–Lou Bradshaw  (Dead Mule Valley)

       “…Man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD.”

                    –Deuteronomy 8:3 (NKJV)
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I don’t understand “hackers”.  Why in the world would someone want to spend their time breaking into others’ computers, accounts, and lives?  It is an obsession as well as a crime, along with lack of integrity.  Yes, you might have guessed, I was hacked this week.  With threats, and a tinge of scoffing that I should have done a better job of protecting my passwords.  But, I ask, why prey on the feeble (and I am feeble when it comes to working with computers).  Get a job and put your talents to good use for the benefit of others.  Perhaps it is because of a hard heart.

               “Happy is the man who is always reverent, but he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity.  –Proverbs 28:14, NKJV
               “Blessed is the man who always fears the Lord, but he who hardens his heart falls into trouble.”  –Proverbs 28:14, NIV

       The fear of the Lord, what is it?  We could give several answers and be on the right track.  Some say it is just what it says, “fear.”  Others say it means “to be in awe.”  I like what Bob Beasley says, “It begins with an understanding of the gospel:  who I am and who God is, and the great gulf between us that has been bridged by Jesus Christ.  It means to live in utter dependence upon His law and to obey it.”  Note that we who have been born again never need to fear the Lord’s condemnation.  However, there should be a fear within us because He is a holy God.  The person who fears the Lord recognizes the purpose of the Law, that it is part of the factor in God’s grace.  It is the Law that shows our failure and the need to turn to a Savior.
       “The person who fears the Lord wants to keep the moral law for two basic reasons.  First, he stands in awe of his God and he wants to please Him.  Second, he realizes that God, in His infinite wisdom, has given people His Law as a guide to a happy, fulfilling, and productive life.  The Christian puts God’s wisdom above his own and relies completely upon God’s judgment.” (Beasely)  We realize that we are not our own and want to please our heavenly Father by following His commandments.  Jesus said, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.  And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” (John 14:21, NKJV)  John develops this a little first in his first epistle, “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.” (1 John 2:3, NKJV)
       Then there is that portion of the proverbs that speaks of the hardening of one’s heart.  I have wondered about that often, especially when reading the account of Moses dealing with Pharaoh.  What does it mean to harden one’s heart?  Simply this, the hardness of heart is simply unbelief.  Sin can cause a person to harden their hearts.  The writer of Hebrews warns about hardening the heart.  Get rid of unbelief–today–lest there be an evil heart of unbelief…lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. (Hebrews 3:12-13)  
        Turning your back on God, on God’s commandments (Word) is a way to harden your heart.  Lacking faith and rebelling against the promises of God is a way to harden the heart.  Not trusting in God, and in His direction is a way to harden the heart.  See, it wasn’t only the stiff-necked, proud Pharaoh who hardened his heart, it was the people of Israel when they refused to enter the Promised Land.   Do not be like them.  “…Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.  For who, having heard, rebelled?  Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses?  Now with whom was He angry forty years?  Was it not with those who sinned whose corpses fell in the wilderness?” (Hebrews 3:15-17, NKJV)
       The person who hardens his heart will not listen to the words of the Lord; he will not be guided by the Holy Spirit.  Woe to that person, for the Lord declares that when the day of calamity comes He will laugh.  Because He was mocked when He reached out, the person with the hard heart will receive no help from the Lord when terror comes.  (Proverbs 1:23-27).  “Then they will call on men, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.” (Proverbs 1:28, NKJV).
       Therefore, fear the Lord and thrive on every word that proceeds from His mouth.

                    –John 10:1 (NKJV)
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I wrote a while back about the importance of punctuality.  That a person who is not punctual is actually stealing.  They’re stealing from their employer’s time, and from their responsibilities along with the fact that they are building a negative aspect to their reputation.  My ballplayers always knew that if they were not on time the bus would not wait for them.
      “You shall not steal.” (Exodus 20:15)  When we look at the face of the statement, we say sure, that’s easy.  “Don’t rob banks, or take something that does not belong to you.”  But Begg sheds a brighter light on the commandment.  He says that the commandment implies two biblical principles (and progressive socialists take note).  First it implies the right to private property.  Second, it implies the sovereign ownership of God over all He has made.  “God owns all things, and He grants temporary stewardship to us.  So to steal something from someone is an offense against God as the ultimate owner and against the person who is stewarding it.” (Alistair Begg)  You might scoff, but in reality that is true–you’ve never seen a hearse pulling a u-haul.  No matter how hard a man works for wealth and possessions here, he can’t take it with him into eternity.
       Are you a thief?  Did you ever snitch from the cookie jar?  When Annie makes biscuits or cookies, my mercy it’s hard to keep from snatching one up.  That can’t be borrowing, ’cause you can’t give it back once it’s down in the gullet past those taste buds.  Oh, it’s only stealing if you get caught?  Let’s look deeper into what stealing really is.

