HEAP
“I also could speak as ye do: if
your soul were in my soul’s stead, I could heap up words against you, and shake
mine head at you. But I would strengthen
you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should asswage your grief.” Job 16:4
The
story of Job’s friends, their offers of advice and subsequent conclusions makes
for some intense reading, but ultimately, not one of them looked for the good
in Job, they all were busy pointing fingers and heaping blame. Meanwhile, their friend, Job, has lost his
children, employees, income, health, and even the support of his spouse.
Job’s
response to his companions is never one of pointing the finger back to
them. He has made the decision not to
heap up words against them. He will not repay their condemnation in the same
manner. If the shoe were on the other foot, he says he would use words to
strengthen them and to bring comfort.
How
many times have you been in Job’s shoes?
You may have not experienced his extent of loss, but you may have
experienced friends who are so busy looking to find your faults that they only
add to your sense of despair. Or, have
you been guilty of being like Job’s companions; too busy trying to discover
where your friend is wrong, that you have heartlessly overlooked the depth of
their grief?
It
makes for some serious thought and some souls-stirring questions. Take time to
honestly confront yourself with these questions:
Do
my friends know that I would be supportive and comforting if they came to me in
the midst of a trial? Am I condemning in
my thoughts and words toward my friends?
Do I think the best of my friends, or am I out to see them fail? Do I use my words to strengthen my friends or
exalt my own sense of self-righteousness?
In trials, do I point my friends to hope in Christ or try to think of
something impressive I could say? Do I
treat my friends as I would want to be treated if I were in their position?
HEAP
“But
the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath: they cry not when he bindeth them.” Job 36:13
To
heap up wrath means to place wrath upon, or to appoint wrath for. So, the hypocrite is just giving God
ammunition by open rebellion and a heart full of sin. Even when God tries to “bind” him, or to
point out the error of his ways, the hypocrite refuses to bow, thus adding more
punishment and more eternal accountability for his choice.
Another
way to look at it this “heaping” is to say that the hypocrite heaps up, or
holds wrath in his heart. His
motivations are based on his anger. He
wants things to be his way, not God’s way.
He refuses to yield to God’s punishment or correction.
By
the way, the King James version defines this person as a hypocrite, but other
versions use the terms “godless” or “profane”.
Either way it points to a person outside of Christ.
Proverbs
11:21 reads, “Though hand join in hand,
the wicked shall not be unpunished…” God is very serious about sin and
rebellion. “No
matter how tight the cooperation may be, no matter how smart they are, no
matter how cleverly they are concealed, no matter the walls they have built, no
matter their technique of hiding, no matter the kind of meeting they have held,
no matter the agreement between them, the wicked shall not go unpunished.” (Daniel Olukoya)
Anger
is a deadly poison. To have it as the
mainstay of life is unwise and unhealthy.
To stubbornly hold onto your own agenda is only to heap up anger in your
heart as you fight against God’s moving and to place yourself ultimately before
the hands of an Almighty God for eternal judgment.
What
is the cure? Lay down your weapon of
anger. Confess your sin of stubbornness
and rebellion and throw yourself upon the mercy of God. You will never win the
battle. It will always cost you more
than you want to pay. You will not go
unpunished.
HEAP
“For
thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord shall reward
thee” Proverbs 25:22
“Therefore
if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing
thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.”
Romans 12:20
God’s
Word paints some very unusual pictures.
Heaping coals of fire on someone’s head?
Literally, it means piling up hot, glowing briquettes of coal upon the
head of your enemy. Doesn’t sound very
nice to me. Yet, as we choose to follow
the Lord’s command in the treatment of our enemies, that is what is taking
place.
The
focus is not, however, on seeing our poor enemy melting underneath the heat of
the coals of our vengeance, but rather, to see him melt into repentance and
friendship by our kindness toward him.
Or, on the other hand, our goodness toward him, may make his evil toward
us more inexcusable, and thereby bring the heat of conviction upon him.
