The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” [Genesis 3:12-13 (NIV)]
Just as we must not become stumbling blocks to others on their faith journey, we must be cautious of the stumbling blocks we encounter on ours. The Greek word usually translated as “stumbling block” was skandalon. It originally referred to the stick that served as the trigger for a snare trap but, eventually, scandalon developed two meanings. It was both a snare or trap that catches unsuspecting prey as well as something that trips a person and causes them to stumble and fall—in other words, a stumbling block. In both cases, the purpose of the scandalon is to catch its victim unaware!
In the guise of a serpent, Satan certainly didn’t look dangerous when presenting himself to Eve. Remember, this was before God cursed the serpent with crawling on its belly and groveling in the dust for as long as it lived and God had not yet declared enmity between mankind and snakes. To the naïve Eve, Satan probably seemed as cute, charming, and harmless as Martin the Gecko with the Cockney accent in Geico’s commercials!
Indeed, temptation is seductive and rarely does our tempter appear to be the adversary he or she truly is. The lovely Delilah didn’t look like a greedy schemer who would sell out Samson for 5,500 pieces of silver. It was Jacob’s loving mother who suggested he steal Esau’s blessing from Isaac and it was Abraham’s beloved wife who suggested he bypass God’s timing and bed Hagar. Job’s wife is the one who told him to curse God and die. When Peter told Jesus to refuse crucifixion, that temptation also came from someone Jesus loved and trusted.
If a scandalon looked as dangerous and deadly as it is, it wouldn’t be effective—the intended prey would flee in terror before succumbing to it. Satan is no fool; if he arrived at our doorstep looking like the deceitful conniver he is, we’d never let him in. Instead, he finds ways to use people, often those we’d least suspect, even people we admire or love, to act as stumbling blocks to our faith. A good snare is misleading and, with the right bait, deceptively attractive. If you ask a recovering addict, they’ll tell you that first snort of cocaine or heroin didn’t come from a wigged-out junkie in a back alley; it came from a friend!
Earlier this week, I wrote about not being a stumbling block to someone else’s faith. It’s not enough, however, not to be a scandalon. We must learn how to recognize those stumbling blocks that ever so subtly lie in our path. Not every bad idea comes from someone we think of as “bad;” many come from our nearest and dearest. Indeed, stumbling blocks and temptations usually come in a pleasant package and without a warning label. While Satan may skulk around like a hungry lion, he often looks a great deal like a cute innocent kitten. But, as any mouse caught in a trap would tell us (were he able), that bite of cheese isn’t worth it!
We must not regard who speaks, so much as what is spoken; we should learn to know the devil’s voice when he speaks in a saint as well as when he speaks in a serpent. [Matthew Henry]
Having witnessed Jesus’ God-like power over nature when He walked on water, the disciples recognized Him as “the Son of God!” [Mat 14:32] Recognizing Jesus’ divinity, however, did not mean they understood He was the Messiah. While Jesus’ power to heal, multiply food, still storms, and walk on water implied a godlike nature, most 1st century Jews didn’t expect the Messiah to be divine. Expecting a righteous judge and a great political and military leader coming from the lineage of David, they assumed he would be a human being. So, when Jesus asked His disciples who people thought He was, they said John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or another one of the prophets—godly men who performed miracles, spoke of judgment, and called the people to return to covenant faithfulness.
After Israel accepted the Lord’s Covenant, Moses returned to the base of Mt. Sinai with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of Israel’s elders. It was then that every one of those men gazed upon the God of Israel from afar and ate a covenant meal in His presence. Before Moses departed to climb up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, he entrusted the Israelites to Aaron and the elders who then went back to their camp. Moses, accompanied by his servant/apprentice Joshua, climbed a short way up the mountain and a cloud covered it. The two men made camp and stayed there for the next six days. On the seventh day, God called to Moses from within the cloud and the Israelites’ leader disappeared into the mist.
Tithe means ten percent and the concept of the making a tithe is first found in Genesis. After being blessed by Melchizedek, the king of Salem and a “priest of God Most High,” Abram/Abraham gave him a tenth of all the goods he recovered from Kedorlaomer’s army after rescuing Lot. [14:20] After Jacob asked for God’s protection and provision, he pledged a tenth of his future blessings to Him. [28:22]
When writing about forgiveness these last few days, I wondered why we find it so difficult to forgive. Perhaps it’s because, in our troubled hearts, we want to even the score before doing so. Wanting to retaliate in some way, bitterness and resentment grow and eat at us until we can extract our pound of flesh.
When writing about issumagijoujungnainermik, the Inuit word for forgiveness, I came across a word in the Tshiluba language spoken by the Bantu of the Congo: ilunga. Because isumagijoujungnainermik is made up of several Inuit words, it easily translates as “not-being-able-to-think-about-it-anymore.” Like issumagijoujungnainermik, ilunga has to do with forgiveness but, unlike the Inuit word, it resists an easy translation. In fact, back in 2004, 1,000 linguists gave it the questionable honor of being the world’s “most difficult” word to translate!
Devotions of the Heart 