The crafty gene

Joseph sold - Artist unknown

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Genesis 37:21-36

TO CHEW ON: "So they took Joseph's tunic, killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the tunic in the blood. Then they sent the tunic of many colors, and they brought it to their father and said, 'We have found this. Do you know whether it is your son's tunic or not?'" Genesis 37:31,32


The dysfunction in Jacob's family continues. To the list of favoritism, jealousy, boasting, and hatred, today we can add craftiness (deceit). Jacob's deceitful gene had not skipped his sons.

By selling Joseph not only did they rid themselves of an annoying, boastful tattletale brother, but they did it without human blood on their hands and made a little coin to boot. Lying to Jacob by implying  that Joseph had been killed by an animal absolved them of all blame.

Craftiness runs through the Bible.

• The first cunning creature was the serpent (and we know who was embodied in that crafty creature) - Genesis 3:1.

• Jacob, the father of these sons, had tricked his twin brother Esau out of his birthright and blessing (Genesis 27:16, 35).

• When Joshua began conquering Canaan, the Gibeonites, a neighbouring tribe, tricked him into signing a peace treaty with them (Joshua 9:1-27).

• The chief priests, scribes and elders "… plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill Him" - Matthew 26:4; Luke 20:23. However, Jesus was not take in by the attempts of the religious leaders to trick Him into saying something that would get Him in trouble with the Romans (Luke 20:23).

• In Paul's letter to the Christians in Ephesus, he explains that one of the reasons for gifts in the church is to grow Christians to maturity so they will no longer "… be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine and by trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting" - Ephesians 4:14 (emphasis added.

Though the craftiness of Jacob's sons may fascinate us, the scriptures above alert us to its satanic origin.

Let's be aware of who sows crafty thoughts and tendencies within us. Instead of crafty, let's aim to be the kind of person Jesus described to His disciples: "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents, harmless as doves" - Matthew 10:16.

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to be alert to crafty tendencies within me and the fact that they are a form of deceit and lying. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The work of fruitless effort

Image: Pixabay

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Micah 6:1-16

TO CHEW ON: “You shall sow, but not reap;
You shall tread the olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil;
And make sweet wine but not drink wine.” Micah 6:15


Have you ever experienced fruitless effort—worked hard on a project only to have it fall apart before it was finished; created a product that didn’t sell; put years into training that never yielded a dollar of return in salary?

Fruitless effort is what Micah is predicting here for the people of Judah and Israel? But why? The preceding verses of Micah 6 give us some clues:

• Their worship had become a dead form and ritual (Micah 6:6,7). The attitude of their hearts was far from complying with the three things that God required: “But to do justly / To love mercy, / And to walk humbly with your God” - Micah 6:8.

• Their work was characterized by evil and deceit. Notice the list of things that offended God in the way they went about their day-to-day business: “...wickedness … short measure … wicked scales … deceitful weights … violence … lies … tongue is deceitful…” Micah 6:10-12.

• These practices seemed to have become part of their culture, a culture that developed under ungodly kings: “For the statues of Omri are kept/ All the works of Ahab’s house are done; / And you walk in their counsels” - Micah 6:16.

Could it be that some of our work failures, our fruitless effort fiascos, come about for the same reasons? We shove justice and mercy to the bottom of the priority list (aren’t they more for bleeding hearts?). Instead of walking with God we drag behind or race ahead of Him, working to our own timetables and ambitions? We mimic the work practices of the culture around us. Why not work for cash and so avoid reporting income and paying tax? Why not take a few office supplies home for the kids? Why not call in sick when we feel we need a day off? Everyone else is doing and getting away with it!

A paragraph on this passage in the Theology of Work Bible Commentary sums it up well:

“This is a reminder that the world of work does not exist in a vacuum, separated from the rest of life. If we do not ground our values and priorities in God’s covenant, then our lives and work will be ethically and spiritually incoherent. If we do not please God in our work, we cannot please him in our worship” -  Theology of Work Commentary, accessed through BibleGateway.com (emphasis added).

And if we do not please Him in our work, we should not be surprised if He withholds His blessing from our efforts.

PRAYER: Dear Father, please help me to keep justice, mercy, and walking with you (not ahead or behind) at the top of my work priorities. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Sinister entry

"Judas returns the money" - James Tissot

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Luke 22:1-23

TO CHEW ON: “Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve. So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains how he might betray Him to them." Luke 22:3-4

How chilling those words, “Then Satan entered Judas…” How sobering their continuation, “… (Judas) Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve.” If a member of Jesus’ closest circle was not immune to Satan’s entrance how all the more must we be vigilant against it.

The tendency is to think of Satan’s entering and controlling someone as a bizarre paranormal thing, evidenced by spooky behaviors  or a cursed, sickly life (Luke 8:26-33, 1-3). But I believe it can be a lot subtler than that.

We need only think of our “besetting sin.” Do we struggle with anger, or find ourselves often covering our tracks with deceit, or letting bitterness cloud our outlook? There is a section in Ephesians which mentions specific sins Holy Spirit-controlled followers of Jesus are to “put away.”

These are common, run-of-the-mill sins that we all have no doubt been caught in at some time or other: lying, anger, stealing, corrupt talk, bitterness, wrath, clamor, evil speaking with malice. Right in the middle of that list (immediately after the reference to anger) are these words: “nor give place to the devil” (Ephesians 4:24-32). Doesn’t this warning imply that we are at risk of giving Satan entrance when we cultivate these behaviors and attitudes?

