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Accept my freewill offerings of praise, O Lord,

and teach me your rules.

—Psalm 119:108

So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

—Genesis 22:14

And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people joined in the covenant.

—2 Kings 23:3

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

—Romans 6:4

My wife and I sometimes watch episodes of a television show that follows people who are moving from one country to another and are looking for a new home. Each episode features a family who makes their move for a variety of reasons: job opportunities, lifestyle interests such as skiing or surfing, ancestral connections, education, and so on.

In a recurring theme across episodes, the reasons for the move influence the choices that the families make about location. They may want to be near school, near stores and restaurants, near nature, and so on.

Another frequent theme shows them having to deal with change; things are different in the new country! Those differences may involve the use of space (vertically as well as horizontally!), furnishings, and presence or absence of various conveniences. They may even be faced with learning a new language.

We sometimes hear people say, "But I need..." when it is obvious that they really are saying, "I am used to..." Of course, the success stories show people who have adjusted to a new way of daily life in the new home in the new country.

Abraham went where the Lord called him to go. The going wasn't always easy. Being there was sometimes very hard. But the Lord called him to be where the blessings would be provided.

Josiah was a king, but placed himself under covenant with the Lord—King above kings—to walk in His ways. And he led others to join in that covenant to the Lord, not to himself. And that meant making changes.

And Paul's letter to the believers in Rome challenges us to consider the change of kingdom as total and permanent as death: walking in a new life in a new kingdom.

Accept my freewill offerings of praise, O Lord,

and teach me your rules.

—Psalm 119:108

Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire;

he breaks out against all sound judgment.

A fool takes no pleasure in understanding,

but only in expressing his opinion...

Before destruction a man's heart is haughty,

but humility comes before honor.

—Proverbs 18:1-2, 12

But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear.

—Zechariah 7:11

But [the high priest and Sanhedrin] cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at [Stephen].

—Acts 7:57

What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, as it is written,

“God gave them a spirit of stupor,

eyes that would not see

and ears that would not hear,

down to this very day.”

—Romans 11:7-8

There is a hair-raising connection when Luke writes that the high priest and Sanhedrin members “stopped their ears” and attacked Stephen.

A short search found two passages that referred to people who “stopped their ears” and consciously chose not to hear. One of these is Luke's record of the vicious reaction of those who refused to hear Stephen's words as he reminded them of their own history.

The other passage comes from the book of Zechariah, describing those who had rejected the Lord's commands regarding justice and kindness, which had specifically called out the most vulnerable in society: widows, orphans, sojourners, and the poor. The Lord commanded His people not to plot or imagine (think secretly about) evil against each other. But they refused to listen, deliberately deafening themselves.

The Lord has told humans what it means to live wisely and at peace. And then He showed us, face to face, in the person of the Son. And the ones who should have been most ready to recognize Him, to hear Him and to follow Him instead refused, turned away, and stopped their ears.

That is what Stephen was reminding them. When they did it again.

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

—Psalm 1:1

Then our mouth was filled with laughter,

and our tongue with shouts of joy;

then they said among the nations,

“The Lord has done great things for them.”

—Psalm 126:2

But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

—Genesis 18:15

And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him...And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.”...But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing. So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.”

—Genesis 21:2, 6, 9-10

Toward the scorners he is scornful,

but to the humble he gives favor.

—Proverbs 3:34

There is laughter, and then there is laughter. We know that laughing with others is very different from laughing at them. We know how to see through the schoolyard bully's attempt at an excuse, "We were only joking!" If we are willing to pay attention.

Sometimes the bare minimum of detail in a passage is because some details are beside the point. Or perhaps the point is for us to think carefully about what we are given.

How do we interpret of Sarah's laughter at the door? Perhaps as disbelief, if not outright mocking? The question, “Is anything too hard...?” and her fearful attempt at denial are consistent with that description. She also may have been frightened to realize that her thoughts “to herself” were not as private as she assumed.

There's some ambiguity in Sarah's response to the child they named Laughter. Most English translations I checked say, “...with me.” The ESV and RSV have “...over me.“ The NCB has “...because of me.” The LEB has “...for me.” And the Expanded Bible interpolates “...with [or at] me.” Perhaps some would laugh with Sarah in her moment of joy, while others would laugh at her unprecedented situation. And perhaps, in her joy of the moment, Sarah didn't care.

But Sarah was human—as are we. Her human weakness shows up later, when she sees Ishmael laughing. Again, the text doesn't give us any details. He could have been mocking little Isaac, or he simply could have been enjoying the feast. But we all know of people who are quick to take offense, interpreting everything said in the worst possible light.

