Nazirite

It was another of those days when I was feeling worn out – I’d been talking to a friend too late the night before and didn’t get enough sleep and I’ve been dealing with a person who has really been upsetting me – and then I get home and turn on my computer and I see the news about Oklahoma. It seems that not a week goes by before we have news of another tragedy. Once again my own complaints are put into perspective – I still have a home and roof over my head that is secure. It made me think again about the person who has been driving me a bit nuts lately – someone who has been treating me very badly and has no concern for anyone else, but of all the things to be worried about, that’s the least of anyone’s worries. Who cares how someone talks to you and who cares about someone else’s issues. As long as you have the basic necessities of life, to heck with people like that.

People like that are like a poison that can start eating you up inside. They always have a sour face on, and they always have something nasty to say, condescending, flip, confrontational, insulting – you name it, they’ve got it ready to hit you with. My friend who I was talking to when I stayed up way too late said something to me that I had just been saying to another friend the other day who was dealing with an equally rotten and selfish person treating them in a very rotten way. My friend said, “I know you probably know this, but I feel like I have to say it to you, don’t let this person change you or get under your skin.” He also said something really nice, “You mean a lot to me, and having these talks with you has helped inspire me to start my search for God again. You’re a really good person. Don’t let this other person make you lose your faith and trust in God.”

I thanked my friend when he said that – it wasn’t just that it was a nice thing for him to say and a nice thing to hear, I thanked him because I did need to hear it. When we are dealing with rotten people, it can make us feel rotten inside, and the next thing you know, you’re acting just as bad as they are, and then you start questioning God and faith and then you’re on the road straight to you know where. I found a bumper sticker once when I was on a vacation in Oregon that said, “Where are we going and why am I in this handbasket?” Well, that’s the place rotten people can take you if you’re not careful. All it takes is giving into the impulse to be rotten back – Jesus tells us if we even think negative thoughts about people we might as well kill them. And I have to admit I have been thinking some pretty negative thoughts. I always apologize to God, but they just keep coming because there is something very comforting in wanting to cause pain to someone who is causing me pain. I don’t understand why that should be. I don’t even like violence in movies, so I don’t understand why I don’t mind thinking about violence when someone has been treating me badly. Maybe it’s because it’s something that I know I’ll never do – but Jesus says that if we think it we might as well be doing it – that it starts in our thoughts, and if we’re not careful what we think we’ll be down that road in a handbasket, going exactly in the opposite way from where our blessings are.

Ephesians 6:12 tells us, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” That’s from the New International Version translation, and The Voice has something I think is even better, “We’re not waging war against enemies of flesh and blood alone. No, this fight is against tyrants, against authorities, against supernatural powers and demon princes that slither in the darkness of this world, and against wicked spiritual armies that lurk about in heavenly places.” I think that slithering and lurking really fit the way some of the people I have to deal with sometimes make me feel. I know it’s not really them, because I do believe God’s word that tells me that I am not at war against flesh and blood, but I like it that The Voice translation adds the word “alone” – “We’re not waging war against enemies of flesh and blood alone.” Most translations of that passage make it sound as if it's only the powers and principalities - the things outside of people that make them do the things they do. But people do have a choice. God has told us that, “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts,” (Jeremiah 31:33). We know what is right and what is wrong, but sometimes we justify and make something seem like it’s all right when we know deep inside that it isn’t. That’s why I like The Voice translation. We are at war against a person sometimes – yes, it’s a person who is being overcome by their worst nature by the powers and principalities, the demons that slither and the spiritual armies that lurk – but it’s a person all the same, and one who has free will to do the right thing or not. God always gives us the power of choice. 1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” We have a choice always, and God will always help us to do the right thing. When we accept that truth, we are accountable for our actions. There’s an expression, “The devil made me do it.” It’s funny, maybe, in some circumstances when someone says that, but it’s not true. The devil can’t make you do anything – you always have a choice.

