April 29 The Dirty Hand Won

April 29

The Dirty Hand Won

1Ti 6:20 O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: 

Within 14 days of being forced into an insane asylum he would be dead. The official records said he caught an infection from a cut on his hand. Unofficially the cause of death was the guards beating him bloody. Either way he died from a septicaernia infection.

The tragic thing is he was not insane, but people thought his extreme medical methods were so outrageous they had to be the work of an insane man. Who was he and what did he do?

Ignaz Semmelweis was a doctor in early 1800. He worked in the Allegemeine Krakenhaus (hospital) in Vienna. Women who were maternity patients died at a disturbing rate. In April, 57 women died. Dr Semmelweis had seen a pattern and thought he knew why so many women died.

When a woman died she was wheeled into the autopsy room. Each morning the Dr.’s and their students examined the women who had died and then went to the maternity ward and did pelvic exams. No one bothered to wash their hands.

Dr. Semmelweis was in charge of the ward and set up a policy that the Dr.’s and students all had to wash their hands after the autopsy exams. The death rate fell into single digits.

But then one day 11 of 12 women in a row died. Semmelweis surmised that something had been spread between the living women and then required Dr.’s to wash their hands after every patient.

That was way too much for the staff to put up with. They complained long and loud and Dr. Semmelweis was removed from the hospital. So he went back to Budapest, his home and finally found a job in the hospital there.

Again the death rate was similar to hospitals throughout Europe.  One in six women died. His hand washing policy had the same results as in Vienna. It worked and he was scorned.

So he decided to write a book and explain why hand washing was so essential. Now Dr.’s in hospital all over were upset with him. Frustrated and haunted by so many unnecessary deaths he began writing letters, which grew angrier and called hospital and Dr.’s murderers. Finally even his family concluded he was insane and had him committed.

But Moses would not have thought he was nuts. Washing your hands after dealing with dead people was a Biblical requirement nearly 4000 years before Dr. Semmerweis.   

Nu 19:11  He that toucheth the dead body of any man

shall be unclean seven days. 

Nu 19:22 And whatsoever the unclean person

toucheth shall be unclean; and the soul that

toucheth it shall be unclean until even. 

Nu 19:19 …and on the seventh day he shall purify

himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself

in water, and shall be clean at even.

In the book of Leviticus it mentions using running water for washing.

Le 15:13 And when he that hath an issue is cleansed

of his issue; then he shall number to himself seven

days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes,

and bathe his flesh in running water, and shall be clean.

If you browse through Numbers 19 and Leviticus 15 you will see some effective ways to stop the spread of germs. But the science of 1800 did not recognize germs. It would be several years until Louis Pasteur was able to develop a scientific proof that things called germs actually existed. Even then his “Germ Theory” was not universally understood or accepted. It was applied in some cases and not others.

As late as 1910 efforts to get New York City child care workers to wash their hands resulted in Dr.’s complaining to the Mayor that such practices would ruin medicine by keeping too many babies well!

Have we learned anything yet?  The New England Journal of Medicine did a study of intensive care units and found in spite of continual training and oversight hand washing rates was as low as 30% and never exceeded 48%.

Ro 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise,

they became fools,

Our meditation for today is not about hand washing! All the above is to show how the foolishness of men is nearly incurable. The Bible contains some information which modern science is still learning. Some of the material in our meditation for today came from Dr. S I McMillen’s book “None of these Diseases”.

Today let us be thankful for our Bible. Even in something like hand washing, the bible is accurate, beyond the knowledge of those who were recording the Word of God. How else can you explain all the prophecies, and scientific knowledge the Bible contains. No man could have foreseen such things, or understood things so contrary to the culture and knowledge of the time that God spoke to them.  

A second meditation for today is why are men so slow to accept the truth when it is presented to them? Even unsaved people could profit by following the wisdom in Proverbs.

Our world desperately needs to heed the scriptures. Not just in practical matters but in spiritual as well. May our lives be the example that helps the spiritually blind to see.

2Ti 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

April 28 Mistakes Live On

April 27

Mistakes Live On

2Ch 18:1  Now Jehoshaphat had riches and

 honour in abundance, and joined affinity with Ahab.

