Threads from Henry's Web

Category: Bible Passages

  • Psalm 119:110 – Trap

    Psalm 119:110 – Trap

    The wicked have set a trap for me,
    but I have not veered from your precepts.

    A couple of famous Bible stories come to mind as I read this. The first is Samson and Delilah. Over and over she begs him for the secret of his strength, and each time she invites his enemies to attack. One wonders why Samson never figures out that it isn’t a good idea to tell her. Or perhaps he always knew it wasn’t a good idea, but let himself get led astray.

    The story, as odd as it may seem, deals with human nature. I mention frequently on my computer services blog that computer hacking is rarely like it’s presented in the movies. It’s usually based on human engineering. Early in my business I went to an office to repair a computer. When I got there I was pointed to the computer and the user went into another room. I sat down and got to work. I was nearly done when she got back.

    Suddenly she said, “Oh! I forgot to give you my password!”

    “I’m almost done,” I replied.

    “How?” she asked.

    I pointed at the sticky note on the wall just to the right of her monitor on which the password was prominently written. That surprised her a bit, but did not surprise me. It’s human nature. We talk about wanting security, but what we really want is convenience. We don’t want to go to the trouble of looking up our password in a book or in an encrypted file. So we take a shortcut.

    This leads me to an attack form called an “MFA Fatigue Attack.” When I first heard that name, I immediately loved it. It so speaks to the human nature issue. “MFA” is multi-factor authentication. Many of you will have been pressured to apply MFA to various of your accounts. I sincerely hope you have given in to this pressure, as it’s an important improvement in your security.

    But there’s a trick that the bad guys play, which is to ask you, often in a text, for your MFA code. Most people will ignore this request or refuse it the first time. But if the attacker keeps going, some users will give in from fatigue and send the code. Then the attacker can get into the account.

    This is a perfect example of the sort of thing that could be a trap in your life. You are asked over and over to do something. You know better, but just to get everyone to shut up, you go along. Usually it’s a bad idea. But you do it anyhow.

    The wicked (or just mischievous!) set a trap for you and you did veer from the proper path.

    Sometimes the consequences are severe.

    The other story this immediately reminded me of was Daniel 6, where officials in Babylon set a trap for Daniel. This one is more straightforward. Rather than wearing Daniel down over time, these officials took the head-on approach. They contrived to get a decree that would require Daniel to violate his commitment to his God.

    It’s worth noticing the trap that was set for Darius. That was an oblique attack, leveraging his pride and desire to be thought well of, indeed worshiped, to get him to make a decree that he might otherwise have realized was a bad idea.

    Daniel does not fall into the trap. He sticks to his path. The lions’ dinner is delayed and Daniel freed.

    It’s worth thinking about both kinds of trap. The confrontation that challenges our courage, or the “fatigue” trap which tests our focus and endurance.

    Be alert for all those traps!

    (Featured image credit: Delilah, betrayed Samson by revealing the secret of his strength to the Philistines for money By Daniel. Licensed from Adobe Stock.)

  • Psalm 119:109 – Risky

    Psalm 119:109 – Risky

    My life is in my hands continually,
    yet I do not forget your instruction.

    What I’d like to say, and first thought about saying was that it might be better to say, “My life is in my hands, so I don’t forget that you, God, are in charge.”

    The fact is, however, that we need to remember God’s instruction(s). I want to emphasize, as always, that it is not on the basis of keeping up with God’s instructions that we become part of the family of God. But we have a need to make good decisions at all times, and the time when we are most likely to forget what we have learned from God’s instructions is when we are most at risk.

    This morning, Jody had a problem with her heart. It scared me. I got very tense. I had a hard time making decisions. I forgot to pray. Part of the time I forgot to think. And it wasn’t even one of the worst moments we’ve had over the last few years. Talking to a few people helped me settle down. Praying helped settle me down. (I frequently note that prayer is much more about changing me than about changing my circumstances.)

