The Valley of the Shadow of Death

The history behind the metaphor

by R. Douglass Mahaffey

      King David wrote hundreds of songs that were compiled into one book of the Bible called Psalms. In the 23rd Psalm, David made mention  of the Valley of the Shadow of Death. He spoke about the comfort that he had in the Lord when danger came upon him. When he was a boy, a lion tried to kill him and his father's flock of sheep. Because David trusted in God and took heart against the beast, he overcame the threat of death as the lion fell at his feet. But did you know that the valley that David spoke of was an actual place?
      It is believed traditionally, that as Mary and Joseph were traveling from Nazareth to Bethlehem before Jesus was born, that the valley between Jericho and Bethlehem was a spot where Mary stopped to rest as she was weary from travel and very pregnant with Jesus. In fact, she would give birth to Jesus only a day or so later after arriving in Bethlehem. This valley where she rested was the same valley where David tended his father's sheep; the Valley of the Shadow of death.
      The name was given to the valley because of the dangers that lurked within the walls of the canyons in the mountain range east of Bethlehem. Many wild, treacherous animals made their homes in the range of mountains. So why would Mary and Joseph travel that path? Why would Jesse have his young son David watch his flock in that region? West of the town of Bethlehem, where David lived, Samaritans robbed and plundered and were a threat to anyone who passed that way. People would have rather have trusted the dangers of the animals than the cunning of the band of thieves that came from Samaria.
      David wrote of still waters and green pastures that the Lord led him through. Even though the majority of the land between Bethlehem and Jericho was desert and wilderness with all kinds of dangers around every corner, the peace that passed all of his fleshly understanding came upon him as his faith in God was greater than his fear of the wilderness. No matter what he faced as far as dangers of the world, that peace from his faith in God helped him to press on. Even when facing the Giant Philistine, Goliath of Gath, David showed no fear, but stood with all authority under heaven, given to him by God, as he told Goliath that because he blasphemed God and did not have respect and reverence for the Lord, he was going to fall to Israel. He pressed on and won the fight.
      Metaphoric valleys are an every day occurrence in our lives that come upon us and test our faith. God says in the His word that we are to take it as a blessing when trials and valleys come our way, because they are how we grow in the strength and victory of the Lord so that He is glorified. When we try to handle the situation on our own, we fall flat on our faces and run away like a scalded dog, instead of standing in victory and overcoming adversity by allowing God to lead us in our circumstances. And sadly, all too often, we allow our circumstances to dictate our direction in life. Avoiding trials when they come does us no good. Situations don't just disappear when we ignore them. Bills don't pay themselves.
      Calling upon the name of the Lord will afford us the victory over our struggles and trials. When we do, He will be faithful to deliver us from evil. We have not because we ask not, or we ask for the wrong reasons. When we pray, we need to pray for God's will to be done, not just pray asking for vain things like winning the lottery or winning the heart of the lady or man that caught our eyes. That might not be what the Lord has for us. When we choose to go around the blessings that God has for us by wanting things of this world, the Bible says that we grieve the Holy Ghost.
      Seek the will of God and His righteousness, and He will add it unto you. Pray that His will be done and not our own. Even Jesus, who had every right to ask for what He wanted because of His righteous perfection, asked for God's will to be done, knowing He was facing death of the cross. When we seek the will of God, He will reveal it to us and our reward will be an eternal one.