How tiny it starts as the devil squeezes into that sliver-thin crack of our dissatisfaction, takes more territory as we augment our complaints with imaginings, then cements them in us when we voice them to others (compounding our sin as we influence them to join us on this destructive path). How big it eventually ends. In Judas’s case he betrayed his best friend. It earned him the very woe of Jesus (Luke 22:22).

We do well to follow Peter’s warning: "Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” 1 Peter 5:8

PRAYER: Dear God, I want no one but You in my life. Please sensitize my “spiritual antennae” to the presence of anything that would give Satan opportunity or entrance into my life. Amen.

MORE: What happened in Judas’ mind and heart to make him regret what he’d done (Matthew 27:3-10)? Once the betrayal was accomplished, did the devil’s strong influence leave him? Or had he rationalized that his action would force Jesus’ hand to reveal Himself as king and when that didn’t happen, he realized the immensity and gravity of what he’d done? What do you think?

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The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. - Used with permission.

Tested by circumstances - 2

"Naaman's Gifts Refused"- 1728 engraving
by Bernard Picart and Abraham de Blois

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 2 Kings 5:16-27


TO CHEW ON: "But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, said, 'Look, my master has spared Naaman this Syrian, while not receiving from his hands what he brought; but as the Lord lives, I will run after him and take something from him.' " 2 Kings 5:20.

The last character in the Naaman story is Gehazi, Elisha's servant. He isn't confronted with the circumstance Naaman's leprosy, as the characters in the earlier installment were, but with his boss's reaction to Naaman's offer of gifts.

I can just see Gehazi as Naaman returns to Elisha, loitering in the background, his eyes glittering as Naaman's servants unpack the beautiful clothes and the sacks of coin. Then watch his expression change when Elisha refuses them all.

He wants that stuff, oh, how he wants it! And so he concocts a plan. He runs after Naaman and tells him that Elisha has received guests, now needs some things, and asks for a modest two outfits and a sack of silver.

After stashing them safely in his quarters he stands before Elisha as usual to wait on him. In answer to Elisha's, "Where did you go, Gehazi?" he replies with the brazen, "Your servant did not go anywhere."

Foolish Gehazi. Do you not know that your master is in touch with the One who can not only see your motives and actions, but can reveal them to him? Elisha confronts Gehazi with what he has done and bequeaths him and his family with the leprosy that had infected Naaman.

What can we learn from how this sly prophet's assistant handled his test? Three things come to mind.

1. Exposure to the things of God and the people of God doesn't change our hearts. Gehazi served the man of God but he wasn't a godly man. Each of us needs to come to God personally and have a personal relationship with Him.

2. God has a way of revealing knowledge about people and situations to those who are close to Him.

3. Like Gehazi's response to Naaman's beautiful stuff revealed his covetousness, greed, deceit, and sneakiness, so our response to temptation can show us what's inside us.

Let's observe our responses to today's circumstances and the temptations they bring. Then let's allow these tests to educate us about ourselves, our weaknesses, and our need for repentance and a change of heart.

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me not to kid myself that I can fool You in any way. I pray with the psalm writer: "Search me O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxieties. And see if there is any wicked way in me. And lead me in the way everlasting" (Psalm 139:23-24).

MORE: Lying to the Holy Spirit

This story reminds me of one from the New Testament. The couple Ananias and Sapphira gave a generous gift to the early church but in a deceptive way. Read what happened to them in Acts 5:1-11.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Simple, careful, truthful speech

Pinky swear

TODAY'S SPECIAL: James 5:1-20

TO CHEW ON: "But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No,' lest you fall into judgment." James 5:12

James is nothing if not practical. Here he gives more instructions about speech, addressing even the details of how we reinforce our promises. We might be tempted to ask, "Really, James, is it any of your business?"

On closer examination, though, several implications of his advice in verse 12 tell us there might be a deeper problem than just loose lips when we promise something and tie up that promise with the words, "I swear by…"

1. Swearing besmirches God's name.
Swearing by "heaven" suggests God or His name is involved in the oath.  A footnote in my Bible gives a brief history of swearing:

"Originally swearing was an attempt to involve the character and authority of God to support a claim or promise (Leviticus 19:12; Deuteronomy 23:23). Then as often is the case today, the Lord's name was debased by using it to excessively emphasize a trivial point. James cites Jesus (Matthew 5:37)…" Jon Mark Ruthven (commentary on James), New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1757.

2. Swearing implies we've considered lying.
Doesn't the need we feel to strengthen our word with an oath telegraph the idea that without invoking a person or thing in this way, we might lie? When we connect God's name to a promise we make, we are in a way scaring ourselves into speaking the truth for fear of the consequences He would bring down on us if we don't tell the truth.

James's instructions to speak simply, carefully, and with integrity are consistent with the Bible's admonitions about speech in other places.

• "He who has knowledge spares his words," says Proverbs 17:27.

• "Let your speech always be with grace seasoned with salt," Paul tells the Colossians (Colossians 4:6). And by salty speech, I'm sure he doesn't mean speech that's seasoned with profanity (how Jesus used "salt" - Matthew 5:13-16).

• "Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me in faith and love, which are in Christ Jesus," Paul tells Timothy (2 Timothy 1:13).

• "Likewise exhort the young men to be sober-minded in all things, showing yourself to be a pattern of good works in … sound speech that cannot be condemned" - Paul to Titus (Titus 2:6-8).

The challenge still today is to say what we mean and mean what we say in speech that is so honest  no "I swear by…" or "for … sake"  is ever necessary.

PRAYER: Dear God, please forgive me for times I've spoken carelessly, using by-words and minced oaths that add nothing good to my speech. Amen.

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New King James Version (NKJV) Used with permission. The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.