    Now Jody is fine, though I’m still a bit nervous. But it was precisely during that time when I’m watching numbers related to her health and thinking they’re not going where they’re supposed to that I need to remember God’s instructions.

    Now you may be wondering where in the Bible I find something about how to deal with pulse rates, blood oxygen, blood pressure, and such things. No, there is not a book of “Cardiac Care.” The idea is to find a way of thinking, a way in which I can process problems. I then need to apply that way of thinking to various problems.

    We talk a lot about breaking bad habits. I think we need to talk more about developing good habits. Good habits set you up to do the right thing when the wrong thing happens.

    I recall reading in Jacob Milgrom’s 3 volume (2200 pages!) commentary on Leviticus, that the Torah has clearly been written as a teaching tool. (I paraphrase from memory.) I didn’t really understand that until I took a group of Christian young people to visit a Synagogue for their Religious Education, which was on Sunday morning. A Rabbi talked to the young people I had brought together with theirs.

    On this occasion, he chose to talk about the command that is found in Exodus 34:26(b) and elsewhere, “You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.” This refers, of course to a baby goat. Not quite as astonishing. But yet you may ask why such a law would exist.

    Well, in Judaism, the Rabbi told us, this was where the rules on eating meat and dairy products together came from. The young people were generally mystified. What good is this rule? Why should anyone keep such a law? What’s the purpose?

    The Rabbi explained that this is a rule that tells us we have a choice in what we do. We are not subject to our passions in all things. We can choose to live one way and not another. I deduce that you put this rule into practice in order to become accustomed to doing things according to rules, that you have a habit of following rules.

    I think that’s the point of remembering God’s Torah, or instruction. When it becomes a question of life or death, when decisions are coming at you faster than you can handle them, when you don’t know the way out you have a way in which you think of things.

    I was discussing a decision with a friend some years ago, looking at two courses of action. Both appeared acceptable, but I was uncertain which one to take. Then ethics took hold and I suddenly saw that one of the courses of action would likely lead to things I knew were wrong. I hadn’t seen certain consequences. Suddenly I knew. Only one choice was in accordance with God’s instruction.

    What instruction from God will guide you at a moment of decision?

  • Psalm 119:108 – A Freewill Offering

    Psalm 119:108 – A Freewill Offering

    Accept with pleasure the freewill offering of my mouth, LORD,
    and teach me your judgments.

    Most translations treat the “freewill offering of my mouth” as praise, though I note that the LXX translates it quite literary as “voluntary [gift] of my mouth.” I don’t say this is wrong. In fact, Psalm 119 itself can be seen as an offering of praise, offering thanks and praise to God for the various aspects of God’s word and law.

    But I think that a freewill offering of our mouths, and specifically what comes out of our mouths may be more than that. I’ve heard any number of preachers say that we’re willing to surrender everything to God, but we stop when it comes to our wallets. I think we stop before offering our speech, and by extension what we type, to God.

    Is everything you write the sort of thing you would think was good and left a positive record. I don’t refer to the vigorous presentation of opinions that are important to you. There are those who consider any sort of firm opinion as impolite. I’m not talking about firm. I’m not talking about strongly expressed. I’m talking about things we say that are harmful.

    • A group of church members in a Sunday School class run down their own church to a visitor
    • Mistaking the speaker for the day for a visitor, rather than a new member, a church member makes a litany of complaints about “this church” to which the visitor would surely not want to belong
    • A member of the church staff complains about other staff members in the hearing of people who are not responsible for dealing with staff issues
    • A shopper is rude to the person manning the checkout lane because they are in a hurry and mildly inconvenienced
    • A driver flips the bird at another driver whose driving skills are suboptimal
    • A parent yells at a child instead of correcting them firmly but kindly
    • We speak as if our disagreements in any area make another person less worthy of respect as a human being, created in the image of God
    • Because we believe someone is sinful, we fail to respect their full personhood as human beings and God’s children

    In 1 John 4 we read:

    Beloved, let us love one another,
    for love comes from God,
    and everyone who loves has been born of God
    and knows God.
    The one of does not love does not know God,
    because God is love.