 “Antonio, I gotta dis funny feeling, you know!”

“Ok Ok, tell me whatsa bothering you, Vinny”

The construction crew the church had hired were aware something was not right. The problem was apparent by the time they were working on the second story. There had been two crucial mistakes made. First the foundation was only 9 feet thick and secondly the ground on one side was too soft.

The conversation above occurred 842 years ago. The mistakes that were made have lasted for centuries and are well known to the millions who visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa every year.

 

Fortunately most of our mistakes die with us. But some outlive us and impact future generations. Harry Firestone accidently dropped a rubber compound on a hot stove and discovered how to vulcanize rubber, which resulted in his making a fortune in the tire business. We still benefit from his mistake.

Unfortunately most mistakes do not end as well as Harry’s did. The U S Supreme Court has made some tragic mistakes. Roe v. Wade has resulted in millions of abortions, which continue to today.

Today I want to talk about how some bad decisions can last longer than we do. It is bad enough that we suffer from some mistakes we make, but even worse when our mistakes create problems for people when we are gone. A perfect example of long term consequences for a mistake is found in the story of Jehoshaphat and his buddy Ahab.

Our somewhat cryptic opening verse mentions the relationship between Jehoshaphat and Ahab. Who were these guys? Well they were both kings. Ahab was king of Israel, after the kingdom was divided. Jehoshaphat was King of Judah.

If you recall some Bible history you know there was never a good king in Israel. But Ahab was not your run of the mill bad king. He was exceptional.

1Ki 16:30 And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the

sight of the LORD above all that were before him.

He was the worst of the bad. He was an idol worshipping, murdering creep of a king.

Now Jehoshaphat on the other hand was an OK kind of king of Judah, which had some great kings and some duds as well. 

2Ch 17:3 And the LORD was with Jehoshaphat,

because he walked in the first ways of his

father David, and sought not unto Baalim;

So why would a good king who followed the Lord want to be friends with a super evil king like Ahab? I have no idea. But they were friends. You might want to read about him starting about 2 Chronicles 18. Jehoshaphat decided to go see his buddy Ahab. Ahab prepared a big barbecue party and invited Jehoshaphat to join him in going into battle against their mutual enemy, the Syrians. Ahab was killed in the battle and Jehoshaphat narrowly escaped.

Did Jehoshaphat learn his lesson? No! Next he joined Ahab’s son in a boat building venture.

2Ch 20:35 And after this did Jehoshaphat king of Judah

join himself with Ahaziah king of Israel, who did very wickedly: 2Ch 20:36 And he joined himself with

him to make ships to go to Tarshish:

Ahaziah was Ahab’s son. God sent a storm and all the ships were wrecked on their maiden voyage.

Eventually Jehoshaphat died, and his son, Jehoram, became king. And that should have ended the mistakes that Jehosaphat had made being buddies with wicked Kings from Israel. But it didn’t.  

The continuing problem was that Jehoshaphat must have taken some of his sons with him when he spent time with Ahab. That resulted in the marriage of his son, Jehoram, to Ahab’s daughter, Athaliah. So how is that a problem?

2Ch 21:6 And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, like as did the house of Ahab: for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife: and he wrought that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD.

Jehoram, the king of Judah, became as bad as the kings of Israel. The mention of his marriage to Ahab’s daughter is not just some trivia to satisfy our curiosity. It explains how the son of a pretty good king turns out to be a jerk. His wife is the daughter of Ahab. And who was Ahab married to; Jezebel, the foulest woman in scripture.

You can read the story for all the details, but the high lights are as follows. Jehoram probably listened to his wife and killed all his brothers so he would not have to worry about some coup.

2Ch 21:4 Now when Jehoram was risen up to the

kingdom of his father, he strengthened himself,

and slew all his brethren with the sword, …

Jehoram was so bad God finally killed him slowly with an incurable disease.

2Ch 21:15 And thou shalt have great sickness by

disease of thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out by

reason of the sickness day by day

So his son Ahaziah becomes king. When Ahaziah is killed one of his sons would become king, except for one little problem. Their grandma had all her grandchildren killed (except one) so she could take over and reign in Judah. She actually did reign for six years! 

