28 February 2013 - fruit or consequences

28 February 2013 - fruit or consequences

Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings,
who seeks his strength in flesh,
whose heart turns away from the LORD.

Why?  Because if we trust in ourselves we will end up like the rich man.

The rich man also died and was buried,
and from the netherworld, where he was in torment,

We must be like the poor man.  We can't be so dominated by the things and superficialities of life that we trust in them rather than trusting in the LORD.  If we are truly poor in spirit we will have all that we need regardless of how our circumstances turn out.

He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.

Due season is usually not as soon as we'd like.  That as one reason why we start trusting in flesh.  The more we do this the more it seems like the seasons never change and the drought we are trying to escape is endless.  We become more and more trapped by our own flesh which is never an escape and always a prison.

He is like a barren bush in the desert
that enjoys no change of season,
But stands in a lava waste,
a salt and empty earth.

Trusting in the LORD like the poor man we will stand fast through trials.  The dryness of life won't overcome us because we have the water of life to drink.  And when we die, the truth of our circumstances will become apparent.

When the poor man died,
he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham.

Hear we will never thirst again, whereas the barren desert of the rich man becomes his eternal home since he does not repent.

Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue,
for I am suffering torment in these flames.’

Is this fair?  Is it really a free choice that sends him to perdition?  Are the stakes understood clearly?  They are, because he has Moses and the prophets.  Not only that, in Lazarus, he has the choice to either feed Jesus or leave him hungry (cf. Matthew 25:31-46)  He chooses to leave him hungry.  This is the choice for or against God on a profound internal level that transcends the merely intellectual.  This inward turn is in itself the choice of the eternal barren desert of self isolated from God.  

Let us delight in the law of the LORD and meditate on it constantly.  It points the way to life!

Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.