Tragically, we probably know of people who would begrudge laughter to those on the outside.

And the Lord knows when and why we laugh.

Light dawns in the darkness for the upright;

he is gracious, merciful, and righteous.

It is well with the man who deals generously and lends;

who conducts his affairs with justice.

—Psalm 112:4-5

“And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you.”

—Deuteronomy 4:1

“Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

—Matthew 6:11-12

I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.

—1 Timothy 3:14-15

Moses not only gave the Lord's instruction to the Israelites, he also gave them purpose. The Lord's teaching and discipline prepared them to live in the land that the Lord was giving them. Not just for themselves, but so that the Lord's wisdom and understanding would be demonstrated in their way of life before the nations.

The idolatrous world that outnumbered the Israelites needed to see what wisdom and understanding looked like. That meant that Israel had to be shaped by the Lord's instruction instead of conforming to the expectations and practices of the idolaters. And, to borrow words from the Psalms, that means giving grace, showing mercy, upholding right relationships, continuously practicing generosity and fairness.

Psalm 112 describes a person whose great delight in the Lord's commandments translates to conduct. And the very next Psalm asks, “Who is like the Lord...?” The world begins to form its understanding of Him by looking first at His children. And that is preparation for seeing the One who “raises the poor from the dust”.

Paul gave instruction on how to behave in the Lord's household. Whether expressed in the metaphor of household or family or body, we can recognize that the world begins to form its understanding of the Lord's kingdom by how His children conduct themselves.

Better is the little that the righteous has

than the abundance of many wicked.

—Psalm 37:16

Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

—Matthew 6:10

At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

—Matthew 18:1-4

And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”

—Luke 6:20

Jesus taught His disciples to pray: "Your kingdom come." The surrounding events and conversations recorded in the gospels make it clear that they didn't know what that looked like. And—more than once—Jesus had to speak or act to prevent them from trying to create a kingdom that they wanted, a kingdom that wasn't the kingdom of Heaven.

Those two requests...

• May your kingdom come.
• May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

...read like Hebrew poetry, with its pattern of meaning sometimes called "thought rhyme"—saying the same thing with two parallel-but-different turns of phrase. A kingdom is the territory in which the will of the king is done.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record a moment in which Jesus asked, “How long must I bear with you?” of disciples who weren't yet ready to understand and do His will. His Father's will.

The kingdom was waiting. But time was growing short.

Trust in the Lord, and do good;

dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!

Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.

—Psalm 37:3, 8

And [the Lord] brought [Abram] outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

—Genesis 15:5

When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.”

—Exodus 16:15

In a world of porch lights and streetlights and headlights, it is easy to forget what the night sky looks like. But it is important to remember.

On a clear night, away from all the artificial lights, the sky is breathtakingly beautiful. The moon can give enough light on some nights that we can walk around safely. And—even under a new moon or a cloudy sky—we can be reminded to sing to the Lord with David that “the darkness is not dark to You.”

We can remember that the Lord sees when we cannot.

We can remember that the Lord used the night sky to reassure Abram, who thought that he would have to leave everything to his servant. We can remember that Abram's trust in that moment was trust in the One whom he could not see to deliver a future that he could not see. That future included the moment when Abram asked, "How can I be sure?" It included the failure of faith that led to the attempt to produce the heir of promise through Hagar.

We can remember that the Lord was patient with Abram, giving him time to learn and grow.

Just as He was patient with the Israelites in the wilderness who were fearful about their daily bread. And He fed them anyway. For forty years.

Abram's conversation under the night sky and the Israelites' confusion at the first morning's manna can remind us that what we see is only a hint of what the Lord can do.

In just a little while, the wicked will be no more;

though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.

But the meek shall inherit the land

and delight themselves in abundant peace.

—Psalm 37:10-11

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,

and your dominion endures throughout all generations.

The Lord is faithful in all his words

and kind in all his works.

The Lord upholds all who are falling

and raises up all who are bowed down.

—Psalm 145:13-14

The coming of the Kingdom is an invitation to replace things that are temporary, wearing out, and fading away with that which is eternal, enduring forever, and “new every morning”. Because those impermanent things cannot enter the Kingdom, we have a choice.

Choosing to enter the Kingdom means laying aside the momentary weights and giving to the Lord all our hearts and minds and strength. Clinging on to those weights instead means choosing to stay outside the Kingdom, clutching vapor, inheriting only wind, and standing on eroding sand.