R. Douglass Mahaffey - Founder and Publisher of The Wise Conservative

A love sacred enough

Honoring God with a love for one another

by R. Douglass Mahaffey

      Love's first kiss; some say it sometimes comes too soon. Other's say that it took long enough. God's standard for love is one that only comes one way, in purity. A daughter can wait forever it seems, for the first guy to sweep her off her feet and plant a big one on the smacker. It's once that first kiss has been given and taken that reality sets in and two people realize that there is a relationship to nurture.
      It's kind of like a honeymoon after two people are married. Once the honeymoon is over, two people are slammed with the reality that there is a marriage to manage. God expects those who vow love to follow through with that vow as though it was the only commitment that ever really mattered in one's life. Marriage vows are exchanged, two people make promises to one another and God holds them to those promises for the rest of their life.
      There are only two things in love that release a person from the vows they made to their spouse. One is the death that parts two lovers, and the other is the giving of one's self to another person other than who they are married to. From that point on, the person who was wronged by the offender has the right to choose another mate. The offender, however, is bound. If they ever choose another person, they again commit adultery and so does the person they choose. The Bible does say, however, that it is righteous for the one who was hurt, to forgive the offender and put their marriage back together again.
      In a boyfriend/girlfriend situation, it is just as hurtful when one breaks up with the other for another person. God has a standard there too. In Romans 12: 1, 2, it says, "1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
² And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."
      In the event of a young girl's first kiss, it is very important for the young man in the situation to remember that the girl has waited for this moment her whole life, and it is a very special moment for her. She has grown from a very little girl watching "Cinderella", Sleeping Beauty", Beauty and the Beast" and "The Little Mermaid", and has fantasized about that first kiss as her Prince Charming dips her and gives her loves first kiss. She expects it to be just as special, if not more so.
      In a lot of cases, most guys go tell their friends, high-five their buddies and sometimes even brag about it. This goes against every standard of God that one can imagine. Just like accepting Jesus into your heart, it is a very sacred moment and isn't to be taken lightly. It is actually the first step in them either becoming the man she needs him to be, or the jerk that breaks her heart. How he handles it is paramount in that he has either failed at his attempt in being God's gift, or he could succeed in making her God's precious gift to him. How this is handled will separate the men from the boys.
      In a relationship where the two people are Christians, it is more important to please God in how they love one another, than to please each other. If they are attempting to please God and God is genuinely pleased, then they should have no other choice but to be pleased with one another. If one is focused on pleasing God, and God is pleased (you'll know it if He is), but the other person in the relationship just doesn't seem to be pleased by anything, then at least God is pleased and the other person needs to check themselves. They need to ask themselves what they entered into a Christ-centered relationship for in the first place. Some people would rather be right all the time than to just be happy. Those relationships have their warning signs and are easily recognized when they occur. They are also a dime a dozen.
      Young love, first love, filled with true devotion only happens once. When it dies, that newness will never be experienced again. Sure, a new love will always come afterward, but the newness is never the same. If we present ourselves to one another the way God planned for us to in His grand design, that newness of young, first love can be experienced, felt and shared with one another every single day. Renew your hearts and minds to love one another as Christ loved us, and you'll feel that first love for the rest of your life. 

