Whispers of Truth

Recently, some friends and I were discussing Saul’s experience with the medium in I Samuel 28. I had never really thought about the chapter being controversial or having different interpretations but rather had read it as an indication of the depravity of Saul’s heart and his desperation to escape judgment that was surely coming to him. Yet apparently, the argument had been presented in a previous discussion that Samuel (as called up by the medium) wasn’t really Samuel but an evil spirit, and they were asking what I thought. It had never occurred to me, as I have read the passage in a very literal sense each time I have encountered it, seeing only what it reveals about Saul and his heart   By the time this incident occurs in Saul’s story, he already knows that the LORD has rejected him from being king over Israel because of the disposition of his heart, his open disobedience and rebellion. Earlier in the book, Samuel had spoken to Saul these words: “Rebellion is as the sin of divi...

I’ve had the unusual experience of going back over the last two months. Going back to where I was before the Lord moved me. Going back to the bustle of the classroom. Going back to what I had willingly left behind because there was a need. Admittedly, it has been a challenge and a distraction. And now I find myself eagerly waiting. Waiting to be released after helping to transition a new teacher into the position I was temporarily (and somewhat reluctantly) holding. Waiting to go back to my “normal” life. For now just, well, waiting. That meme that has made the rounds the past few years about waiting in the hallway for God to open the next door? That has been me this week.  While I’ve been waiting, I’ve continued reading and studying, the difficulty of which you might not understand unless you’ve ever been in an upper school hallway for any extended amount of time. Older people might remember rooms that quieted with the bell and the teacher’s roll call, but that is rarely the ca...

I have been fighting a battle against neutrality this week. Several ninth graders I have been teaching for the past month have fought me against taking a stance in their writing. They crave neutrality. It’s comfortable. It requires no effort. At first glance (or second) on an issue they can see positives and negatives but have no clear picture. They waver back and forth in their writing. Their untenable desire to maintain neutrality when arguing a point accomplishes nothing. A failure to take a stance is simply a waste of the valuable and limited time we have on this earth. This truth holds in the spiritual realm as well. In Luke 11:23 Jesus makes the point to the Pharisees he is speaking with that if a person is not with Him, he is against Him, and if that person chooses not to gather with Him, he is is scattering. Our Bible study group discussed this Thursday night in the context of people’s desire for neutrality. However well one might balance on the fence in the world, when it c...