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He drew me up from the pit of destruction,

out of the miry bog,

and set my feet upon a rock,

making my steps secure.

—Psalm 40:2

Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come and let us meet together at Hakkephirim in the plain of Ono.” But they intended to do me harm. And I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?” And they sent to me four times in this way, and I answered them in the same manner.

—Nehemiah 6:2-4

Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.

—2 Timothy 2:23

Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

—Galatians 6:2

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us

—Hebrews 12:1

After walking through a muddy barnyard or field, it is a good idea to take the time to scrape the mud and mire from our boots. Otherwise, the burden will cling to our boots and add weight to every step.

The flip-side of that image is that negative talk about someone, especially with the goal of damaging that person's reputation or stirring up contempt, is called "mud-slinging".

Social media is like essentially every other form of technology. While there is great potential for good when used with good intent, there are always some who will twist it to their own purposes, using it to the harm of others. And so we see "anti-social media", full of malicious gossip and school-yard-style bullying. Sadly, that's nothing new. Sanballat and his cronies tried to use noise and slander and false pretenses to distract Nehemiah and those working with him. But Nehemiah wouldn't take the bait.

When Jesus acted as the Good Shepherd, or stated that He came to seek and save the lost, He was fulfilling the prophecy through Ezekiel that promised to seek the lost, bring back the sheep who had wandered away, and strengthen the weak. That same prophecy spoke judgment against the fat sheep who shoved the weak aside, muddying the pasture and drinking water.

The book of Hebrews instructs us to "lay aside" every hindering weight. That means discarding our own temptations and sins, not discarding other people. As a consequence of obeying that teaching, the Lord's people regain the capacity to bear one another's burdens.

Blessed is the man who makes

the Lord his trust,

who does not turn to the proud,

to those who go astray after a lie!

—Psalm 40:4

But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

—Luke 5:8

Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”

—John 13:37

Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear. (The servant's name was Malchus.)

—John 18:10

And [the disciples] all left [Jesus] and fled.

—Mark 14:50

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

—Acts 4:13

But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.”

—Acts 5:29

Human nature doesn't change on its own. But the One who created humans can also restore them to be in His image.

The Bible doesn't describe angels as chubby babies. The typical response to knowingly encountering an angel was fear, maybe even terror. That is the same reaction that Isaiah had to his vision of the Lord on His throne. Then a seraph, holding in his hand a burning coal, touched Isaiah's mouth and declared atonement. Then Isaiah was ready to go and do the Lord's work.

Peter initially reacted in fear to (partially) realizing the identity of Jesus. But he and James and John followed Jesus anyway. The three of them were terrified (again) on the mountain where Jesus was transfigured. But they kept following. The night of the Last Supper, Peter proclaimed that he was ready to follow Jesus, but Jesus knew better, and told Peter so. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus corrected Peter again for trying to fight fire with fire.

Peter was one of those who ran away.

But, by the sea, the risen Jesus met Peter and again called him to follow. Later, those who had opposed Jesus also opposed Peter and the others, but recognized that they had been with Jesus. Peter and the others declared their loyalty to Jesus in the face of corrupt human opposition.

Peter and the others were changed. Not by their own power. But by following, and re-following, Jesus.

Blessed is the man who makes

the Lord his trust,

who does not turn to the proud,

to those who go astray after a lie!

—Psalm 40:4

Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things;

and give me life in your ways.

—Psalm 119:37

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

—Genesis 2:15

therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.

—Genesis 3:23

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

—Hebrews 13:8

"No matter where you go, there you are." That exact phrase is from a 1984 movie, but the underlying idea has been expressed in many ways.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." That familiar phrase describes a pattern of human behavior that we can see in ourselves and others. It was written by George Santayana in 1905.

"The more things change, the more they stay the same." That is a common English version of an observation by the French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphones Karr in 1849.

Ironically, all of those sayings restate a principle that was written down thousands of years ago. Human nature (and therefore the human condition along with it) doesn't change. Paul referred to the events recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures as examples and instruction. If we look at the stubbornness and greed and injustice recorded there and think, "I'm glad we're not like that!" then we are simply joining ranks with the Pharisee in the parable of Jesus.

Looking further back, we can observe that the first humans were placed into the Garden to work it. After they rebelled and were expelled from the Garden... The penalty included working the ground. In a sense, it included the same work, but without fellowship with the Lord.

Human nature doesn't change. On its own.

But the One who does not change had and has better plans for us.

Blessed is the man

who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,

nor stands in the way of sinners,

nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

but his delight is in the law of the Lord,

and on his law he meditates day and night.

—Psalm 1:1-2

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,

whose sin is covered.

Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,

which must be curbed with bit and bridle,

or it will not stay near you.

—Psalm 32:1, 9

And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

—Matthew 5:2-3

The simplest, most basic thing we can do to understand a word or phrase in Scripture is to pay attention to how it is used. There is important value to the work of those who research ancient cultures and languages. That work can help us understand context and shades of meaning. But we can all make a beginning by looking at what the text says, letting it instruct us.

We can notice how beginnings and blessings are intertwined.

As the Creator constructed inanimate nature, He began with distinctions: light from darkness and waters above from waters below. When He separated dry land from water, He “saw that it was good”, a declaration that continues until He sees that everything “was very good.”

After populating the sea and the sky with life, the Creator blessed them. (Much later, Jesus would teach that the Father notices when even a little sparrow falls to the ground.) A few verses later, He blessed humans, in both cases calling on them to “be fruitful”. And then, a little further on, He blessed the seventh day, the day of rest.