Happy Valentine's Day,

R. Douglass Mahaffey - Founder and Publisher of The Wise Conservative 
  

Healing the paralytic

Jesus teaches a crowd about humility

by R. Douglass Mahaffey

      Four men in Jerusalem heard that Jesus would be at a friend's house teaching, enjoying fellowship and ministering to the residents of the town. They had a friend who had been paralyzed since he was a baby, who they wanted to bring to Jesus. Like the woman with the issue of blood that I wrote about a few days ago, these people believed that if they could get their friend in to just see Jesus, that He could heal them.
      They brought the man to where Jesus was preaching at and tried to get him inside to bring him before the Lord. There were so many people there in the house, that they could barely see where Jesus was. No one would let them inside to get him close to where Jesus was. One of them came up with a plan.
      Outside the house, there was a ladder to climb to the top of the roof. They carefully hoisted their friend to the top of the house. They broke through the wood that covered the house on the roof. They lowered their friend down to where Jesus was.
      Jesus asked them what they were doing.
      Let's review the situation. If these men came to a church to speak to Jesus, who, let's say was a guest speaker, they would be chastised at the very least and asked to either leave, or to sit in the back and keep quiet. How uncouth it would be to interrupt the Lord as He was speaking to the congregation. Then, the hole they cut into the floor would have required a permit from the city, clearance from the building and grounds committee, and brought before the church to be voted on. What purpose would the hole serve the rest of the church and how much would it cost the main tithers to repair the hole once its purpose was served? Can you say "RED TAPE?"
      The hole was significant in that in the story, at least for me, it symbolizes the emptiness that sin leaves in our hearts when we spend our whole lives seeking something meaningful in which to fill it. In this case, the faith of the men all of a sudden filled the hole with their friend that they lowered down to Jesus to be healed. The ladder represents the path that sometimes seems out of our way to take when we are called to serve others for the glory of God. The people hindering the men's way to the Lord represents the hard-heartedness that the church often times gives off toward those that don't look, act, walk, talk, think, say, and do the things that they do in their self-righteous indignation.
      The men stopping at nothing to bring their friend before Jesus represents the power of the Holy Ghost that stops at nothing to reach a hard, rejecting heart while trying to save a lost soul.
      Jesus looked at the paralytic and said to him, "Son, be of good cheer, for your sins are forgiven."
      The paralyzed man gathered a smile to his face as the pain left his body. People stared in amazement at the Lord and began to ask among themselves, "Who is this that pretends to forgive sins? For who can forgive sins except God?"
      Jesus asked the people, "Why do you speak evil among yourselves about me? Is it easier to tell this man his sins are forgiven, or to tell him to rise up from his bed and walk? So that you will know that I have the power on earth to forgive sins (Jesus then turned to the paralyzed man), arise, take up your bed and return to your own house."
      Just then, the man felt strength come to his body. He got down off of his bed mat and rolled it up and carried it with him. The other four men followed him, thanking Jesus for what he had done for their friend, and walked out of the house through the path of people as they parted a pathway for the men to leave the house.
      The people praised God with reverent fear and said, "Truly, we have seen something strange here today.
      Are you waiting for God to show you a sign that He is still there and that He is real? That heartbeat you just experienced, that breathe you just took, that sight you just saw with your eyes, the fact that you exist should be sign enough that God exists and is constantly there, is prolonging His return and His wrath upon the disbelievers, and sent His Son, Jesus to die on the cross for our sins that we choose to commit, when what we really deserve is death and hell, which Jesus rescued us from. He is on His throne in our hard times and in the times that He blesses us. We are to feel that it is a blessing when we are tried and go through hard times. It is those times that God is strengthening our faith to be what He has called us to be.
      Be a witness to someone today about the blessings that God has brought upon you and the hard times that he brought you through as He kept His promise to never leave, nor forsake us.

