on them.
Across time and across the globe, women have been harassed, threatened, imprisoned, violated, and put to death for seeking equality with their male counterparts. Read more…
“Christ Crucified” by Diego Velazquez (c. 1632), Prado Museum (Accession No. P01167), Source Web Gallery of Art, (PD-Art, Old-100)
The 18th Century rabbi, Israel ben Eliezer, wrote of suffering:
“Each prayer has its own meaning, and it is, therefore, the specific key to a door in the Divine Palace. But a broken heart is an axe that opens all the gates.”
The sick, the needy, the desperate, the lost; the grieving; the persecuted and imprisoned; the abandoned and alone. These understand suffering.
To the sick and those in pain, Christ is the Great Physician. To those in need, the desperate, and the lost, He is the Way. To the grieving, He is the Man of Sorrows. To the persecuted and imprisoned, He is the Advocate and Counselor. To the abandoned and alone, He is the Beloved.
The source of all comfort, Christ is with us in all trials. None of us is truly abandoned, for He is there. In return, Christ asks that we extend a hand to the lost and less fortunate, that we reach out in love even when we may be rejected.
Christ does not urge us to live cautious lives. Love is not measured with an eyedropper, in safe increments. It is poured out, as balm on the wounds of the world. As His was for us.
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse
https://avoicereclaimed.com
Roman Colosseum, Author Alessandroferri (CC BY-SA 4.0 International)
All of us have experienced prayers denied. How is this to be reconciled with Jesus’ promise, “ ‘[A]sk, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened for you’ ” (Luke 11: 9)?
Doesn’t belief in God guarantee us our legitimate desires? Well, not exactly.
- The first Jewish temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC. The Babylonian Captivity lasted 70 years, and began the Jewish diaspora.
- The second temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. The Arch of Titus still stands in Rome portraying the enslaved Jews and booty from the sack of the temple. Archaeological evidence supports a conclusion that temple treasure funded the building of the Roman Colosseum.
- Devout Christians throughout history have been persecuted and martyred.
- Injustice persists to the present day. Any attorney, anywhere, has come in contact with it.
On the surface, these events would appear to contradict the promise of answered prayer. Jesus, Himself, in the garden of Gethsemane asked that the cup be taken away.
“He …fell on His face, and prayed, saying, ‘O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will’ ” (Matt. 26: 39).
Those last eight words are key. God’s will is always paramount. That is not merely a reflection of His supreme power, but His supreme righteousness. And God’s purposes may not be our own. Read more…
“Early Morning After a Storm at Sea” by Winslow Homer, Source/Photographer Wmpearl (Licensed-PD-Art)
Fishing is a hard and dangerous way to make a living. Storms can come up quickly. Ice can form on rigging, and winds blow a man overboard.
Strange that the Lord would have called us to be “fishers of men” (Matt. 4: 19). Why subject us to such hardship and toil? For the sake of an invaluable “catch” with the process, all the while, conforming us to His image.
Again and again, we face storms. Sometimes these teach us new lessons; other times, they test our mettle to assure that old lessons are firmly in place. We re-learn over and over to lean on the Lord.
“He divided the sea and caused them to pass through…” (Ps. 78: 13).
Lord God, Your power is beyond imagining. You govern the storms in our lives, but are greater than they by far.
Increase our awareness of Your presence, as we ride out those storms. Strengthen our hearts that we may endure them.
In Your mercy, make a way for us where there was none.
Amen
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse
https://avoicereclaimed.com
“The Storm on the Sea of Galilee” by Rembrandt (c. 1633), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (PD-Art l Art-Old-100)
Many have endured God’s silence.
At Genesis 15: 13 God tells Abraham that his descendants will serve in a land not their own and be afflicted for 400 years. While there is some dispute over the actual length of the Egyptian captivity, we can be sure that the Israelites prayed daily for relief. Yet generations were born, grew old, and died without a deliverer in sight.
Another 400 years during which God was silent passed between the Old and New Testaments.
At times, God’s silence is a response to sin on our part. God’s silence does not, however, imply His absence. That is the lesson His silence teaches us.
The process by which our faith is strengthened is painful. We can hear the anguish in psalms like the following:
“Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry; do not be silent at my tears…” (Ps. 39: 12).
“Do not keep silent, O God! Do not hold Your peace, and do not be still, O God! For behold, Your enemies make a tumult; and those who hate You have lifted up their head…” (Ps. 83: 1-2). Read more…
Sunrise in Southeast Alaska, Photo by Commander John Bartok, NOAA Corps., Source http://www.flickr.com/photos/noaaphotolib/5055338416/ (CC BY 2.0 Generic)
“If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me” (Ps. 139: 9-10).
Merciful God, too often we seek to flee from Your presence…when the world is too much with us, when temptation beckons, when we know we have failed.
So often these moments follow on the heels of our greatest presumed triumphs.
Despite our many weaknesses, You stand by us – waiting to draw us once again into Your arms. The wonder of this is beyond our understanding.
Hold us fast, Lord God. Never let us go, that we may yet do the work of the kingdom for which You intended us. We ask this in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ.
Amen
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse
https://avoicereclaimed.com
Baby bottles, Author Marianna (CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported)
“For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Heb. 5: 13-14).
Too many Christians are unschooled in their faith. They are, in effect, still babes. Because of this, their faith is not the comfort to them it could be, and not the example to others it should be.
Confronted by the harsh realities of this existence, immature Christians are at first surprised that God has not shielded them from the pain and hardship to which mankind is liable, then angered at having been sold what they view as a bill of goods about Him.
- Surely, Christians are not subject to cancer or plague; do not suffer amputation, blindness or other devastating illness or physical impairment.
- Surely, Christians do not struggle with depression, anxiety or other mental disorders.
- Surely, Christians do not have miscarriages; their children are not born with birth defects, do not die before reaching majority.
- Surely, Christians are never in the path of tornadoes and other natural disasters.
- Surely, they are not involved in auto accidents, plane crashes, and other results of fatal human error.
- Surely, Christians are not the victims of bombings, rapes, and other acts of deliberate violence.
Most Christians would recognize these assumptions as mistaken. Many though would ask why they, themselves, should be subject to any of these trials. “Why me, Lord?” is a familiar refrain. We are so self-important we feel ourselves entitled to call the Lord God Almighty to task. Read more…
“The Return of the Prodigal Son” by Bartolome Esteban Murillo, Source Web Gallery of Art (PD-ArtlPD-old-100)
“You number my wanderings;
Put my tears into Your bottle;
Are they not in Your book?” (Ps. 56:8).
The old hymn “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” was penned by Robert Robinson before the American Revolution. It contains the aching lyric, “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love…”
The Bible speaks again and again of man’s wandering from the throne of God. For having murdered his brother, Cain was made a vagabond on the earth (Gen. 4:12). Hagar was sent to wander in the wilderness by Abraham (Gen. 21:14), at Sarah’s jealous urging (Gen. 21:10). Israel was caused to wander for forty years in the desert, for having offended God by little faith (Num. 32: 13). The Book of Job and Book of Psalms both characterize the wicked as wandering about in search of food (Job 15:23; Ps. 59:15).
Some four thousand years later, this flesh of ours longs to wander still. Read more…
A Lawyer's Prayers 