I get lots of advice, often without asking. Like the lady a couple of weeks ago who told me about how I should plant my tomatoes and how she planted her tomatoes (and why her husband doesn’t even like tomatoes). Then she chattered on about how tomatoes are grown in Wisconsin, why tomatoes are good to take boating, and had I ever heard of tomato cages? All while we stood looking at plants. I nodded politely but ignored her advice. I was just trying to choose between an Early Girl or Cherokee Purple.

Absalom rebelled against his father in order to seize the kingdom, and he called two advisors to help with his next move. One urged Absalom to attack immediately while David and his men lay exhausted and unprepared. The other (secretly working for David), cautioned restraint and proposed gathering a larger army before overwhelming the king’s forces.

Absalom, a young man who’d never led an army or a rebellion, and in awe of the stories of his father’s fighting ability, decided on further preparation.

Absalom choose poorly.

Absalom received lots of advice, but not much wisdom. The scriptures yield solid advice, oozing wisdom, and the person who helps you plant those in your life is golden indeed. Good advisors with trusted track records are hard to find. Hold those people close.

2 Samuel 16 & 17 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Javier Allegue Barros

Banished conjures strong images, like that of a king driving a traitor into the desert. No one plans on banishment as a life experience.

In the midst of a terrible family tragedy, the first trickling of the flood to flow from his adultery with Bathsheba and subsequent murder of Uriah, a woman confronted David. She reminded him: We must die. But that is not what the Lord desires; rather, he devises ways so that a banished person does not remain banished from him.

In that moment the king’s son, Absalom, remained banished from David. On the broader canvas, David banished himself from the Lord through his sin. But the Lord restored David, and so David restored Absalom.

The Lord always looks from ways to restore those banished back to him. Of course, Jesus remains the ultimate way. No one must remain in the desert. But I also think of how thoughts of the Lord tend to cycle through the lives of many distant from him.

For years no spiritual interest at all, then a personal tragedy or a chance meeting with an old friend or warfare abroad brings a verse or a comment to mind. The Lord reminds the banished that he’s still there and he provides a way back. I often hear someone say, That’s when I returned to my faith.

Why? Because he devises ways so that a banished person does not remain banished from him. Do you feel banished? Or does someone you love? That’s normal—we all wander beyond the pale. But know that the Lord is actively looking for ways to bring us back.

2 Samuel 14 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Markus Spiske

Yesterday I watched a spring snowstorm engulf the building where I work. I drove home in a blizzard to watch my freshly leaved-out trees gather heavy, wet flakes. We covered tomatoes and flowers, while the snow blanketed my strawberry bed (as seen above). Later my son-in-law and I shook snow off branches with a broom and long pole, fighting against breakage.

Spring snows in Colorado aren’t unusual, although this one arrived a bit late in the season. I own a long branch-shaking pole for a reason. But I’d rather not use it. As I look at melting lumps drop this morning a passage reminds me of the days ahead:

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it flourish, and so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:10-11).

Good reminder that the snow pounding my trees gives way to well-watered earth. Later this spring my strawberries will flourish, along with the blackberries and raspberries canes now buried. The snow will be a memory when I enjoy the fruit its moisture produced.

And so goes the word of God in my life. At times it drops cold and unwelcome. The words whirl and slow down. But if I give attention, if I let His wisdom soak in, then a flourishing life buds for my future.

One of the most riveting books I’ve ever read is Sebastian Junger’s The Perfect Storm. His true story of a fishing boat caught in a massive storm kept me awake several nights in a row. The sheer power of the sea and wind defied anything I knew. Even floating in a swimming pool felt dangerous for a time.

The apostle Paul lived through his own disaster at sea, involving days of peril and ending in the loss of the entire ship and its contents.

Earlier in the voyage Paul warned against continuing to sail so late in the season. But the men in charge (Paul was only a prisoner on board) decided to press on. Luke records the decision: The centurion, instead of listening to what Paul said, followed the advice of the pilot and of the owner of the ship…the majority decided we should sail on.

Most disasters start with a bad decision. Which is followed by another bad decision, and the subsequent cascading actions prove harder and harder to overcome. Paul’s ship might have harbored earlier along the route to Rome, but profit and desire pushed the crew forward.

How many times have I made snap decisions when the wiser choice would have been to pause? Some decisions call for immediate action. But others benefit from waiting for better circumstances. Wisdom involves discerning the difference.

The captain and owner of the doomed ship both survived the shipwreck. I hope the wisdom gained from this catastrophe helped them avoid the next.

We all deal with the fallout from poor decisions, but the ability to learn from our mistakes yields the depth and maturity and wisdom needed as we go through life.

Acts 27 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Yevhen Buzuk