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From square one, we see fallen humanity trying to justify itself before a holy God. It started with Adam blaming Eve, and continued with Cain offering vegetables to God, instead of an animal sacrifice like his little brother Abel. Why was offering a basket full of vegetables verses a bowl full of lamb’s blood that big a deal? Because the basket represented something God rejected, while the bowl represented something God accepted. The basket of vegetables represented all Cain’s human efforts that he was offering to God. He’d worked hard to produce them through the sweat of his brow. If you’ve ever worked a garden, you’ll understand exactly what I’m saying. Years ago, when my wife and I bought our first house, a small 900 square foot hut, it came with a 935 square foot unkempt garden…complete with chickens. My wife was dead set on reviving the garden and asked me to join her. One of the first things I did was scrape loose and shovel out the four or five inches of chicken dung caking the bottom of the chicken pens. Wheel barrowing it out to the garden, I tilled it into the soil. There must have been 20 wheelbarrows full of chicken dung. And let me tell you something, chicken poop is like steroids for a garden. We produced over 500 tomatoes that year, along with loads of other vegetables. We had that satisfying sense of “yup, we produced that.” One German neighbor in particular swore up and down that the ground in our part of town was unfruitful. When I showed him our garden, he freaked out, and I swelled up with pride. It was that same brand of chest-popping arrogance that Cain felt when he offered his basket full of veggies to God. But God rejected his offering. Why? The same reason God rejects any human attempt to pacify his anger toward sin through hard work and self-effort! Because all of these attempts are rooted in pride, not humility. Abel, on the other hand, just took a lamb from his flock, and sacrificed it. He knew that God required a blood sacrifice. He knew that something innocent must die for his sins.

One of the most powerful practices to engage in—especially when we’re feeling discouraged—is to lift our voices in praise, rejoicing in who God has been and how He has worked. Today we’ll sit in the sanctuary of the hesed love of God. Psalm 136 is a rich liturgical hymn that recalls the mighty acts of God in creation and redemption. This repeated refrain anchors each verse: “His love endures forever.” This line is deeply theological. The Hebrew word translated “steadfast love” is, once again, hesed. It describes God’s covenantal loyalty, mercy, and enduring kindness toward His people. The psalm opens with a call to thanksgiving, rooted in God’s character—“he is good” (v. 1). And He is the one true God (v. 2). No other can compare. Then the Psalmist traces God’s hesed throughout history—His acts in Creation (vv. 4–9), His deliverance of Israel from Egypt (vv. 10–16), His conquest of Canaan (vv. 17–22), and His ongoing care (vv. 23–25). God created the universe, and He sustains it. He protects and provides for His people. And in every season, the repeated refrain reminds the worshipper that these are not isolated acts. They are a collective expression of God’s unbreakable love. Psalm 136 echoes the covenant God made with Abraham in Genesis 15, which He fulfilled when He delivered His people from Egypt and gave them the Promised Land. Every victory and every provision were not a result of Israel’s merit. It was only a result of God’s faithful commitment to His promises. The refrain emphasizes the permanence. God’s love is not fleeting; it “endures forever.” Of course, God’s hesed did not end in the Old Testament. It was most fully realized with Christ on the cross (Rom. 5:8). The love displayed at Calvary is not fickle or fading; it is covenantal, eternal, faithful. [Note: The above lesson appears in “Today in the Word” a daily devotional distributed by the Moody Bible Instituted] +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ How to Study any Bible Passage : “God’s steadfast love endures forever.”

I’ll never forget the first time I watched the previews to the 1973 horror film classic, The Exorcist. This film was groundbreaking for its time, and very graphic. It told the story of a twelve-year-old girl who becomes possessed by the devil. Her bed shakes, her body levitates, and she vomits pea-green puke all over a holy water-flinging priest. As soon as I watched the previews (which terrified me), my mom said, “Go to bed.” I lay in my bed almost sure I could feel it shaking. I began to cry out to my mom. Finally, she screamed up the stairs, “If you don’t stay quiet, I’m gonna come up there and spank you!!!” I yelled back, “Please do!!!!” I figured a good old-fashioned spanking was better than fighting off the devil. And that’s the problem for many Christians. We tend to view the devil more through the eyes of the producer of The Exorcistthan we do through the lens of Scripture. According to the Bible, Satan was beautiful, winsome and powerful. But pride filled his heart, and he rebelled against God and was cast out of heaven. But when he was cast out, he didn’t suddenly turn ugly and grow horns and a tail. He is still beautiful. It was this angelic being who disguised himself as a serpent in the Garden of Eden and tempted Eve. The devil wanted what he was sure was his due. He had already led the charge in a failed attempt to conquer Jesus in heaven, so now it was time to conquer the earth. He wanted to hijack what God had given to humanity. The story of human history is often understood in terms of an unfolding chess match between God and Satan in the battle for the hearts of humanity. While we know that God has held the final “checkmate” move since the beginning of time, in His sovereignty He is letting the chess match unfold to demonstrate His glorious wisdom and power. But the devil wants his due. He’s still whispering lies as an angel of light, hoping to lure you away from the true Light of the World—Jesus. Don’t listen to him. And, if you can, avoid pea-green soup.

One of the scariest movie characters from my childhood was the Wicked Witch of the West in TheWizard of Oz. She not only tormented poor Dorothy and her timid friends, she scared me witless. Perhaps that’s why her demise is so indelibly imprinted in my brain. Just after the Wicked Witch sets the helpless scarecrow on fire, Dorothy grabs a bucket of water and throws it to put out the flames. Unbeknownst to everyone except the witch herself, water is her mortal downfall. She immediately begins her lament, crying, “I’m melting! I’m melting!” In seconds, the Wicked Witch is totally undone by simply coming into contact with water. This kind of makes me think of Isaiah 6:1-5. Instead of contact with water melting Isaiah away, it’s contact with the holiness of God Almighty that sends him into a meltdown of a different sort. “Woe to me!” he cries, “I amruined!...my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” As an Old Testament prophet of God, Isaiah is highly experienced when it comes to delivering messages of woe. In Isaiah 5, just one chapter before his dramatic, personal vision of God’s holiness, the prophet delivers a whole string of woeful curses on the sinful Hebrew nation. Six times in this single chapter, he pronounces prophetic doom upon the wicked, declaring “Woe to those who…” …accumulate more and more possessions …make their lives all about drinking and partying …pursue wickedness and ignore God …call evil good and good evil …are clever in their own sight …are unjust to the innocent. But now in Isaiah 6, when the prophet is actually given a personal vision of God’s holiness, it’s no longer “Woe to those….” It’s “Woe is me!” Isaiah was instantly overcome by his own sinfulness and sensed his very being might collapse beneath the weight of his sin’s ugliness in the presence of God’s beautiful holiness. Notice that even the seraphim, God’s heavenly creatures, covered their faces and feet, concealing themselves as much as possible from the direct presence of God, as the cried out “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty.”