Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“But they do not consider that I remember all their wickedness. Now their deeds surround them, they are before my face. By their wickedness they make the king glad, and the officials by their treachery.”
NL Daily Devotion for Thursday, November 16, 2023
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Maybe no one will notice… As a young person, I was a teacher’s pet. I followed the rules, excelled academically, demonstrated responsibility, and was generally seen as one of the “good kids.” While there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, what it did in my case was lead to a raging case of entitlement (though I wouldn’t be aware of it until years later in retrospect.) I figured as one of the “good kids” that the rules didn’t really apply to me. They were to keep the “bad kids” in line. And while I followed them when necessary to maintain my good standing, I disregarded them any time I thought I could get away with it. And anytime I was called out on this, I was adept at deflecting, spinning, or if pushed, outright lying to not get in trouble. One time—only once in all of elementary, junior high, and high school—I actually had to face the consequences of my entitlement. A teacher caught me breaking his rule and gave me detention. Me! How dare he? Who did he think he was? Didn’t he know who I was? I can laugh about it now, having done the 12-Step recovery work known as a “fearless and thorough moral inventory” and its subsequent amends-making process, but at the time I was incensed, humiliated, and deeply resentful. Like the folks Hosea is calling out in this passage, my wickedness didn’t go unnoticed—my deeds surrounded me and were before this teacher’s face. He knew all about my entitlement and he wasn’t about to put up with it. Yikes!
I don’t think God just lies in wait for us to mess up and act on our character defects. I think we create all kinds of our own misery, which is plenty punishment for such things. But let’s not be fooled: God knows exactly what is in our minds and hearts, even the things we would rather hide from God. Luckily, God loves and forgives us even if and when we have to accept the worldly consequences of our actions.
Have I ever done anything I’m not proud of? Were there consequences? How do I feel about these events at this point in my life?
