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- Written by: Don Goulding
So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty pieces of silver. Then David built an altar for the Lord there and offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings. And the Lord accepted prayers for the land, and the plague was removed from Israel. (2 Samuel 24:24-25)
David lost sight of the fact that God was the source of his military victories. Against the counsel of his advisors, he sent a general to count his fighting men. The result was a plague that killed seventy thousand Israelites.
Grieving over the losses he had caused to his own people, King David went for a prayer-walk. He came to the threshing floor on Mount Moriah. Instead of wheat, it was David’s heart that would be threshed, pummeled, and crushed. He saw the angel of death with a sword raised over Israel. David’s response defined the rest of his life.
The king put on sackcloth, threw himself on his face, and pled for God’s mercy. He bought the threshing floor and sacrificed burnt offerings on the spot. Only a supernatural removal of his heinous guilt could save him and his people.
Seventeen years later, David bequeathed the land where his heart was threshed as the site for the first temple.
Like David, I’ve made epic mistakes in my lifetime. We’ve both been threshed by our own guilt. Can God do for me what he did for David? Can he transform my threshing floor into a temple of praise? The answer depends on my response. If I also repent in anguish and place my shame on the Lamb of God, then yes, I can still see a temple rise where my betrayal once stood.
Prayer: Merciful God, transform my worst sins into praise for your best grace.
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- Written by: Don Goulding
But each one is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires. Then when desire conceives, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death. (James 1:14-15)
When I sin, I feel far away from God, and when I’m far away from him, I sin. The whirlpool goes round, sucking me down. Each time I repeat my vices, I’m pulled further in.
I pray for release from of the whirlpool of temptation, but my heavenly Father has a different plan. First, he teaches me that temptation is not sin, and living within its tug will make me stronger because of the fight.
During his sinless thirty-three years on earth, Jesus didn't leave the whirlpool. He felt its pull when Satan baited him in the desert. The whirlpool caused his prayerful struggle to accept the cross. Our forerunner demonstrated that wholesale escape from temptation is not Father’s purpose for this stage of life.
The vortex froths white at the safe horizontal top, and black at the dangerous vertical bottom. Deep inside the funnel’s walls, failure is a certainty. When I loiter in those lower regions, and tell myself it’ll never get a complete hold on me, it’s already too late.
The key to success isn’t escape from temptation, but in living within reach of heaven’s assistance. Up there risky indulgences can’t master me. For now, I have to live somewhere inside the whirlpool, but I don’t have to surf the wall.
Prayer: Holy and beautiful light, I choose to live near you today.
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- Written by: Don Goulding
A perverse person spreads dissension,
and a gossip separates the closest friends. (Proverbs 16:28)
I imagine myself in paradise, twirling through the light of God’s presence. I don’t know if it can happen in that place but, if a negative word against someone else comes to my lips, I’ll know what to do. I’ll consider the glorious face of Jesus, recall how he suffered for the target of my slander, and I’ll close my mouth. They don’t gossip in heaven.
I envision hell as a realm full of ruthless, backstabbing liars. That’s where they curse our God, his city, and his people. They probably badmouth each other too.
Heaven never gossips and hell never tires of the perversion. It’s here on temporary earth that we choose which realm we champion by way of our mouths.
Words are sacred, with the power to create or to destroy. As beings made in God’s image, we are granted authority to use our words to change the world around us. What am I doing with that gift?
Our Heavenly Father saw me playing in the mud of dissension. After washing me clean, he led me to a playroom full of eternal possessions. If I slip back into the mire, it means I’ve forgotten my benefactor and reverted to throwing the mud of gossip.
Prayer: Remind me, oh Lord, to save my tongue for praising you.