This is not some kind of "sinners in the hands of an angry God" arbitrary demand. The call in Micah 6:8, “to do justice and to love kindness” is an invitation to become transformed into the likeness of the One who loves us. The call to walk humbly with Him is an invitation to stop looking out for ourselves and to look to Him, the One who created us and will complete all who trust Him alone.

After all, it is His kingdom, not ours.

O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent?

Who shall dwell on your holy hill?

He who walks blamelessly and does what is right

and speaks truth in his heart

—Psalm 15:1-2

He has told you, O man, what is good;

and what does the Lord require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness,

and to walk humbly with your God?

—Micah 6:8

By this we may know that we are in [Jesus]: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

—1 John 2:5b-6

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

—3 John 1:4

There is an early scene in the television adaptation of All Creatures Great and Small in which Siegfried Farnon is assessing James Herriot's skills as a vet. Siegfried asks James for a diagnosis of a horse. James replies that he needs to see the horse walk, which gives him enough information to identify and treat the horse's problem.

Obviously, there is much more to veterinary medicine, but it is impressive to consider how much a vet can learn about an animal's condition by watching how it moves.

Animals can't talk. Sometimes we humans are reluctant to talk, responding with "Doing fine!" when someone asks "How are you?" Sadly, sometimes humans even use words as disguise. But others can still see how we walk.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught that false prophets might try to disguise their ideas and intentions, but could be identified by their fruits. Paul prayed that the Philippian disciples would grow and be fruitful. And when he wrote to the Galatian believers about the “fruit of the Spirit” versus the “works of the flesh” he was addressing the same issue: what is in the heart becomes visible in actions and consequences.

And then he urges the reader to “keep in step with the Spirit.”

The Great Physician came to seek and to save and to heal. And He can diagnose our hearts by watching our walk.

Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord,

who walks in his ways!

—Psalm 128:1

“Take care lest you forget the Lord your God...who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water”

—Deuteronomy 8:11a, 15a

He put on righteousness as a breastplate,

and a helmet of salvation on his head;

he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,

and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak.

—Isaiah 59:17

“Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

—Luke 10:19-20

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

—Romans 12:19

And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

—Ephesians 5:2

for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God

—James 1:20

The walking shoes that protect our feet are the good news of peace. That one phrase Paul wrote to the Ephesian believers is rich with context and connections. Here are a few more.

Before detailing the metaphor of “the armor of God”, Paul had already made clear that the battle was not against other humans. The armor was made up of articles that would have been familiar to people living in a world dominated (for a time) by the imperial ambitions of Rome. Many commentators and teachers have pointed out that almost all of the parts are defensive in nature—equipment designed to protect the wearer. The only exception is the sword—the “word of God”—with which Jesus Himself responded to the attacks of the enemy in the wilderness. Therefore the sword is not used to attack people. And the shoes of the good news of peace are not made to trample on them.

Moses had reminded the Israelites that the Lord had led them through a wilderness with serpents and scorpions. After that, he reminded them that their sandals hadn't worn out. Did the disciples remember that when Jesus told them that He had authorized them to walk on serpents and scorpions? Do we recognize that Jesus also connected that to dealing with evil spirits, not other humans?

Paul's description of the armor includes phrases that Isaiah had used centuries earlier. The Lord had been displeased with the failure of His people to intercede against injustice, so He armored Himself to deal with it, so that His name would be respected. And so that His word would be in the mouths of His people.

Vengeance belongs to Him alone. He gave His Word so that His people could bring His good news of peace and reconciliation, without fear of the serpent.

You will tread on the lion and the adder;

the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

“Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;

I will protect him, because he knows my name.”

—Psalm 91:13-14

I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet.

—Deuteronomy 29:5

...and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.

—Ephesians 6:15

The believers in Ephesus knew what a hostile and unruly mob looks like. They had seen it in their own city. But Paul emphasized to them that the real enemies are spiritual instead of flesh and blood. The kind of spiritual evil that lies behind division and strife and violence. That is worth bearing in mind as we read Paul's instruction to wear the preparation that comes from the good news of peace as our shoes.

The Lord is not only the Great Physician and the Great High Priest. He is the Great Shoemaker.

The sandals of the Israelites in the wilderness were walking shoes, not lounging slippers. They were on their way to something better than they had known in Egypt. Moses reminded them of the protection that the Lord had given them against hostile attackers. And even the protection of their feet as they journeyed.

The path through this present age can be difficult; there are thorns and stones and stumbling blocks. But the good news of peace that passes understanding will guard our steps and protect our feet. Provided we are walking with the Prince of Peace.