The Plumbline

Do you ever ask a simple question of God - one that is quite often a consideration of humankind, but kind of niggles at you until you actually find the answer? Sometimes the questions we ask almost get a little too revealing of our insecurities. Like us asking who it is that God shows favor to - who is it that is welcomed into his presence, made to feel at home, enjoying the very fruits of his rule.  When we hear the answer from God, we rarely record it, but once in a while what we hear may do well to be recorded. David heard from God about those traits that we see in a man or woman of God that make him/her free to move about in the presence of a holy God - something that niggled at his mind and heart enough that he asked God who it was that gets on "God's guest list". 1 God, who gets invited to dinner at your place? How do we get on your guest list? 2 "Walk straight, act right, tell the truth. 3-4 Don't hurt your friend, don't blame your neighbor; desp...

I used to be a pretty organized person at home, with file cabinets well organized and papers all in their place. Then something happened to disorganize me a bit - life! At one point, I had to hire help to come in to be with mom, so I hurriedly moved all the files out of the office and locked them away in a few boxes stored in a locking cabinet in the garage. Then I no longer found it so easy to put things in their place - because things didn't have a place any longer! There are times in life when our 'record-keeping' really has no place any longer - especially when it comes to keeping records of wrong! If you, God, kept records on wrongdoings, who would stand a chance? As it turns out, forgiveness is your habit, and that's why you're worshiped.  (Psalm 130:3-4) We humans are "record keepers". We manage to stuff all kinds of information into our brains - dates, times, events, memories, agendas, wishes, dreams - to name only a few. We organize that informa...