R. Douglass Mahaffey - Founder and Publisher of The Wise Conservative

The destitute woman of Galilee

The faith of a woman who believed with all her might

by R. Douglass Mahaffey

      I have often told people that I witness to that even the demons in hell believe in God, and they tremble. Do we? There was a woman in Galilee, near Capernaum, who had hear that Jesus was coming to her area. She had heard about the people that Jesus had healed; the leper, the blind man named Bartemeus, the paralytic, the dead servant of the Roman soldier, the dead girl, whose funeral Jesus passed. Word had gotten around that Jesus was a healer with power from God. A comedian referred to Him as a miracle caterer. Jesus only did the will of the Father.
      Several people were healed by Jesus by merely touching Him. That was the case with the woman with the issue of blood. She most likely had a chronic, abnormal condition such as a fibroid tumor of the uterus, or what is referred to as a "spring of blood." She was looked at as unclean and was most likely unwelcome by the population of Jerusalem. It can be supposed that many people treated her as though there were some sin in her life that caused the condition. Either way, it was definitely an unpleasant life she lived.
      Then out of nowhere, there was Jesus, preaching in her town and ministering to those in need. Jesus was Rabbi to many Jews. He had a life-long, God sent mission and was undeterred in carrying it out. He passed by her in the crowd as many people pressed in to see Him and touch Him. The woman drew near to Jesus. She just knew and believed with all her might that if she only reached out and touched His garment that he wore over His robe, that she would be healed of her condition.
      As she finally made her way to Jesus, she reached out and grabbed the hem of his cloak. At that moment, power went out from Jesus and He stopped. Jesus turned around and asked, "Who touched my robe?"
      One of Jesus' disciples that was with Him said, "Rabbi, there are many people around you right now, touching you."
      Jesus said, "Someone with tremendous faith has reached out and touched my garment's hem. For I felt the healing virtue as it left my body."
      The woman felt put on the spot and was embarrassed and scared. She thought that Jesus was about to rebuke her. That is how the mind can be conditioned to believe that we are not worth worrying about, like some kid whose parents have told him his whole life that he is worthless. The woman said to Jesus, "I believed that if I only touched your hem of your garment that I would be healed."
      She told Jesus about her condition and that the doctors had done all that they could to try to help her. The people had shunned her because to Jewish standards, she was unclean. Jesus knelt down to her level, helped her up and told her, "Woman, your faith has made you whole. Go and tell no one what you have witnessed today."
      Jesus told all of his followers whom He healed not to tell anyone, because His time of betrayal had not yet come to pass. He knew that the Pharisees were watching Him and waiting for the first chance that they could find to kill Him for blasphemy, because He taught the truth, He taught a message that made ruling the people hard for them, and because He taught as the Son of God. But alas, most of the time, people bore witness to others the miracles that Jesus had performed in their lives and their loved ones lives. They didn't do it to be disobedient, even though they disobeyed. They were excited in the fact that the promised Messiah had finally come into the world to save it.
      The woman, by today's standards can be compared to the servant woman at a church, who may have a hard time getting around, may be physically or financially burdened, but there they are, week in and week out, serving, giving of their selves, unshaken from their faith and undeterred to show the love of Christ to others from their servant's heart. She may be haggard in appearance. Maybe she has a past history of bad mistakes that follow her. Maybe she is a widow, and is alone, but still giving all she has.
      People may talk about her, they may avoid relationships with her in the church, because they just don't understand her. But that doesn't stop her from loving them and praying for them anyway. Then there comes Jesus, giving her a blessing that makes other people notice her for the Christian woman she is, and they begin to recognize her publicly. This type of woman would politely stand up and give the glory to God, who by all her blessings and spiritual prosperity comes from, knowing that it is not about her and never was. Instead, it has been about pleasing God in everything she does, which is what we are called to do in the first place, so that others can see His glory in our blessings.

R. Douglass Mahaffey - Founder and Publisher of The Wise Conservative

Seek, and ye shall find

God did not say ‘please’

by R. Douglass  Mahaffey

In Luke 19:11, “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you,” Jesus is making an imperative statement, not a request. The verse is as much a command as “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Do you know why the average person walks around this world sulking? They (we) grieve the spirit of God. God is not some storm trooper, sitting at the ready to strike down anyone who gets out of line. He truly is heartbroken when we step out of His will. He wants so much to bless us with a life that is richer than anything that the currency of this world can afford. Why? So that He is glorified. 

A father dotes on his children from the time that they are babies, until they are young adolescents. Ever wonder why? It is so the child will know that they can turn to their father for whatever their needs are; and some of their desires, as long as their desires aren’t based on self-centered ambition. The father wants his child to be comfortable in turning to him for help.

When the child grows older and pride takes over, it is harder for the child to repeatedly turn to him when they find themselves in the same scrape over and over. It is possible that the child knows that a lecture of chastisement is coming, and they want to avoid the embarrassment. They would rather risk losing their lights, water, insurance on a car, or worse yet, their home, to keep from the embarrassment of having to turn to daddy again. 

Let this article submit to its readers a little secret. That is exactly what God put that daddy in their lives to do. Not necessarily bail them out every time that they are irresponsible with their money, but to help them to see that they have a choice in the way they perform their stewardship as a child of God. If it involves a lecture, then that might be what is needed to shake some sense in the child.. (Of course, I am talking about adult offspring here, but to moms and dads, they are still that child they have raised from an infant. 

God is no different. When we don’t turn to Him for help inn times of need or distress, the Bible says we grieve the Holy Spirit, by which God provides us with all we need. Jesus told His disciples, “Consider the lilies of the field. They neither reap, nor sow, yet God takes care of their daily needs. Are you any less than they are? No.”

