Issue 1522 – On the Balance – August 12, 2024
Most homes have at least one weigh scale. It might be in the bathroom to keep track of your body size or in the kitchen to measure ingredients. You might have a smaller digital scale to weigh precious metals or medications.
As much as I like the digital readouts and accuracy of modern scales, they don’t have the romantic appeal of an old-fashioned beam balance scale. It would be awkward to weigh yourself on balance, but they could be used for kitchen measurements, or in a laboratory.
You place the object to be weighed on one side of the balance and add various known weights on the other until the two sides are equal. This procedure is simple in principle but can be difficult to perform accurately.
I was thinking about balance scales recently, as I pondered the thought of faithfulness.
I want to be faithful to God, but if I’m honest there are many times I fail. If I were to put my faithfulness on a scale next to God’s, the scales would never balance.
I fumble, falter, and fail. God is always faithful, in fact, He cannot be unfaithful.
There is a pattern throughout the Scriptures. The people of Israel and the church in the New Testament stumble and fall repeatedly. They disobey God’s commands, often walking in spiritual adultery.
The entire book of Hosea in the Old Testament paints a picture of the Israelite’s unfaithfulness.
When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” Hosea 1:2
His wife is unfaithful many times. Hosea keeps taking her back. Similarly, the people of God sin over and over, yet the Lord calls them back.
Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take with you words and return to the Lord; say to him, “Take away all iniquity; accept what is good, and we will pay with bulls the vows of our lips. Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses; and we will say no more, ‘Our God,’ to the work of our hands. In you the orphan finds mercy.” I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them.I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon; his shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon. They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow; they shall flourish like the grain; they shall blossom like the vine; their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon. O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress; from me comes your fruit. Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the Lord are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them. Hosea 14
The people bore the earthly consequences of their sin and God’s discipline. Yet despite it all, His love for them and faithfulness to them did not falter.
When we fall and falter in faithfulness, it is good to remember the teaching of Scripture.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9
Thank God for His faithfulness. We are blessed far more than we realize.
Be blessed
Hallelu Yah / Praise God
Kevin
Gleanings From The Word
Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life.
Soli Deo Gloria (For the glory of God alone)
Never let the enemy tell you that you are worthless or insignificant. Your value in God’s eyes is so great that it was worth dying for. You are a blessing to the world. You are so precious to God that his plan for heaven will not be complete without you.
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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the English Standard Version (ESV)