Reflecting God – Embrace Holy Living - WordAction - The Foundry Publishing House of Kansas City, Missouri, United States - The Global Church of the Nazarene for Thursday, 5 October 2017 "Weasel Words" by Amy Crofford - 2 Samuel 11:14-27

Reflecting God – Embrace Holy Living - WordAction - The Foundry Publishing House of Kansas City, Missouri, United States - The Global Church of the Nazarene for Thursday, 5 October 2017 "Weasel Words" by Amy Crofford - 2 Samuel 11:14-27

2 Samuel 11:14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Yo’av and sent it with Uriyah. 15 In the letter he wrote, “Put Uriyah on the front lines of the fiercest fighting; then pull back from him, so that he will be wounded and killed.” 16 So while Yo’av had the city under siege, he assigned Uriyah to the place where he knew the toughest defenders were. 17 The men of the city went out and fought Yo’av; a number of people fell, including some of David’s servants, with Uriyah the Hitti among the dead.

18 Yo’av sent a message to David reporting all the news concerning the war, 19 and he instructed the messenger, “When you have finished telling the king all the news about the war, 20 he may become angry and ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot from the wall? 21 Didn’t you think about the person who struck Avimelekh the son of Yerubeshet, that a woman threw an upper millstone down on him from the wall, so that he died at Tevetz? Why did you go so near the wall?’ If he says this, tell him, ‘Your servant Uriyah is dead also.’” 22 So the messenger left, and on arrival he told David all that Yo’av had sent him to say. 23 The messenger said to David, “The men were overpowering us and came out after us into the countryside. But we chased them back all the way to the entrance of the city gate. 24 The archers shot at your servants from the wall; some of the king’s servants are dead; also your servant Uriyah the Hitti is dead.” 25 David said to the messenger, “Tell Yo’av, ‘Don’t let this matter get you down — the sword devours in one way or another. Intensify your battle against the city, and overthrow it.’ And encourage him.”
26 When the wife of Uriyah heard that Uriyah her husband was dead, she mourned her husband. 27 When the mourning was over, David sent and took her home to his palace, and she became his wife and bore him a son.
But Adonai saw what David had done as evil.

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Editing can be such fun, especially if the work is translated. Once, I was working on a history of my denomination that was translated into Haitian Creole. One word was completely new to me, so I looked it up. The first definition listed was “dune buggy.” I laughed as I pictured our church leader from the early 1900s flying over the sand in California with his hair streaming behind and his brilliantly colored surfboard strapped on top of the dune buggy. A subsequent and more accurate definition was horse-drawn carriage.
Editing can also be tedious. Weasel words burrow their way into our thoughts and writing. They make strong ideas powerless and mock clarity. “Some will say” and “the people seem to want” hedge away from a direct statement of truth. Often, we think of politicians and salespeople using them, but we all use them without thinking.
Satan’s schemes, like weasel words, cannot be trusted. In Matthew 5:37, Jesus calls us to clarity: “All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”

Hymn for Today:
"I Would Be True" by Howard A. Walter
1. I would be true, for there are those who trust me;
I would be pure, for there are those who care;
I would be strong, for there is much to suffer;
I would be brave, for there is much to dare;
I would be brave, for there is much to dare. 
2. I would be friend of all--the foe, the friendless;
I would be giving, and forget the gift;
I would be humble, for I know my weakness;
I would look up, and laugh, and love, and lift;

I would look up, and laugh, and love, and lift. 
Thought for Toeday:
Hear my voice, God, as I plead:
preserve my life from fear of the enemy.
Hide me from the secret intrigues of the wicked
and the open insurrection of evildoers.(Psalm 64:2).
Please Pray:
That many people in Honduras will come to know Yeshua the Messiah and receive the fullness of the Ruach HaKodesh. 
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Reflecting God – Embrace Holy Living - WordAction - The Foundry Publishing House of Kansas City, Missouri, United States - The Global Church of the Nazarene for Wednesday, 4 October 2017 "Beautiful Blooms" by Amy Crofford - 2 Samuel 11:1-13
2 Samuel 11:1 In the spring, at the time when kings go out to war, David sent out Yo’av, his servants who were with him and all Isra’el. They ravaged the people of ‘Amon and laid siege to Rabbah. But David stayed in Yerushalayim. 2 Once, after his afternoon nap, David got up from his bed and went strolling on the roof of the king’s palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing, who was very beautiful. 3 David made inquiries about the woman and was told that she was Bat-Sheva the daughter of Eli‘am, the wife of Uriyah the Hitti. 4 David sent messengers to get her, and she came to him, and he went to bed with her (for she had been purified from her uncleanness). Then she returned to her house. 5 The woman conceived; and she sent a message to David, “I am pregnant.”
6 David sent this order to Yo’av: “Send me Uriyah the Hitti.” Yo’av sent Uriyah to David. 7 When Uriyah had come to him, David asked him how Yo’av was doing, how the people were feeling and how the war was going. 8 Then David said to Uriyah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” Uriyah left the king’s palace and was followed by a present of food from the king. 9 But Uriyah slept at the door of the king’s palace with all the servants of his lord and didn’t go down to his house. 10 When they told David, “Uriyah didn’t go down to his house,” David said to Uriyah, “Haven’t you just arrived from a journey? Why didn’t you go down to your house?” 11 Uriyah answered David, “The ark, Isra’el and Y’hudah stay in tents; and my lord Yo’av and the servants of my lord are camping in the countryside. So should I go into my house to eat and drink and go to bed with my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!” 12 David said to Uriyah, “Stay here today also; tomorrow I will let you leave.” So Uriyah stayed in Yerushalayim that day and the following day. 13 David summoned him, ate and drank with him, and got him drunk. But in the evening he went out and lay on his bed with his lord’s servants and did not go down to his house.
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Our family was out running errands. We picked up the Easter lilies for the church platform and secured them in the backseat area. We visited people. We stopped at the grocery store. My husband and I chatted about the upcoming weekend and the choir’s cantata. The day was gorgeous and time got away from us. Finally, we realized it was late and we had skipped lunch. Why hadn’t our normally hungry son cried out from his car seat? We turned to look. He was smiling and happy with an Easter lily hanging out of his mouth and yellow pollen on his lips.
Panic! Are Easter lilies poisonous? Yet, he seemed his bubbly self. After several calls to many poison control centers who were as clueless as we were, the call finally came that there was not a problem for him to have helped himself to the blossoms. We were fortunate that we only had to replace a few plants; they could have been deadly.
Sin is like a beautiful bloom for a hungry toddler who reaches out to consume it without considering the potential danger.
Hymn for Today:

"He Never Has failed Me Yet" by W. J. Henry
1. When I travel the pathway so rugged and steep,
When I pass through the valley so dark and so deep,
And when snares for my soul by my foes have been set,
Jesus never has failed me yet.
Refrain: He never has failed me yet.
He never has failed me yet.
I have proven Him true;
What He says He will do.
He never has failed me yet.
2. Then I’ll dread not the future,
and fear not the foe.
I am safe in His keeping wherever I go;
for no soul that has trusted Him will He forget,
For He never has failed me yet!
Refrain: He never has failed me yet.
He never has failed me yet.
I have proven Him true;
what He says He will do.
He never has failed me yet.
Thought for Today:
And do not lead us into hard testing,
    but keep us safe from the Evil One.
[Matthew 6:13 The latter half of verse 13 is not found in the oldest manuscripts.]For kingship, power and glory are yours forever.
Amen.’ (Matthew 6:13}
Please pray:
For compassionate ministries among the poor and in disaster areas of Haiti.
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