The Psalms begin with a blessing on the one who delights in the teaching of the Lord, who constantly receives its instructions. A later song rejoices in forgiveness, and connects it to understanding that keeps the Lord's children close.

Matthew's gospel begins the first recorded sermon with blessing after blessing. Jesus proclaimed these on people who wouldn't be considered fortunate or powerful in the eyes of the world. But Jesus begins this lesson by declaring to them that the Father noticed them, was paying attention to them, understood their pains and needs.

And then asks them to live like it.

For he has not despised or abhorred

the affliction of the afflicted,

and he has not hidden his face from him,

but has heard, when he cried to him.

—Psalm 22:24

Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

—Genesis 25:34

Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving... “But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”

—Numbers 11:4a, 6

They put [Jesus] to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

—Acts 10:39-41

Do not despise prophecies

—1 Thessalonians 5:20

When the Pharisees and scribes confronted Jesus, complaining that His disciples didn't follow their traditions, they were repeating the tragic behavior of their ancestors in the wilderness.

The Lord had promised to feed them, and delivered on His promise, blessing and sustaining them with the bread of heaven. And the Israelites despised it. They exercised very selective memories as they fantasized about the food of Egypt, beginning with the fish “that cost nothing”. Nothing except their children, their dignity, and their freedom, that is. And so they clung to what was behind them, despising something much better that was right their in front of them.

Variations of this scene occur in other parts of scripture. There is a kind of mirror image, when Esau despised his birthright in return for a meal. Jacob's use of the meal was manipulation instead of fellowship or service.

The Lord's rebuke through Nathan to David after the tragedies involving Bathsheba and Uriah includes the challenge, "Consider what I have done for you. I would have been willing to do more!" What would have happened in the wilderness if, instead of complaining, the Israelites had been thankful or even humbly requested some seasoning?

The consequences of distorted memory (or outright forgetfulness) come into play when those hearing Jesus objected that, "...we have never been anyone's slaves", which ignores both the history of Israel and the occupation in their own time by imperial Rome.

Peter's lesson to Cornelius and family about the disciples eating and drinking with Jesus leaves us better prepared to hear Pauls' instruction about the importance of communion in worship and for the body. Eating and drinking with honor and respect for the Body given and the body that receives stands in contrast with despising the Giver and the gift.

“I say to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,’

and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn;

do not lift up your horn on high,

or speak with haughty neck.’”

For not from the east or from the west

and not from the wilderness comes lifting up,

but it is God who executes judgment,

putting down one and lifting up another.

—Psalm 75:4-7

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

—Ephesians 2:10

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring... As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

—James 4:13-14a, 16

Paul's letter to the believers in Ephesus instructs the reader in the contrast between walking in the good works that God provided versus boasting in our own achievements. When writing to the Philippian believers, Paul made it abundantly clear that whatever achievements he might have attained in his former, legalistic life were not only empty; he counted them as losses.

If that is the case for past "achievements", how much more would it apply to imagined future achievements that haven't even occurred!

Then the letter of James turns the dial up another notch, as he instructs his readers against hanging onto the values of the surrounding world. He explains the external conflicts among his readers as manifestations of internal conflicts resulting from “friendship with the world”. To borrow Peter's description, if the stones have internal cracks and weaknesses, what will happen to a building constructed of such stones?

Neither the values of the world nor the pride of legalism are uplifting, but only walking in the good works with which the Lord has blessed His children.

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and forget not all his benefits...

As a father shows compassion to his children,

so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

For he knows our frame;

he remembers that we are dust.

—Psalm 103:13-14

“Remember not the former things,

nor consider the things of old.

Behold, I am doing a new thing;

now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

I will make a way in the wilderness

and rivers in the desert.

—Isaiah 43:18-19

The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.

—1 Corinthians 15:47

But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

—Philippians 3:13b-14

Scripture calls for us to be intentional about what we forget and what we remember. As a new year begins, it offers an opportunity to consider what baggage to leave behind in the old year.

Genesis tells of the Lord forming Adam from dust and breathing life into that dust. Multiple passages, from Genesis through the Psalms to Ecclesiastes, remind us that flesh and blood will return to dust. And the spirit/breath will return to the One who gave it. Psalm 90, attributed to Moses, prays that the Lord will provide wisdom by teaching us to count our days.

If the Lord and His word remember that we came from dust, surely that implies that we should be humble enough to remember it as well. But David sang of that memory as having purpose: the Lord's knowledge of how we are formed provides the basis of His compassion. And if He has compassion on the dust to which He gave breath, surely that implies that we should do likewise.

So, what are the “former things” that He tells us to forget? What are the things that “lie behind” that Paul forgets, and calls us to do likewise?

May the Lord give strength to his people!

May the Lord bless his people with peace!

—Psalm 29:11

Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?”...

“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?”...

Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted...

Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

—John 6:5, 9, 11, 15

The writer of Hebrews described Jesus as the great high priest who has sympathy for our weaknesses because He was tempted like we are. When we read that, do we think of more than His temptations in the wilderness after His baptism?

Or do we also think about the times when He said “you of little faith...” or asked His disciples, “How long do I have to bear with you?” They were with Him during His ministry and travels, they heard His teaching, and they witnessed His actions, but still struggled to grasp what He was about. In other words, they tried His patience.

He gave them opportunities to learn. He asked questions to see whether they understood. And He continued to demonstrate His purpose.

His miracles demonstrated His authority, but the gospels make it clear that they were not just performances for effect. We can consider the number of times that they state explicitly that He had compassion. He fed the hungry.

But He drew the line when they tried to make Him an earthly king.