Do Something

Now is the time for action. It's never too late to do something. (Carl Sandburg)

Even Pessimists Like to be Right...

How many pessimists end up by desiring the things they fear, in order to prove that they are right.

- Robert Mallet (French Writer)

Who Are You To Judge???

The Bible is very clear in its directive that we ought not to judge one another at risk of being a fool (or at least, found to be unwise!). During the last few mornings, during my reading of the book of Joshua, I have come across a story that has piqued my interest.

We find the Children of Israel entering the Promised Land when, out of nowhere, arrives a detachment of emissaries from a 'land far away.' During conflab with these men, it appears that they prove the length and duration of their journey to the princes of Israel by producing some bags of stale bread and some shrunken wineskins. Also, they showed them the shoes and garments that were supposedly 'new' when they departed their homes.

The sad thing that I find here is that scripture records that the princes of Israel partook of their victuals and 'sought not counsel from the Lord'. They judged by what they were given without giving God a chance to speak.

The Children of Israel, Joshua included, made a judgment call with no point of personal reference. They were not authorities on the freshness of bread... they'd been eating manna. They had no benchmark for the wear of another man's shoes... they'd been wearing the same ones for 40 years.

When we judge by what we 'see', and seek not God's counsel, we are judging from our own perspective, our own experiences, which may be totally different than those of the people we are standing against in judgment!

If this is what happens when I judge a man without walking in his shoes, Jesus, make me a careful man! Before we ascribe motives and try to say what 'really happened', we need to take a minute and seek counsel from the Lord. He knows... and His judgment is usually (always?!) very different from mine!