Whispers of Truth

Recently in several different conversations with women, the idea of whether or not there is any harm to be found in “looking” has come up. Window shopping, browsing without aim, Pinteresting in boredom, Facebook scrolling for hours at a time, watching cheesy romantic Hallmark movies—call it what you will and add your own poison—but we women have many different labels we slap on something that the world tells us is harmless. But is it really? Today in my reading, I came across a verse in Proverbs that made me think of these conversations: “Sheol [death] and Abaddon [hell] are never satisfied, nor are the eyes of man ever satisfied” (27:20, NASB). Think about that one for a minute. The looking never causes us to be satisfied, and I would argue it increases dissatisfaction within us. The more we look and dwell on something that is worldly, the natural inclination is to desire it.  Another word for desiring something we do not have is coveting , and coveting when used in a “good

I find I often need reminding of what I already know. The fact I need reminding often discourages me, but God in His mercy sends me reminder after reminder like fresh rain falling on the dry ground of winter. Just like that blessed rain, God’s reminders, His compassion and mercy, His truth, falls on me and causes me to respond. When I read the Old Testament, I see that God called a people out of a pagan nation in order to make a peculiar people of His own (Gen. 12), that He gifted them with His blessing and presence over and over again, that He rescued them from a captivity that He designed for their own good (Gen. 37-Ex. 14), that He created a way for people who couldn’t enter into His presence to worship Him and be forgiven (Gen. 24-40), that He lowered Himself to place His name in a temple in a city on the earth He created (2 Chron. 7:1-2), that He forgave again and again when that same stubborn, rebellious-hearted, people peculiar to Him wandered faithlessly away from Him time