          –blatant theft
          –borrowing something we fail to return
          –keeping dishonest records
          –misusing our employer’s time
          –paying unjust wages, withholding wages, or delaying wages
          –slandering others, thereby stealing their reputation
          –sinning sexually with another, thereby stealing their moral purity
          –plagiarizing, thereby stealing someone else’s work
          –cheating in the classroom
          –failing to give God what we owe Him (Begg)

One of the biggest problems I had in the later years of my teaching was that of plagiarism.  Some students were downright blatant, others tried to be sneaky.  I don’t know which is worse–the blatant thief, or the sneak-thief.
       Why do people steal?  Oh, there could be myriad reasons, but the simple reason is that it is caused by sin.  Coveting, greed, laziness, slothfulness, addictions, plus all of the excuses that people have.  Some want to take a short-cut to wealth believing that the end justifies the means.  Years ago I remember the story of a group of longshoremen on the east coast.  I don’t remember the city, but there was a revival that broke out and it moved out onto the docks.  Men were saved by the droves and within weeks, tools that had “disappeared” were returned to the tool shed.  In fact, they ended up with more tools than were actually on the inventory.  
       Paul writes, “Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.” (Ephesians 4:28, NKJV)  Don’t shirk in your work.  Don’t do less quality work.  To not do your best is cheating yourself, your employer, and God.  Make the most of the time given you–in other words, don’t steal time.  That is one thing you cannot give back in restitution.
       I remember a missionary from years ago while we were attending Evangel Bible Church in Colorado Springs spoke about robbing God.  In the country where he ministered at the communion service a pastor would place individuals in a certain part of the sanctuary and not allow them to partake of the communion.  He said the reason was that they were robbing God by not paying their tithes.  He said they were already cursed, and didn’t want to make it worse by taking of the elements unworthily.  Hmm, what would happen in churches if that were practiced today?  But there is a stern warning in Malachi, “‘Will a man rob God?’  Yet you have robbed Me!  But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’  In tithes and offerings.  You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation.'”  (Malachi 3:8-9, NKJV)  To take it a step further, many rob God by not using the talents, time, and skills given to them by God for the Kingdom.  Be careful of the sin of Ananias and Sapphira.

               “All to Jesus I surrender,
               All to Him I freely give;
               I will ever love and trust Him,
               In His service daily live.”
                       –J.W. VanDeVenter

                    –Romans 8:18 (NKJV)
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I’m not sure how it is now, but when I was serving in the military one of our most prized possessions was our shot records.  To lose those, oh my, the agony.  They were as vital to our well-being as our financial records.  I never had trouble taking shots, in fact, in basic training they used the “gun.”  I liked it; it was easy, and quick.  Then from that point on, especially if you were going to another country, a third-world country, you would have to take certain shots.  The purpose–protection.  With that in mind, let’s look at the next part of Psalm 91.

          7 — A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you.
          8 — Only with your eyes shall you look, and see the reward of the wicked.
          9 — Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place,
        10 — No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling.  (NKJV)

       “Wait a minute?”  I hear you cry.  John the Baptist lost his head; Stephen was stoned to death; James was killed with the sword, and I had loved ones die with COVID.  Yes, yes, that may be true, however, nothing destroyed their relationship with God, and should not have destroyed yours if you lost someone close and dear.  
       Normally we think of verse 7 as a physical battle, but think of it.  How many did you see fall during the “pandemic”?  Perhaps, a different sort of thought, how many did you see lose their faith, faltering and quivering with fear?  Open your eyes, isn’t that a deeper danger?  Should we not realize that our relationship (there’s that word again) is with the Lord?  We should be living in Him; He is our refuge and dwelling place (verses 1-2),  No matter what storm, battle, disease, pestilence, that may be around you, the Lord is there to protect you–the real, deeper you.
       This psalm doesn’t mean “we will be immune to all disease or danger, but we do know that the Lord will keep us safe from eternal harm.” (William Petersen).   Remember, nothing can touch God’s people unless God allows it.  Let me give you a word of warning:  do not use God’s word flippantly.  For example, the other day a person replied to the concern of another during a storm that occured, “we’re fine, we’re covered with the blood.”  There is something missing here.  This is not a statement of faith, but one of not understanding the Scriptures, not realizing reality.  The rain falls on the just and the unjust.  Derek Kidner wrote, “Verse 10 is a statement of providence, not a charm against adversity.”  Read the Epistles of the New Testament, and the words of Jesus.  There is adversity for the believer; there is suffering, but there is security in the knowledge that the Lord will not forsake His people.

               “What I have to dread, what have I to fear,
               Leaning on the everlasting arms?
               I have blessed peace with my Lord so near,
               Leaning on the everlasting arms.”
                       –Elisha A. Hoffman