By taking matters into our own hands and not turning to God for our “daily bread,” we open ourselves up to all kinds of possibilities for evil to come upon us. It really is better to seek God’s will, knock, when it is time to come before the Father for help, and ask Him for it, not in vain glory, or self-centered ambitions, but for the glory of the Lord to be seen by others in our lives.

R. Douglass Maahaffey - Founder and Publisher of The Wise Conservative.

The law of God

The ultimate standard of perfection

by R. Douglass Mahaffey

      God created everything. There is nothing that exists that was not created by the one true, perfect God and for God's own purpose. God is governed only by Himself in His perfect form of morality. There is no power greater than the Creator of everything that "is." God is obligated to obey or bow to nothing and no one. 
      He created and controls us too. However, God did not create robots without souls or a free will. He desires fellowship with all of us, knowing that He will only get that from us when we want fellowship from Him as well. He is a gentleman and does not force His way into any one's life. That being said, how hard is it for us to understand that His standard should be our own as well? 
      There are too many people on this earth that believe and live by the standard of thinking that they are their own person. Any time a person is warned about the error of their ways and says that no one has the right to judge and condemn them but God, they are at least acknowledging that God exists and has a standard. Therefore, by their own admission, they are saying that they are guilty of the law (not living by the standard that God gave them to live by). 
      There is a huge difference between a Christian condemning them with a judgmental attitude and telling them a better way (God's way) to live their life because they are concerned with their well being, as well as their eternal life. 
      So why does the sinful person get defensive when a brother or sister of the faith calls out something that they know they have done wrong? Are they comfortable in their sin perhaps? When they accepted Jesus as Lord of their life, did they do it in vain, not intending to change the way they lived, but make heaven by the skin of their teeth? Do they subscribe to the ideology that there are different levels of heaven, and they are willing to settle for a cottage if it means that they can escape hell? Are they having so much fun in their season of sin that they would risk hell for the flimsy pleasures of this dying earth? God is no respecter of person and we will all be judged according to the same standard! 
      I am talking to the believer here, not the lost. I am talking to those who have prayed the sinner's prayer and asked God to come into their heart and save them from their sins. Did it end with forgiveness of sin? Not even close. We have an obligation to read God's word, find out what His will for our lives is and live by that standard. I'm not talking about a person's destiny with God either, I mean His will for their lives. I'm talking about the absolute standard that when we get out of line and go our own way, that we question our own salvation to the point that we realized we have offended God and would give life or limb to make that right. 
      I was in downtown Houston one day and was on my way to an ice rink to play what we called "drop-in hockey." I was on the number 2 Metro bus headed to Sharpstown Ice Center. A homeless man got on the bus and was looked down upon by most of the passengers on the bus. He smelled bad and was wearing ragged, torn clothes. The people immediately close to where he sat down at, got up and sat somewhere else, making fun of him. We were approaching the Salvation Army when the man pulled the cord to signal for the driver to stop. 
      As he was stepping down, a man in the back yelled, "I hope that place has a shower for you!"
      The man tripped as he was stepping off the bus. I was furious at how these people of far more privilege were treating this man who had nothing (in most estimations) but the clothes on his back. I got off the bus with him, approached him and offered him $10. I had plenty, and wanted to help. He told me that he had enough money for the stay at the Salvation Army, however, he had something much more valuable to offer me. 
      He asked me if I was a child of God's. 
      I said, "Yes, I go to Langwood Baptist Church in Houston. I am in the choir and I serve as a youth sponsor. I am also on the planning committee for church events." 
     (I, I, I, I, ME, MY, I! Who cares?)
      He replied with, "That's not what I asked you. Have you come to the point in your life where you realized your sin offends God?"
      No one had ever asked me that before. I was quite proud of the fact that for years, (since I was nine)  I was the only person in my family that had darkened the door of a church in almost 11 years. I had defied the odds and stayed in when most wouldn't. Good for me, but he had now posed a question that I had never even considered or thought mattered, until now. 
      He began to tell me that he used to be an executive for a booming business in Atlanta, was on the school board, and even taught a Sunday School class at his church. "So what," he replied, "None of that mattered when stacked beside a relationship with God, the Father." 
      He told me that because of how empty he felt in his life, even though he had position, respect, money and responsibility, he was still empty and searching. He turned to drugs, alcohol, sex, and any other vice that he thought would help heal the hole in his heart because there was no relationship with Jesus. 
      I began to relate. I knew that empty feeling of putting myself out there for my church and not being thanked or appreciated for my troubles, because at the time, I thought it was all about me. It is NEVER about you or me, but about pleasing God and remaining in His standard. 
      The man's name was Don White, and he showed me through scripture that as a luke warm "Christian" (which by the way is a huge oxymoron) that God would sooner spit me out of His mouth than allow me to enter into His glory. I began that day, seeking ways to please God and minister to others in His name. Not because this man judged or condemned me, but because he saw my compassion for him and so he returned that compassion for me and my eternity. And you know what? He never once made me feel judged or condemned. That's because he did what he did and he said what he said with love. That's how it was received. 