2Ch 22:10 ¶ But when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah.

Those were her grandchildren. What else would you expect from a daughter of Jezebel?

There are more twists and turns in the story, but the main point is Jehoshaphat started the whole thing by being friends with someone he should not have been hanging around with.

Decisions we make today may live beyond us. Most of us are willing to suffer for our own mistakes. Few of us want our mistakes to continue to following generations. But they often do. Spiritual mistakes usually do. Let us learn to avoid spiritual mistakes so children and grandchildren do not suffer because of our sins of omission or commission. Selah!

Ex 20:5 …visiting the iniquity of the fathers

upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

April 27 What's in Your Dash

April 27

What’s in Your Dash

Ec 3:1 To every thing there is a season,

and a time to every purpose under the heaven: 

Springtime is wonderful. Flowers are blooming and the new grass is growing and everything looks so fresh and clean. I especially love the bushes that grow wild and have such a display of white and pink flowers. Such beautiful and delicate flowers unfortunately are gone much too soon. I wish they could stay for weeks, but that is not how those bushes were designed to grow.

Springtime brings on school graduations, with idealistic students completing some phase of their educations with dreams, hopes and expectations about their future.

The television is running ads for bridal shop open houses as weddings are planned and brides to be have so many decisions to make. What kind of dress? Who will be bridesmaids, flowers, cake, invitations, etc etc. Mothers and daughters are lost in a frenzy of activity planning the perfect wedding, for the most beautiful bride ever.

There is a 50^th wedding anniversary we will be attending for some good friends we have known for almost all 50 years of their marriage. It seems but a short time ago we were all young marrieds and now we are old marrieds.

It reminds me of a popular song from a few decades back, “Turn Turn Turn” written by Pete Seeger and popularized by the Byrds.  It was essentially some verses from the 3^rd Chapter of Ecclesiastes.

Ec 3:2 A time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

 3 A time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

 4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

Stop!  Is there a purpose to this meditation? Or have I slipped into melancholia? OK, perhaps I need to explain what is on my mind today.

Life is short. It flies away like dust in the wind. One moment it is all in the future and the next it seems to be all in the past.  

I was recently doing some genealogy research in a cemetery and was wishing I had been able to talk to the people who were now represented by only a cold slab of granite which provided only the barest information. It gave their name, then a birth year and the year they died. But I was most interested in one other piece of information nearly every tombstone contains. The “dash”  (-) as in 1925 – 1990.  That dash represents everything they did between birth and death. Their childhood, graduation, marriage, raising their family, their jobs, where they lived and how they spent their golden years.

So the meditation for today is “What will be in your dash?”  Will it be only you were born and died?  Somewhere and sometime I heard a haunting quotation.

“Were we put here only to gather a few sticks and then fly away?”

But fortunately the dash of a tombstone is not the most important record of our lives. Paul mentions it in the book of Philippians.

Php 4:3 And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life.

We find that phrase Book of Life several times in the book of Revelation.  The first mention is when Christ is speaking about the seven churches and came to Sardis where He said;

Re 3:4 Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. 5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

The most important thing you can do is to ensure your name is written in the Lamb’s book of Life.

Re 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great,

stand before God; and the books were opened:

and another book was opened, which is the book of life..

Our devotion for today is to think on the dash and reflect on how quickly life slips away. Most people who read this will have accepted Christ as their Savior and their names are written in the book of life. But beyond that we should stir ourselves to get busy with what we want to accomplish spiritually for Christ. What spiritual goals do you have that you have not yet accomplished?  What things are in your “spiritual bucket list”? Read through the Bible in a year? Memorize the books of the Bible? Memorize some portion of scripture? Study to show thyself approved? Tell someone close to you about their need of Christ? What? 

     Please do not tell me you have no spiritual goals, plans or aspirations! Let this be a reminder that you have only today. Tomorrow is but a hope, not a promise. Do not pile all your spiritual goals on tomorrow and hope you get them done. The old saying is still true.

“Only what’s done for Christ will last”  Ok I will stop nagging. But we all need a little nudge from time to time. Now instead of walking around singing “Turn, turn, turn”,  think on these things.

