JMD Devotional 161 Psalm 36:1-4 Bi-Polar Playground
Vs 1 TRANSGRESSION [like an oracle] speaks to the wicked deep in his heart. There is no fear or dread of God before his eyes
In ancient times, an oracle was a pagan shrine to which people went to receive 'hidden' and occult knowledge. The 'priest' or "the man behind the curtain" would pretend to utter esoteric secrets leading to wealth, fame, or other worldly fulfillment and the seeker bought into it because it appealed to his ego and his base instincts. The 'priest' made his living off telling people what they wanted to hear. But the scriptures tell us that behind man-made idols are demons; and spiritual powers influence the heart of man. (Something was telling the 'priest' what he wanted to hear and influenced him as well).
How is transgression like an oracle? All choices are not equal and we do not make choices in a vacuum or from a purely rational context. At both positive and negative extremes is a kind of attraction, like magnetism, that help us to choose either better or worse than we would do left to our own devices. I believe that God permits evil to continue and that He keeps Satan on a long leash in order to polarize humanity into one of two camps. God wants to rid the earth of the 'ambiguous middle'; the lukewarm; mealy-mouthed uncommitted passive fence-sitters. In digital electronics, information is carried by high and low signals, typically five volts and zero volts. A three volt signal is meaningless and useless to that kind of logic; a device called a comparator cleans up degraded signals by setting a threshold and driving anything above that to the high rail and anything below it to the low rail: in a sense trials, tribulation and persecution function like that for people. The fear of God drives us to the high rail of the conduct scale. But when a person yields to the low rail regret is certain.
Vs 2-4 For he flatters and deceives himself in his own eyes that his iniquity will not be found out and be hated. The words of his mouth are wrong and deceitful; he has ceased to be wise and to do good. He plans wrongdoing on his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he does not reject or despise evil.
Dear God,
I don't spend much time in the middle; but I confess that I flip-flop a lot. I know I had to be run through Your comparator of pain and suffering to purge my signal of noise and double-mindedness. Please continue to amplify what is right in my mind to keep me from letting wayward impulses rule over me; may I live by Godly principles and be a man of integrity. May we all shun counsel that is contrary to Your will and way for humanity.
Amen
All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by
the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
*New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)
If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to
my daily devotional, please forward.
jamesdinsmore_32907@yahoo.com
Short, concise, thought-provoking.
More features:
http://SaintJamesPoetry.blogspot.com
http://recoverydevotional.blogspot.com/
http://jamesezadventures.blogspot.com/
In ancient times, an oracle was a pagan shrine to which people went to receive 'hidden' and occult knowledge. The 'priest' or "the man behind the curtain" would pretend to utter esoteric secrets leading to wealth, fame, or other worldly fulfillment and the seeker bought into it because it appealed to his ego and his base instincts. The 'priest' made his living off telling people what they wanted to hear. But the scriptures tell us that behind man-made idols are demons; and spiritual powers influence the heart of man. (Something was telling the 'priest' what he wanted to hear and influenced him as well).
How is transgression like an oracle? All choices are not equal and we do not make choices in a vacuum or from a purely rational context. At both positive and negative extremes is a kind of attraction, like magnetism, that help us to choose either better or worse than we would do left to our own devices. I believe that God permits evil to continue and that He keeps Satan on a long leash in order to polarize humanity into one of two camps. God wants to rid the earth of the 'ambiguous middle'; the lukewarm; mealy-mouthed uncommitted passive fence-sitters. In digital electronics, information is carried by high and low signals, typically five volts and zero volts. A three volt signal is meaningless and useless to that kind of logic; a device called a comparator cleans up degraded signals by setting a threshold and driving anything above that to the high rail and anything below it to the low rail: in a sense trials, tribulation and persecution function like that for people. The fear of God drives us to the high rail of the conduct scale. But when a person yields to the low rail regret is certain.
Vs 2-4 For he flatters and deceives himself in his own eyes that his iniquity will not be found out and be hated. The words of his mouth are wrong and deceitful; he has ceased to be wise and to do good. He plans wrongdoing on his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he does not reject or despise evil.
Dear God,
I don't spend much time in the middle; but I confess that I flip-flop a lot. I know I had to be run through Your comparator of pain and suffering to purge my signal of noise and double-mindedness. Please continue to amplify what is right in my mind to keep me from letting wayward impulses rule over me; may I live by Godly principles and be a man of integrity. May we all shun counsel that is contrary to Your will and way for humanity.
Amen
All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by
the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
*New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)
If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to
my daily devotional, please forward.
jamesdinsmore_32907@yahoo.com
Short, concise, thought-provoking.
More features:
http://SaintJamesPoetry.blogspot.com
http://recoverydevotional.blogspot.com/
http://jamesezadventures.blogspot.com/
posted by James M. Dinsmore at 6:19 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home