The other part of that thought is that I have the choice to act like this person who is driving me nuts or not, and I also have the choice whether I’m going to let this person drive me nuts or not. I can get all upset when things are said to me that should not be said and when things are done that should not be done, or I can just look up and smile and say thank you Jesus for helping me through this. I heard a sermon on Sunday and the Pastor said something so funny. He was talking about how if we’re really following God we won’t fit into some situations and we will have people who don’t like us. He said, “the next time someone  in the cubicle next to you at work says, ‘You’re an idiot and I can’t stand the sight of you any more,’ say thank God! Because that means I don’t fit in here so I must be doing the right thing in God’s eyes!” That made me laugh when I heard it and when I prayed today for help in this situation I'm dealing with, the Spirit brought it back to me and I laughed again. It was God’s way of helping me not to lose my temper, His way of helping me get past the temptation to be angry and to hurt someone back who was trying to hurt me.

Someone at one of the places where I teach nutrition and wellness told me the other day that if I ever was in need of some quick good money I could sell my hair. He couldn’t believe that I’d never heard that before and had never thought about it. I have very long  hair but it never occurred to me that I could make money on it, and here this guy was telling me I could make a few thousand dollars. Apparently the longer your hair is and the straighter and lighter it is the more money it’s worth. I’m a natural blonde, and I’ve never done anything to my hair to color it or change it in any way. My hair gets darker in the winter time, but it lightens up quickly once I start getting out into the sun again and that’s why he was noticing it the way he did. In the past week I’ve had several people comment on my hair, and it’s just because it’s starting to get lighter again. There’s something about blonde hair that makes people look at you differently. It's not something that you see all the time, naturally anyway, and when it's long it makes a statement that you're different.

That’s the way it is when you’re doing God’s work in the world. It doesn’t matter if you’re famous or wealthy. You can be an ordinary person like me who struggles along from day to day, but if you’re doing the work of God in any way, you stand out in a crowd. Those powers and principalities of darkness see your powers and principalities of light and they want to go to battle to the death. And all you’re doing is helping to feed the hungry, helping little old ladies to cross the street, helping children and teens to know they’re loved and important and worth something, giving directions to strangers, being kind to someone on a bus. But that’s the work of God and it marks you for attack from all sides and when you least expect it.

I’d never sell my hair for money. I like having long hair and I like the color it is. I’ve never done anything to it because I never really wanted to change the way God made me. That’s really the truth. Long before I was born again, when I was really young, people used to tell me to perm my hair and dye it and bleach it, and though I never was really satisfied with the way I looked, I always said I didn’t want to change anything about me unless God changed it. That’s honestly what I used to say before I ever knew Him at all. I used to use rag curlers to curl it and I have some pretty funny pictures of that, and once I had a friend dye a streak blue, but it was a washable dye and it was gone in a few days. Other than that I’ve never done anything to it except for have it cut once in a while and even that was something I didn’t particularly want to do. It’s longer now than it’s ever been, and I don’t want to cut it or do anything to it. It’s not perfect, but it’s me, and it’s the way God made me to be.

If I’d never sell my hair for money, I’m not going to sell out to the powers and principalities of darkness either. It’s not a fun road to walk on sometimes when they’re coming at you from all sides, but God says that He’ll make a way where there’s no way, and that He’ll contend with those who contend with us, so I’ll stick with the side I know is winning. Besides, if I decide to go in the direction of an eye for an eye, there's a saying that tells me that will make the whole world blind. If none of us can see, what’s the point of me having all this long blonde hair? If things get really bad with this person who has been driving me nuts, I suppose I could put it over my face to block out the nastiness, and if nothing else, it will help me hold my head high because I haven’t changed the way God made me no matter what anybody else has said.

Nazirites are people who have been dedicated to God from birth, and one of the signs of a Nazirite is that they don't cut their hair. Samson was a Nazirite, and all of his strength was in his hair. It was a symbol of his vow to dedicate his life to God, and when he let Delilah in on his secret and the Philistines were able to cut his hair, he lost all of his strength and everything else with it. If I feel that strongly about keeping my hair the way God made it, I need to think about everything else I do the same way - He owns me. He bought me with a great price when He went to the Cross. The least I can do is to let Him be in charge when it comes to things like losing my temper. If I'm going to walk around saying Thank you Jesus! and holding His name next to mine, I'd better remember to represent Him with everything I do, and give His name the honor it deserves.

Blessings,

Jannie Susan