Sometimes Silence is the Best Way to Handle False Accusations

A friend recently shared how someone accused her of something that didn’t resonate. Then a few weeks later, it happened again. We talked about the concept that if someone says you have a tail, you can be like, “What? You’re crazy.” If a 2nd person says it, then it’s time to see if something’s amiss. And if there’s a 3rd? Well, you’d better turn around to see if you’ve got a tail!😬

There are moments, however, when accusations simply don’t ring true, especially when it’s whispering words from the enemy. So, what then?

Sometimes the best way to handle false accusations is with silence. That’s what King Hezekiah instructs his people to do when the king of Assyria comes to conquer Judah.

The Assyrian commander in chief begins his speech in Hebrew so the people on the wall will hear & understand. He asks, “What are you trusting in that makes you so confident?”

The Israelite chief of staff immediately asks him to speak in Aramaic, but the Assyrian leader begins to SHOUT his message in Hebrew, reminding them of the many nations who’ve fallen to him because their gods didn’t save them.

He ends by asking, “What makes you think the Lord can rescue you from me?”

I’m sure the people trembled because other nations HAD fallen, but the very next verse tells us that the people remain silent, because the king had commanded them not to answer.

King Hezekiah doesn’t reply either, but turns his words elsewhere. He takes the threats directly into the throne room of God. confessing who God is, what He’s done & even agrees to the truth that other nations have fallen BECAUSE, “their gods weren’t gods at all-only idols…shaped by human hands.”

THEN he asks for God’s rescue so that everyone would know that He alone is God. That very night the angel of the Lord enters the Assyrian camp & slaughters 185,000 of them! When the army awakens to corpses everywhere, they immediately return home! What a rescue story, right?

The enemy is the king of lies & loves to threaten us with accusations about health, family, finances, faith & future. We need not reply under orders of the King of kings! Our silence speaks to our trust in Him & allows Him to orchestrate a rescue story worth telling!

#OneYearBible

July 1st One Year Bible Readings

2 KINGS 18:13-19:37

ACTS 21:1-17

PSALM 149:1-9

PROVERBS 18:8

On Becoming Shrinky Dinks me<Him

Have you ever faced a heated moment when you know what to say, but you shrink back because of the flack you might receive if you do? I think our world is ripe with opportunity to speak Truth & sometimes it’s easier to avoid topics than risking offense.

When I was little, we had a cool activity toy called, “Shrinky Dinks”.

Awful name, right? 🙄

They’re sheets of plastic with shapes imprinted on them to color with a marker. After coloring, you place them in an oven & they shrink to about 1/3 the size, but grow 9xs thicker than the original sheet. I haven’t thought about them in forever, but the little ornaments I made as a kid popped up from the memory banks as I read Acts 20 today.

Paul is leaving Asia knowing he’ll never see the believers again. He speaks with great urgency & right in the middle of his speech, he says something that rings like a charge into our present day:

“I never shrank back from telling you what you needed to hear either publicly or in your homes.

I had one message for Jews & Greeks alike-the necessity of repenting from sin & turning to God & having faith in our Lord Jesus…

My Life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned to me by the Lord Jesus-the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God...

If anyone suffers eternal death, it’s not my fault. For I didn’t shrink from declaring all that God wants you to know.

So guard yourselves & God‘s people. Feed & shepherd God‘s flock… I know that false teachers, vicious wolves, will come in among you… Some will rise up & distort the truth in order to draw a following...Watch out!”

Just like Paul & those silly toys, God has imprinted His design on each of our lives, assigning us with the task of speaking one message to all! And if it gets heated, may we grow nine times thicker in our faith!

Father, our lives are worth nothing unless we finish the work You assign. May we use our platforms to feed Your flock. Guard us from preachers that distort Truth. If anyone within our realm suffers eternal death, let it not be because we shrunk back when You prompted us to speak up! If we shrink in any area, let there be less of us & more of you!

#OneYearBible

June 30th One Year Bible Readings

2 KINGS 17:1-18:12

ACTS 20:1-38

PSALM 148:1-14

PROVERBS 18:6-7

Wisdom’s Litmus Test: Say Something 3 Times & See if it Still Makes Sense

We have a witty family friend who says something that always makes me laugh. Whenever he hears a statement lacking logic or wisdom, he says, “Say that 3 times & see if it still makes sense.”

It seems like a snarky statement, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen it ring true!

The apostle Paul travels all over tarnation telling anyone who will listen about Jesus. Acts 19 tells us that as he spends time preaching in Ephesus, a solemn fear descends on the city & the name of Jesus becomes greatly honored…so much so that Greeks & Jews alike turn from their wicked ways, burning 7 million dollars worth of sorcery books!

Troubles arise, however, when a wealthy silversmith suddenly sees sales plummet & here’s why: Ephesus houses the temple of the Greek goddess Artemis & he is the primary supplier of the little silver gods people buy & now they’re not buying!😬

In his zealous anger, he incites a mob large enough to fill a colosseum & it all starts with this sentence:

“But as you’ve seen & heard, this man Paul has persuaded many people that handmade gods aren’t gods at all…”

If I could add a sound here, it’d be the backward scratch of a record 😂 Say it 3 times & I think you’ll see why.

He persuaded many that handmade gods aren’t gods at all?!

Well, duh!🙄 If gods need human hands to make them, then how can they be gods?

Even as I roll my own eyes, however, I am reminded how everything this side of heaven, whether we craft them with our own hands, or they are a gift OF God, has the potential to become an idol-like god if we let it.

It’s why we need to surround ourselves with a community of believers who’ll love us enough to call us out when our decisions, words & actions lack logic!

Lord, You delight in those who fear You & put their hope in Your unfailing love. Anytime we fear anything more than You, we’ve let that thing creep into the God-shaped hole in our hearts that only You can fill!

Guard us from crafting our own handmade god. Bring to mind anything we worship more than You so we might rid ourselves of it with the same zeal of the Ephesians when they torched their books! We place our hope in The Living Hope who handmade us in His image!

#OneYearBible

June 29th One Year Bible Readings

2 KINGS 15:1-16:20

ACTS 19:13-41

PSALM 147:1-20

PROVERBS 18:4-5