Blessed is the one who always trembles before God, but whoever hardens their heart falls into trouble. – Proverbs 28:14

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 21, 2013): Proverbs 28

For the medieval knight, survival laid in the equipment that he would use as he fought his battles. The sword that he used would have to be sharp. The shield would have to be strong enough to withstand the heavy hits from the opposing knight. The armor would have to be well fitted, allowing him both the freedom of movement needed in the fight as well as protection from the well hit blows that would come his way. But it seems to me that one of the most important pieces of equipment might have been the knight’s chainmail. In a study conducted by the Royal Armouries (the United Kingdom’s oldest museum featuring arms and armor) it was discovered that mail was almost impenetrable using the medieval weapons available. Mail offered both protection and a freedom of movement – and a knight who could afford the mail had a significant advantage over his opponents.

We no longer need mail in our daily lives. But we often are on a journey which includes trying to protect the sensitive parts of our personhood. Most people experience a form of death today not because of blows by a sword to the body, but rather because of well placed strikes to our ego. Most of us have become very adept to protecting the sensitive parts of our inner being – we avoid and get angry, anything to stop the others gathered around us from touching our private places of pain. But the result of this strategy is rarely health. Most often, we just die a little more inside. We may not even notice it, we just know that we no longer hurt there – and that lack of pain is good enough for us.

I do not like going to the dentist. But when I have a toothache, it is the dentist that I need to see. And he will often remind me of one of the truths of this existence – wherever there is pain, there we will also find life.

The proverb says that blessed is the person that trembles in front of God. The proverb could actually be rephrased as blessed is the person who cares what it is that God thinks of them. Blessed is the one who understands that the correction of God is done out of love and to enhance our lives. Does God’s correction sometimes bring pain? Of course it does, but only because it also brings life. The one whose heart is hardened (who no longer cares what it is that God thinks) may not experience that uncomfortable pain, but only because something inside of them has died.  

A blow to a knight’s chain mail was never without pain. Such blows would often leave dark bruises on the body of the one who was hit. But mail protected life like nothing else could. In the same way, a sensitivity to the voice of God can sometimes be uncomfortable, but that sensitivity protects our lives (right here and now) like nothing else can.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Proverbs 29

Note: The VantagePoint Community Church (Edmonton) sermon "Into Your Hands" from the series "Blood, Seat and Tears: Death on a Friday Afternoon" is now available on the VantagePoint website. You can find it here.