Proverb 5:18–20 - “Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love. Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?”

Last month I read yet another report on how culture is being influenced by pornography. That last sentence is just too vague. It was a report on how our sons’ and daughters’ views about physical intimacy are being hijacked, developed and shaped by the digital content they are consuming at a voracious rate and at an increasingly earlier age. Pornographic content is not only readily accessible on the internet via mobile devices but is voyeuristically displayed on social media ads, during sporting events, award ceremonies and within mainstream movies. I don’t think I need to list any specific movie titles or actors. I assume most people can readily rattle off a number of examples of such spiritually and relationally dangerous content.

As much as the recent report broke my heart as I read the first-person interviews of confused and hurting teenagers, I chose to do something other than bemoan the woes of the culture I find myself in and instead asked myself anew, “What does God call me to do about this?” I asked this first from the humble admission that I myself am vulnerable to temptation, and then from the role of a parent with children still at home.

Psalm 148:1-2, 5 - “Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his hosts…Let them praise the name of the Lord! For he commanded and they were created.”

This past week a Christian in India reached out to me online because he is studying with a Hindu friend who has a couple of questions about the origin of Satan and evil. I asked our brother if he would let me organize my thoughts in the blog because others might benefit from thinking through these questions also. His friend asked two questions:

 Exodus 17:3, 7 - “Why do you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst…Is the Lord among us or not?”

Wow! I remember a time as a child when my family was making a weekly 1-hour trip in the car and we stopped at a gas station for fuel and snacks. This was a routine stop, it happened every trip. As my father went into the station I flippantly offered an entitled request for a specific snack and questioned if he would recall it. The reason that trip stands out in my memory is because of my father’s hurt and frustrated response to his consistent grace. We made that trip weekly. We stopped weekly. Even though we didn't deserve snacks, almost without exception my parents budgeted for them and provided them. I had selfishly taken my parents’ grace and goodness for granted and believed I someone merited them.

When I read the Israelites' response in Exodus 17, my heart sank and I called to mind how I felt all those years ago when I realized how I had treated my father…

1 Chronicles 14:2 - "And David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel, and that his kingdom was highly exalted for the sake of his people Israel" (ESV).

This past Sunday I was traveling out of town and was blessed to visit and worship with friends. I sat in on one of the adult classes which was doing a survey of 1 Chronicles, and they happened to be covering chapters 13-15, where David attempted to move the ark into Jerusalem, failed in his first attempt at the cost of Uzzah's life, and then succeeded in chapter 15 after he followed the divinely prescribed method of transportation.

In between those moments, the chronicler tells us how David acknowledged God and at other times knew to seek him before making decisions (1 Chron. 14:10, 14). In that chapter our teacher drew our attention to verse 2, where David knew that his situation and role had all been orchestrated by God. I wanted to think a little bit more about that, as well as when we fail to it…

Deut. 27:4 & 8 - "And when you have crossed over the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, concerning which I command you today, on Mt. Ebal, and you shall plaster them with plaster...and you shall write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly."

Last weekend our church completed a 13-week survey of Deuteronomy in one of our classes. In chapter 27 Moses told the nation that when they entered the land of Canaan, they were to go to the top of Mt. Ebal and set up a pile of white-washed stones and write the law on them. Next, they were to construct an altar to God of uncut stones. Finally, they were to organize the nation into two groups, placing one group on Mt. Ebal and another on Mt. Gerizim, very much like filling opposing sides of a modern stadium. Then the Levites would recite the blessings and curses of the law as one side of the "stadium" verbally confirmed the curses by saying "Amen" while…

Ex. 17:12 - "But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun." 

For months I have struggled to write a new blog post.  Most of the time I feel like I'm walking through an emotional and spiritual fog. Those who are familiar with our family can probably understand. On January 29th of this year our second oldest son, Cooper, passed away at home while in hospice care. He is the second of our children to do so. He was preceded by his younger brother, Whitaker, back in March of 2013. Both boys had special needs, and we suspect they may have both had some kind of genetic disorder. For nearly 11 years our family has been a special needs family, and now we aren't. I find myself doing things based on a decade of routines that are no longer necessary.

(Originally posted 1/3/13. Just three months before our son Whitaker went to be with the Lord.)

Ps. 4:7 - "You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound."

Where does your joy come from? Does it come from the superficial circumstances of life or from something more substantial? This week as you read Psalm 4, consider David's declaration in the closing verses valuing the joy of a growing relationship with God. As David sought to be close to God during a difficult time in his life, he compared the physical prosperity his antagonists were experiencing with the vibrant spiritual relationship he had with God (Ps. 4:6). After observing the differences, David said that the joy he received from being close to God was worth more than the material wealth his opponents valued.

Because David's joyful relationship with God did not rely on physical circumstances he was able to finish his Psalm with the comforting imagery of verse 8.

Zech. 7:12 - "They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the Lord of hosts."

There are several places in the Biblical text where the value of precious stones is used to communicate something of the value of heavenly things. Think of all the precious stones John saw in Revelation to describe the dazzling glory of being in God's presence (Rev. 4:1-3, 21:9-27). Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to a pearl of great price worth more than anything else you may have (Matt. 13:45-46). Paul even compared some of the Christians he taught with precious material's ability to withstand the refining fire of judgment (1 Cor. 3:12-15). Even though the Bible mostly uses gemstones and other valuables to hint at the worth of heavenly things, in Zechariah 7, the comparison is negative.