Note: On Fridays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.
Hindsight, as the saying goes, is 20/20.
The Babylonian exiles knew what they’d done wrong. Baruch may have detailed the sins on the scroll, and Asaph or a member of a guild may have written or transcribed the plea for forgiven
ess in Psalm 79 (“Remember not against us the iniquities of the past; may your compassion quickly come to us, for we are brought very low”), but everyone knew they had offended God. It’s all but certain they knew they were wrong in the moment as well, that evil and wickedness were turning them away from the Lord. But the temporary joys in those moments overrode any thought of eventual judgment.
Before we judge the exiles for their lack of gratitude and piety, we might consider our own lives and the places we cut corners. Where are we serving the false gods of wealth and power? Where are we hurting others? Where are we injuring ourselves with abuse? In what ways are we focusing on pleasure and gain instead of the Lord’s Word?
Hindsight, as the saying goes, is 20/20.
Check out the Pope’s comments at Assisi that I posted on FB.
I’m just finishing a novel that started slowly but has so engaged me in the second half. Earlier this morning, I read of Jesus being scourged and beaten and carrying the cross… of him actually picking up the pace up the hill because he so wanted the end. On the cross and struggling for each breath, he asked occasionally if it was time and was told no… then, finally, that he needed to offer up the last thing he had. In the novel, that was when he spoke to Mary and John. Then, it was finished. I read your post regarding Pope Francis this morning, and the two fit together for me. There are some worldly things I am struggling to offer up. I am reminded anew that it has to happen to get through that narrow gate. Thanks, Trudy.