    If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother or sister, he is a liar. For the one who does not love his brother or sister whom he has seen is not able to love God, whom he has not seen.

    1 John 4:7-8,20, my translation

    Now how did I get to loving God and our fellow humans from a freewill offering from our mouth?

    I believe that lips expressing love will be giving the right kind of freewill offering, because God is love, and our love for God is shown by our love for one another. That offering will be determined by what is in your heart, “because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45, my translation).

    What is going to come out of your mouth today?

    (Featured image credit: By Wattana, licensed from Adobe Stock.)

  • Psalm 119:107

    Psalm 119:107

    I’m weakened by so much trouble,
    Bring me back to life according to your Word.

    The Message manages a rather good translation of this verse, I think, expressing the feeling of the poetry well.

    Everything’s falling apart on me, GOD;
    put me together again with your Word.

    Psalm 119:107 (MSG)

    As I write this I feel the pressure of just keeping up. I am trying to keep a business going while being a caregiver for two people. In fact, “the pressure of keeping up” implies that I’m doing better than I am. I’m not keeping up. People who have expectations are very nice to me, and I’m grateful for that, but the feeling of not accomplishing what I think I should, what I expected to accomplish weighs on me.

    I don’t write this as a complaint. I complain to the Lord, as did the psalmist. I tell the Lord what’s wrong. Here I am, despite everything. In fact, objectively I can look at things that have improved. Objectively, I can compare my situation to others, and I know that there are those who have greater difficulties than I do. I pray that God will guide them.

    I feel every word of this verse. I use the word “weakened,” which is not used by most translations. It’s an option available as a translation of the word used here, often translated “afflicted.”

    What is one to do when faced with a situation in which one feels too weak to deal with things that are necessary?

    The answer comes in the second half of the verse. The one who created you is also the one who sustains you. That’s the only ultimate answer. There are many things that are done within that. I can never accept that it is right to skip one single thing that I actually can do. I don’t say, “Look, God, I quit. You do it.”

    But there’s the other side of that, and that is to recognize the point at which I have done what I can and have come to the point where I must stop and take time to rest and be restored.

    Pray today with me that God will identify clearly the stuff to do, but also, critically, the stuff not to do.

  • Psalm 119:106 – Determination

    Psalm 119:106 – Determination

    I have sworn and I will uphold it
    that I will keep your righteous judgments.

    Not everything in scripture is something you ought to do. Even if it’s written by a good person.

    Let’s consider for a moment Jephthah’s oath as he heads off to battle with the Ammonites. You’ll find the whole story in Judges 11. He promises to offer the first creature that comes out to meet him when he comes home as a whole offering to the Lord (verse 31). When he returns, he is first met by his daughter, his only child (vv. 34-35). It is possible that you shouldn’t follow the example of this rash oath.

    On the other hand, you might think a rash oath, or asking for a sign, or various similar things are always wrong. Then there’s the story of Abraham’s servant who was looking for a wife for Isaac. He asked for a sign in a way that I might question, but the Lord honored his request for that sign (Genesis 24:10-27).

    Now you might think I’m preparing to say that this verse represents a bad idea that we shouldn’t follow. How can a Christian who believes in grace and rejects any form of salvation by works accept a statement such as this. Shouldn’t I be finding a way around it?

    I do actually have a way around “it,” if by “it” you mean that this verse means our eternal salvation is tied to our ability to keep an oath such as this. But in this life we still live in a world in which you reap what you sow, and that’s if you’re fortunate or blessed. Frequently, you’re reaping what someone else has sown. I heard a tragic story today of a young man killed by a drunk driver. The driver sowed and the young man reaped.

    Grace, and with it the love of God and the fact that God views us as his children, tells me that we remain children of God, that God loves us and is near to us when things go terribly wrong, and we remain God’s children. Grace hasn’t abrogated the law of sowing and reaping. What it has done is tell us we remain in Christ. We belong to God.

