Rule-breakers and Score-keepers

Generalizations are of course vast over-simplifications. In that spirit, I like to divide the world into two categories, rule-keepers and rule-breakers. Rule-keepers are sticklers about showing up on time for work, giving and needing instructions down to the letter, and apologizing profusely for even the most minor failure to meet their own high standards…….They make great bureaucrats and pharmacists. They are not great at roundabouts; and recipes that call for ‘a dash’ of something, stress them out. Rule-breakers, on the other hand, believe that as long as the work gets done, they don’t really care about being 30 minutes late or working all night. It’s the product that matters. They believe all Stop signs should say “Yield”, and don’t really bother about recipes at all. They make great entrepreneurs and designers.

I have actually found this over-simplification helps me be much more patient with the folks on the other end of the spectrum from me. The world needs all of us, and the tension that we feel when we rub shoulders in close quarters with one another should remind us to value our different perspectives and celebrate that, together, we make the world a better place. Impatience and frustration point out the pride in our own hearts that insists that everyone should see the world the way I see it.

The one trait that we all share to some degree, whether rule-keeper or rule-breaker, is the tendency to be score-keepers. The recovering Pharisee in all of us keeps track of one another’s failure to meet our expectations. That’s why the disciples ask Jesus the ludicrous question: am I only obligated to forgive up to 7 times? I mean seriously, where are we keeping this log of offenses? Jesus’ response is to tell the powerful story of the man who has been forgiven a huge debt, and who then goes out and exacts his pound of flesh from someone else. We find the same self-righteous anger rising up in us as David did, when Nathan the prophet told him the story of the rich man who stole the poor man’s only sheep for a banquet. It’s so easy to see hypocrisy in someone else, but we feel so justified in our own unforgiving, demanding spirit. Our only hope is to burn our scorecards, and confess our pride so that we may extend to one another the love of God, which is patient and kind, is not self-seeking or easily angered, and keeps no record of wrongs. In my experience, this isn’t a once and done event. It’s becoming a way of life to seek clarity about my own prideful heart, which then fuels my willingness to forgive my neighbor.

Blameless

Psalm 18 is one of my favorite psalms. I have recently noticed that David sang this song at least twice: once when he was delivered from the hand of Saul, and once again later, when he was delivered from the hand of all his enemies. 2 Sam 22 is the parallel passage. One small difference that touched my heart was the inclusion of verse 1 in Psalm 18, which does not appear in 2 Sam 22: “I love you, O Lord, my strength”. With no explanation given, we are left to conjecture why David’s heart overflowed with this expression of love. All the answers point to the growing intimacy that David experiences with his Good Shepherd, as his life unfolds.

My point here, though, goes to the passage in the middle of the psalm that I have always found troubling. Does David have a short memory, is he that oblivious to his own failure; or what is going on? How can he truthfully say: “ I was blameless before Him and I kept myself from guilt. So the Lord has rewarded me for my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands.”? Seriously, David..what about Bathsheba and Uriah? The census? If God’s favor toward us is related to our performance, I for one am in a heap of trouble. Very puzzling. You know how you read and read a verse and then one day you really read it? Verses 31 & 32 jumped out at me this week: “Who is God, but the Lord. And who is a rock except our God? The God who equipped me with strength and made my way blameless”. David had such a grasp on the gospel. Hundreds of years beforehand, he foresaw that One stood ready to remove his transgressions as far as the east is from the west. He knew Him as One who does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. (Psalm 103) He ‘got’ that God made Him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

No explanations are given. We are left to conjecture how David understood the mystery of our sin being covered by the Perfect Sacrifice. We are left to treasure the same revelation – it is God who equips us with strength, because He has made our way blameless.

Mornings in February

There are days when I wake up ready to go back to bed again. Worse, there is a tape on loop in my head reminding me what a failure I am, how I seem to do nothing but frustrate people or let them down. In those moments, I can succumb to the accusations, wallow in feeling misunderstood and isolated, or I can (barely) look to Jesus and draw strength to turn from the darkness of half-truths, and towards the light of His truth. Just looking feels like it takes an enormous amount of energy, until I do. Sometimes I have to intentionally look and turn a few times, but soon the weight of hopelessness starts to slide off my back and a spark of light penetrates the darkness. The fog starts to lift, and my soul is cheered. Finding Scripture to cling to helps me greatly in ‘the looking’. This morning there were two verses: “Strengthen me according to your Word” Ps. 119:28 and “The Lord stood with me and strengthened me” II Tim 4:17. Instead of the weight of accusation, I find in these promises the encouragement of welcome and help. He doesn’t reproach us in or for our weakness. He embraces us in our need and offers us His grace, and His strength in exchange for our weakness.

Parallel Universe

I’ve been thinking a lot about David, and his refusal to lift his hand against the Lord’s anointed king, Saul. Was it fear of reprisal, passivity, or unbelief that God really meant for him to be king? If it were me, I would have tried to help God’s will come into being, especially when it appeared that circumstances delivered my enemy into my hand. But David was under orders from another Kingdom. He dared not take matters into his own hands, “but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly”. I Peter 2:23. He was hearing Voices that gave him the secret to this kind of self-control. “For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.” I Peter 2:19-20 He endured and believed in the promises of God, believing that his job was to trust and honor God by respecting Saul. Our job is to trust and honor God by respecting the authorities he has placed in our lives, knowing that ” our Father who sees in secret will reward us.” Matt 6:4