R. Douglass Mahaffey - Founder and Publisher of The Wise Conservative.

      

Why we are called "The Church"

Who the Church is called to be and why

by R. Douglass Mahaffey

This weekend, the youth at my church took over the Sunday evening service. They sang in the praise and worship service in place of the usual vocalists that grace the stage. The instrumentalists were the same though. 

After the music service, there was a skit. I don’t even know what name the skit was given, but it was called “A Human Video.” If it were to be given a title, I would have called it, “Why Not Me Too?”

The skit starts out with a drunk husband and father with a beer in one hand and a television remote in the other. His wife is pleading with him to come to church with them to introduce him to a change in heart, a change in the way he thinks and a change in how he lives his life. That change can only come through Jesus. 

Naturally, as usual, what follows is a violent outburst from the husband, who gets up to slap his wife, when his daughter, who is watching from upstairs, runs in the middle of it and is hit as well, before the father finds her heart, tears it in two and walks into his bedroom to be alone. 

The mother takes her daughter to church. The people there ignore them, make them feel unwelcome and basically turns them away. 

NEEDLE SCRATCHES ON THE RECORD! 

What? The church turns her away? Certainly not God’s church, who was called to save the lost and make disciples of them, they wouldn’t do that.

Yep, it happens all the time. Some of us “high and mighty Christians” turn our noses up to anyone that fit the mold of the church goers that we are. God doesn’t call us to be church goers! He has called us to be Christ followers so that in our example, a light might shine in a dark, lost, dying world. A light so bright that it chases the darkness away and shines the way to the glory of the Lord. 

But all too often, God’s people are sometimes too busy to love those that require guidance to help them understand that the path they are on is a destructive one. It takes leadership. It takes reaching out and pulling them out of the pit that they are clawing and scratching to get out of. It takes love. It takes the love that Jesus had on the cross for us when he said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Are we incapable of that kind of expression and dedication to see the lost saved? Actions speak louder than words. I have even experienced this rejection in the past from churches, simply because I didn’t know all the right scriptures, or sing all the right songs, or because I didn’t know that what I believed or what I had been taught in my early life, didn’t necessarily line up completely with God’s word. 

If it was something that I was taught as a new Christian, then it wasn’t necessarily my fault. I used to make the mistake of putting my faith in what the teacher was teaching me, that I didn’t read it and check it out on my own. Many are being misled by what others are teaching them because they do not check into it further with daily devotions. Differences in doctrine divide believers and this ought not be so. 

If you get one thing from doctrine and it isn’t necessarily what someone else has been taught, do you shirk your duty as a minister (that we are all called to be) by not showing them by love, the true interpretation of scripture? Then why go to church and fellowship with others in the first place. No one’s theology is perfect and no two people’s theology will ever be exactly the same. 

Basically, salvation is found in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Everything else is just details. Don’t sweat the small stuff. There are things that none of us can even fathom about the Kingdom of Heaven. Those are the things that we will have made known unto us on that “Unclouded Day.” 

R. Douglass Mahaffey - Founder and Publisher of The Wise Conservative.