Musings From A Rolling Eyed Turtle

After reading in the Psalms recently, I was struck by the concept of worth, well, actually worthlessness.   For example, in Psalm 101 we find this:   “I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless (v.3).”   And, in Psalm 119:   “Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways (v. 37).” In order to consider what is worthless, we should consider what has worth.  To that, the Bible speaks clearly:  “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Rev 5:12)   If worth is measured by power, wealth, wisdom, might, honor, glory and blessing, which are all pretty good measurements, then the One who has infinite worth is Jesus, the Lamb that was slain.  And if we want to consider what it worthless, it is probably the opposite of all those things.  But perhaps it would still be good to define some words: Worth :   the value of something measured by its qualities or by the esteem

In these days of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of the things I’ve enjoyed over the years are no longer available to me or they have been severely curtailed.  I don’t know about you, but sometimes it just makes me feel empty.  Feelings of emptiness are not necessarily indicative of actually being empty.  Thus it’s hard sometimes to figure out what is really going on.  In First Samuel 12:21 we find some help in defining what is empty:  “ You should not turn aside after empty things that can’t profit and can’t deliver, since they are empty.”   Maybe it’s not a complete definition but it sure sheds some light.  Empty things just can’t profit or deliver – simple yet profound!   Here’s another thing that’s simple, profound and flat out a reality for us - emptiness was handed down to us.  It came in the form of an “empty way of life”.  This empty way of life cannot profit or deliver.  In fact, it is so empty that we can’t dig our way out of it and have to be redeemed from it.  Spoiler

The account is both amazing and more than a bit disconcerting… During the battle, someone drew his bow and shot his arrow at random and hit the king between the sections of his armor. The king told his chariot driver, “Wheel around and get me out of the fighting. I’ve been wounded.”   But before this random act, the story had more intrigue… The king said to Jehoshaphat, “I will enter the battle in disguise, but you wear your royal robes.” So the king disguised himself and went into battle. But before the king decided to disguise himself, the story had even more intrigue… Micaiah answered, “I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd, and the Lord said, ‘These people have no master. Let each one go home in peace.’”   This prophet, Micaiah, was used by God to foretell the king’s death.   In a fruitless effort to circumvent a possible demise in battle, the king decided to go into battle disguised.   It was common at that time for the e