    It’s a good thing to make choices. It’s a good thing to determine to do right, or just to do better than we have on something. Every morning I have a list of things I’m going to try to get done. My life right now is very unkind to schedules. I can’t really change that. So when I make a mental list of things I’m going to try to do, I know that I’m very likely not to have the time I am hoping for. But I don’t know that. So I try.

    If I got up in the morning and said, “I’m going to be interrupted so many times today that I won’t get anything done, so I might as well just not bother,” I’d get much less done than I do. The determination is important, even knowing that it’s not going to be fulfilled.

    Why don’t I leave some things off, so that I can feel better at the end of the day with more of my list checked off? Or maybe all checked off?

    Because as soon as I take my eye off the goal, I start falling back. I determine to do what might be possible of all goes well. When reality intervenes, I recognize reality and readjust the list. Well, that’s another determination. I determine to recognize reality, and that based on interruptions, I have to adjust. Accomplishing that is hard. I want all that stuff done.

    The psalmist is expressing his determination. He’s promising to do. Somewhere along the line, he, like the rest of us, likely didn’t keep up with that.

    When that sort of thing happens to you, you have two options. You can pick yourself back up and keep your eyes on the prize, no matter how distant it is, or you can be discouraged and decide not to bother. You can decide to bring the goal down to your level.

    The psalmist is giving an example of aiming high. He has an answer for those bad moments to. Spoiler alert! He ends the Psalm by saying he has gone astray like a lost sheep and asking God to seek him. That’s a knowledge of God’s grace.

    What will you make your goal today? When life intervenes, will you remember the God who seeks you?

    (Featured image credit: ID 337125867 | Ambulance Accident Scene ©
    Yaroslaf | Dreamstime.com)

  • Psalm 119:105 – Light

    Psalm 119:105 – Light

    A lamp for my feet is your word,
    and a light for my path.

    This text begins the next eight verse section of Psalm 119. We’ve been looking at the value of God’s Word throughout the Psalm, but especially in the last several verses. This verse is well-known and evokes many other verses from scripture.

    We can start in Genesis 1:3 – And God said, “Let there be light, and there was light.” The chaos of the deep covered by darkness is captured by the light. The light is brought when God speaks, a physical manifestation of God’s Word. God’s Word is found in the Bible, but it is much, much more than that. Psalm 104:1b-2 describes this light as covering.

    Exodus 13:21 ties these elements together as God goes before the people as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night providing guidance no matter what the state of the natural light. Light thus evokes both God’s creative and God’s guiding power.

    Jesus picks up this theme when in John 8:12 he says that he is the light of the world. Anyone who follows him will not walk in darkness. This also connects the light (light of life) back to the Word, which is the subject of our text today, as well as of the entire Psalm. God’s Word is more than words on paper, it is “alive and active” and represented in the person of Jesus and in the presence of Jesus in the world through his church.

    This takes us to Matthew 5:14: “You are the light of the world.” The light stretches from creation to divine guidance for God’s people, to God’s people providing that light. I connect this with the principle of God’s blessing, expressed in Genesis 12:2 – “I will bless you … so you will be a blessing.” We receive light to be light.

    How then are we to react to the works of darkness?

    With the proclamation of the light! By sharing the connection to the guidance God has given us. Let me translate me from my own poetic paraphrase of Isaiah 58. This selection begins in verse 11:

    God will guide you continually,
    satisfying your needs in the wilderness.
    God will strengthen your bones.
    You will be like a watered garden,
    like a water spring,
    one flowing year-round.

    You’ll rebuild old, despairing ruins;
    You’ll restore ancient, strong foundations.
    You’ll be called the one who repairs broken walls
    and restores streets lined with homes.

    Henry Neufeld, “Isaiah 58 – A Slightly Poetic Paraphrase” – The Jevlir Caravansary

    Where will you spread light in the darkness today?