1Pe 1:24  For all flesh is as grass,

and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.

The grass withereth,

and the flower thereof falleth away.

April 26 The God of Love

April 26

The God of Love

Yesterday we thought about the God of Hate. Today we will look at another attribute of God. His great love.

Now where do we go to find a way to express the love God.  Nature will not reveal it. We may marvel at some fantastic natural scene, and understand there must have been a creator, but it does not translate into love for us. We can look into the heavens and wonder at the magnitude of the universe. How many stars are there? How far does space go? How did it all get there? But while we are overcome with the immensity and mystery of space and the stars they give us no clue that He who designed the Cosmos has any feelings for those who dwell on this small planet on the outer fringe of the milky way.

As far as I know there are only two places that can give us any clue that God is a God of Love. The first is in the Bible.

2Co 13:11 ¶ Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.

Here we find the phrase the God of Love.

In 1 John 4:8 and 4:16 the scriptures tell us “God is Love” and in 13 other scriptures we find the phrase Love of God.

But what is this love of God. How do we weigh it, measure it or otherwise quantify something so immense, so far beyond anything we can comprehend.

Since it is beyond our comprehension we need some examples or comparisons. When I was a kid I loved cotton candy. Now I love to take naps. Maybe God’s love is sort of like that?  Oh dear, what a sorry comparison. Ok, think of the thing in this world that you love the most. Nope, God’s love is way beyond anything we can understand. It is in fact incomprehensible. The song writer said it well.

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
  And were the skies of parchment made;
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
  And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
  Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
  Though stretched from sky to sky.

OK let’s try explaining it another way. What evidence is there that God is Love?  It may sound simplistic but I think John 3:16 is one of the best proofs of the love of God.

Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Can you explain what kind of love that is? Neither can I.

Here is another example of love in action.

Php 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross

That is a powerful example of God’s love in action.  

1Jo 4:16 And we have known and believed the love

that God hath to us. God is love…

It is a wonderful verse but I still cannot find the words to describe the Love of God. OK here are some more verses. Maybe they will help.

1Jo 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 

This verse helps. Here we see that God loved us. Then we are given something we can sort of understand, that He sent His son to take our place and pay our sin debt.  On second thought I cannot get my puny brain around that kind of love either.  

1Jo 3:16 Hereby perceive we the love of God,

because he laid down his life for us:

Once again there is a link between God’s love and sending his Son to lay down His life for us. There are a multitude of verses that connect God’s love and Christ’s redeeming work on Calvary.  The Bible explains how we can appreciate God’s love more than we do now.

1Jo 4:9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world…

Yes, I think I finally get it. The proof of God’s love is that he sent Christ to provide a way for sinful and imperfect man to have full fellowship with a Holy God. Christ came to take our place, pay our sin debt and give us his righteousness. Now if that does not demonstrate that God is Love then I don’t know what would.

The Scriptures are filled with the ways God has shown his love. His longsuffering nature is due to His love and His “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”  (2Pe 3:9)

Earlier I mentioned there were two places, or ways that we could get a glimpse of the great love “wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” (Eph 1:6)  We have barely scratched the surface of all that the Bible says and demonstrates about the God of Love.

But there is a second way we may know the love of God experientially. The Holy Spirit that indwells us bears witness to the love of God.

Ro 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit,

that we are the children of God:

Those of us who have accepted Christ as our personal Savior have the Holy Spirit indwelling us. What an example of the abiding love of God. Christ said “the comforter” would come, and so He has.

If by chance you are reading this and do not know how to be saved, “Born Again” please leave a comment with some way for me to contact you. Or go to a Bible preaching church and ask someone there how you can receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior.  

If you do not know Christ then you will know nothing of the Love of God. The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the greatest example of the Love of God. The Holy Spirit is the indwelling confirmation of God’s love.

Our meditation for the day is to dwell on the Love of God to us. Let us look for examples of His love in our lives today. Let us be joyful and thankful that we are the recipients of such an inexpressible kind of love. Then let us be double happy that nothing can separate us from the love of God.

Ro 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.