It
makes me think of a cartoon picture of an enemy with steam coming out of his
head when he cannot break down his victim.
The victim continues to repay every assault with kindness. It just creates more anger and frustration in
the enemy.
Our
Lord’s actions had a similar affect on the people around him. He was kind to the unthankful and to the
evil. When he was reviled he reviled not
again. His truthful responses simply
blew the minds of his enemies. The
conviction of his words and acts heated them up and left them without excuse,
yet they chose vengeance instead of repentance.
It
isn’t always easy to be the “victim”.
Making that choice to repay ill with kindness takes spiritual fortitude
and much prayer. Yet, the love of God commands
us to be forgiving, forbearing and patient.
Trying to get our “pound of flesh” out of a situation will never lead us
to the end we desire. Peace, joy and
happiness cannot come out of a heart of vengeance. They are the fruits of endurance and forgiveness.
Are
you the victim or the enemy? Have you
felt the heat of conviction in your actions toward others? Are you making choices that lead for peace?
HEAP
“For
the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their
own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they
shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” II Timothy 4:3,4
During
my counseling studies I was presented with a rundown on how relationships break
down. It starts off with a hurt or
offense, then a communication breakdown, feelings of rejection and unreceived
offers of appeasement. Then, once the
conflict has broken out, the offended one seeks friends that agree with their
position. This is what has happened
here.
Sound
doctrine has offended them. They have
either refused to communicate this offense, or not taken time to fully
understand the position and begun to allow feelings to rule. Every offer of appeasement or reconciliation
has been rejected and they are in open conflict with God’s Word. So, they look around and accumulate others
who have found themselves opposing truth and go about to make their own truth.
The
truth hurts, but that does not change the fact that it is truth. Sound doctrine is vital, but that does not always
make it easy to swallow. In our day of
secularism, humanism, relativism and all the other ism’s, we see man trying to
make his own truth. He is turned to fables,
myths, legends, and false beliefs. These
teachers abound, and people are thronging to them. Such is the manner of the broad way.
The
narrow way, however, has but one Teacher, one Truth, and one Way. He alone has made the way for broken
relationship to be restored and sets the parameters for sound doctrine.
To
what are your ears attuned?
“For
God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy:
but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give
to him that is good before God….”
Ecclesiastes 2:26
Ever
notice that the bad guy is usually the rich guy? In the old Westerns, the richer cattleman was
troubled, power hungry and corrupt. The
poor farmer boy had only his horse and his good moral qualities. But, in the end of the story, the poor boy
got the girl and was rewarded, many times by gaining what the bad guy lost.
God
has shown this same pattern through his Word.
The enslaved Israelites left their captors (Egypt) with wealth
untold. They then entered the Canaan
land, “I have given you a land for which
ye did not labour, and cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them; of the
vineyards and oliveyards which ye planted not do ye eat.” (Joshua 24:13) God took from the evil and gave to the
good. Then again, in the book of Esther,
we see all of the wealth of Haman given to Mordecai. (Esther 8:2)
The
effort of gathering and heaping up is never related to the “good Christian”
except in the idea of laying up treasures in Heaven. All of our heaping up of the temporary causes
us to lose focus on God as the provider and rewarder. We are called to live life without the
attachment to the things of this world, without the driving desire to
accumulate wealth and stuffs. If we use
the gifts of wisdom and knowledge, we will be wealthy. The tangibility of our wealth will be
determined by our use of these gifts and by the hand of God, but tangible
wealth should not be our main goal.
There
is no reason, then, for us to covet the things of sinners, or to be envious of
their gain. Over and over we are taught
that they will be cut down and wither, they will not prosper, they are full of
trouble and they will be consumed. Our
focus should be on our own accountability and contentment before God. “Better
is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble
therewith.” (Proverbs 15:16) We need to leave the disbursement of wealth
to God. Remembering that - The good guy
will win!
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