    (Featured image generated in Adobe Express [which uses Adobe Firefly] according to my description.)

  • Psalm 119:104 – Truth Matters

    Psalm 119:104 – Truth Matters

    From your precepts I improve my understanding.
    Therefore I hate every false path.

    It’s time to underline the difference between these meditations and exegesis. I study the verse first, looking at precisely what it says, and then I meditate on where that can lead me through the day. Sometimes that meditation leads me to other scripture, but often it leads me to other sources of knowledge and current events..

    In this case, the verse is really making a simple, straightforward contrast. There is a way defined by God’s precepts, and then there are alternatives. The psalmist accepts the wisdom that comes from God through those precepts. He rejects what does not. It is important to remember the breadth of what he sees in God’s law.

    But the direction my thinking took was this: How important is a firm commitment to truth? Now you can see how the verse suggests the topic for my meditation, but it doesn’t examine the details. It just lays out a contrast.

    In our postmodern world we have a tendency to say “in our postmodern world” a lot. Not necessarily in those words. We say it in a variety of words. “These young people are not like we were when we were young.” “In the good old days….” “It’s just getting so you can’t trust anyone any more.”

    One of these claims is that media, such as the internet and social media especially, have somehow made us less concerned with truth. The variety and volume of assorted voices makes it impossible to determine what is true and what is not. Falsehood and disinformation are entirely recent phenomena.

    We need to learn to hate every false way. Here are some examples.

    • I just don’t know what to believe. There have always been those who just don’t know what to believe. There have also been those who tended to believe convenient lies just because they were too lazy to seek out the truth, or they were afraid they wouldn’t like the truth. In the “good old days” you’d have to go to the library and consult an encyclopedia. Now, despite the multitude of voices, it’s quite possible to find information quickly. You have to want to find that information. You have to care. You have to be ready to spend the necessary time. If you don’t know, don’t blame others. Failing to take responsibility for your own beliefs is an excuse, and it’s one you can’t afford.
    • There are so many voices. Yes, there are many voices and many sources of misinformation. There are also, however, many sources of truth. Face it, most people who don’t bother to check on the truth of material on the internet wouldn’t have checked the gossip about their next door neighbor before believing it and passing it on. The problem isn’t the number of voices. It’s a refusal to be responsible and to take responsibility for what goes into your mind and what comes out of your mouth.
    • All of my friends believe it. This has been the tribal thing for years. We don’t want to differ from the people around us. When we do differ, we want to do it with a group behind us who will shout the other side down. It doesn’t matter what your friends believe. What matters is what they can support. If they can’t deal with disagreement, find better friends.
    • There are so many important issues! I have to take a stand! Yes, take a stand, but take a stand on what you’re going to regard as important, specifically important enough for you to express an opinion. There is a false standard that suggests you have to have and express an opinion on every topic. You don’t. You can choose your battles. As a publisher, I have a great option here. I can point people to an author I publish who provides a better discussion of a topic than I believe I could. Choose your ground and stand on that. Don’t allow anyone to force you to stand on theirs.
    • It’s not important what I believe, so why bother! You might think from the previous point that I think this. I do not. It is very important what you believe. That’s why you should choose carefully what you choose to debate. You should be sure you’re expressing something you can support as truth. I don’t mean you always need to be right. We will all make mistakes. But care in what we express and how we express it is important. Blathering on every topic even when we don’t have the needed knowledge is a very dangerous false way.
    • Confusing our opinion with the truth. This is a very common false way in Bible study. People present their view of the Bible or of a theological issue as though their interpretation is the very word of God and any who disagree are disagreeing with God. You and I are not the writers of scripture. We are not God’s special messengers blessed with infallibility. It is not humility to say, “This is just what the Bible teaches.” It’s dangerous arrogance. Let each person be taught by God. Show your work and speak in such a way that others can follow the steps and decide for themselves.
    • Fear of sources of knowledge. There are those who are afraid to look outside the Bible for their information. That is fear. It may sound godly, but it is not. There are those who find a human source of knowledge and then stick with it no matter what, because they are afraid of being confused. That is letting fear guide you. Hearing more than one viewpoint is part of checking the view you already have or building a new one.

    God speaks in many ways. Humans learn in many ways. Take control of what you take in. Take control of what you let out of your mouth or send through your keyboard.

    In loving truth and hating falsehood what will you speak today? On what will you keep silent?

  • Psalm 119:103 – Tasty & Sweet!

    Psalm 119:103 – Tasty & Sweet!

    How tasty are your words to my lips,
    sweet in my mouth.

    This verse calls to mind Psalm 19:11. You might consider reading all of Psalm 19 at this point.

    I don’t know how you respond to reading, hearing, or discussing scripture. I’ve discovered a wide variety of attitudes toward it over the years. For some, it’s largely boring reading. They’re not quite sure why they should bother. For others it’s a source of a few nice verses that are encouraging, sometimes taken out of context. For many, it’s read as a duty. I’ve met quite a number of people who say they read scripture as a duty, and find that they get very little out of it.

    I don’t want to make scripture reading another “work,” something you have to do because God requires it and you might be lost if you don’t read or hear enough. God created a variety of people and knows there are a variety of reactions to reading anything, much less something as varied and complex as the Bible.

    There are those who claim that it’s all very simple. These people usually only read the parts that fit into whatever simple scheme they’ve created in their mind.

    For me, the Bible is a critical part of life. I don’t have a scheduled daily time for reading it. I turn to it frequently. I use it’s words as part of my thinking about other subjects. I can’t stay away from it. Even while I spent 12 years away from church entirely, I still read it from time to time, and when I did so more on my return, I still had the language skills needed to read in the original languages.

    I studied biblical languages because I thought that the Bible was the one place to learn the truth, to come to understand God. I thought that to do that I had to pick my way to an understanding of every detail. Even though I was passionate about the Bible, it also often was tiring, because I found very often that I couldn’t make things are clear as I wanted them to be.

    Still I continued to study. I’m a addict. I need my time with the Bible, which is also, for me, time with God. Jody has told me that she recognizes a particular look I get when reading, and that it indicates to hear that I’m spending time with God and enjoying it.

    For me, God’s Word is alive and active. God’s word extends well beyond the Bible, because it is by the Word that God created everything. But God’s word provides the structure by which I understand that, a structure presented in the form of words. This literary form is the way in which I understand the Word. There are those whose language is math, or music, or even the mysteries of quantum physics, something I don’t comprehend at all.

    My suggestion here is to find the way God can speak to you and spend time in that communication. You may not be a word addict, one who can’t find enough words to satisfy. God will find ways to communicate with you.

    I wrote a poem about this, titled What Was It Like?. I can’t get away from words, but I can celebrate those who do. But the message will be there in one form or another.

    Where will you feel God today?

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)

  • Psalm 119:102 – You Have Taught Me

    Psalm 119:102 – You Have Taught Me

    I do not turn aside from your judgments,
    for you have taught me.

    A couple of days ago, meditating on Psalm 119:99, I discussed teachers. I mentioned the idea briefly of allowing the Holy Spirit to be the teacher.

    I want you to notice the form of this verse. The second half is not an accomplishment that results from his good actions. Rather, the second line explains the first. The psalmist is faithful to God’s decisions, judgments, because it is God who has been doing the teaching.

    There is a line in the prophecy of the new covenant recorded in Jeremiah 31:31-34 that is often ignored. Verse 34 reads “No longer need they teach one another, neighbour or brother, to know the LORD; all of them, high and low alike, will know me, says the LORD….” (REB). We don’t see this now, but I think we need to recognize this as a goal in the church.

    Too much of our teaching energy is spent making sure people understand and accept the things that we, as teachers, believe. I definitely include myself in this. Too little time is spent helping people find their own relationship with God.

    No the word “relationship” has been used in some questionable ways, particularly as a way to avoid actually studying and thinking about God and the world in which we live. But no matter what we may feel or want, there is always a relationship between each of us and God as in created being to creator, and that relationship is important. Relationship doesn’t negate doctrine, understanding things. Rather, relationship is necessary to any learning about God.

    Consider Ephesians 3:18-19: “… may you, in company with all God’s people, be strong to grasp what is the breadth and length and height and depth (19) of Christ’s love, and to know it, though it is beyond knowledge.” Technical knowledge isn’t sufficient. Personal knowledge is required. But personal knowledge is not exclusively individual knowledge. We know “with all God’s people.”

    As teachers in the church, we should be constantly working ourselves out of a job, constantly relying on the Holy Spirit, and constantly expecting that the Holy Spirit will guide others. We live in a new creation. We are a new creation. So is everyone we teach.

    This means that while we still have a teaching and discipling role, that role is one that is mutual, that is, we learn along with all God’s people. We make it easier for everyone to learn from God. That means there is a difference in teaching and mentoring in the Christian community. We do not build a dependence on what we think or have to say. We look to join together and grow in our dependence on God.

    How can you encourage someone to grow in their knowledge of what is beyond knowledge today?

  • Psalm 119:101 – Evil Paths

    Psalm 119:101 – Evil Paths

    I have kept my feet away from every evil path
    so that I might keep your word.

    Too often we think of keeping from doing things that are wrong as a point-by-point effort. Make a list of things we shouldn’t do, and avoid those things.

    This can be a dangerous trap if undertaken independently of other reforms. It leads to an a sort of “goodness accounting” in which we count deeds done correctly, and use this a sign posts on our road to being better people. One of the more humorous, and yet destructive things this can lead to is keeping count of sins not committed, and considering these great accomplishments.

    This happens in dieting, a process with which I’m somewhat acquainting. It’s easy to tell yourself that you didn’t eat that dessert after lunch, and thus you can be excused for having an extra slice of cake at dinner. This kind of accounting results in forgetting the totals, and providing oneself an excuse for whatever one wishes to eat. Trust me, you’re not going to keep an accurate account. You don’t really want to.

    If you want to get to a destination, you need to get on a path that goes there. About three years ago various lab tests informed me that I needed to make a serious change in lifestyle, eat less, eat better, and get more exercise. One possibility is to try to count the things I was doing better, and do those until better numbers resulted in my lab test. The alternative was to change paths, to choose a new lifestyle that involved healthier eating and more activity. Once you get on that path, details become easier, because you realize that everything has to be different and it needs to stay that way. There is no day coming when cakes, pies, and ice cream from a substantial part of the diet, and there is no time coming when you can afford to go back to couch potato ways.

    Turning back to myself, I had to decide to change paths. I knew that, because I know myself well enough to know that any haphazard approach involving singular acts of self-sacrifice would end up with as many acts of self indulgence and no actual gain in health.

    (Please here this in the context of God’s sanctifying grace and reliance on divine power. I’ve discussed that before while meditating on this psalm and that hasn’t changed.)

    To look at another issue, and one on which I have had much less success, consider a balance in work and rest. Again, picking out this or that to change, drop,, or add to the schedule is likely to drive one crazy and increase tension. What is needed (I tell myself) is a change of approach overall. You see, I can’t say with the psalmist that I have kept away from every evil path.

    And here we need to consider “evil.” Some may be thinking, “A little bit of overworking, or even lots of overworking isn’t evil.” You see, we want to think of overwork as diligence. Then we try to keep things manageable by dropping this or that task, or taking a moment here or there instead of looking for a balanced way to approach life and work.

    Killing yourself by overeating or overworking is not really morally better than killing yourself more intentionally. It just looks better, feels better, and comes with a false sense of pride and self-justification.

    But in the end that balance, and simply following the ideal path that God lays out is the one path that leads anywhere helpful.

    What path are you on?

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)