It’s All a Misunderstanding
Have you ever been misunderstood? Your intentions misjudged? Your actions or words misread? It’s not a good feeling. Often, we become hurt and defensive. We begin to question and doubt ourselves. It can lead to conflict without and within.
In Joshua 22, the twelve tribes of Israel have settled in the Promised Land; all but the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manessah, who settled on the east side of the Jordan River.
The tribes who settled across the Jordan built a replica of the altar to God as a memorial, a reminder for their descendants they worshipped the one true God, Jehovah. When the tribes who settled on the west side of the Jordan saw the altar, they incorrectly assumed it was built for idol worship. They misunderstood their brother’s actions. When confronted about the altar, the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Manessah revealed their true intentions and purpose in building the altar. They defended themselves, and in their defense they declared, “The Mighty One, God, the LORD! He knows!… So we said, Let us now prepare to build us an altar, not for burnt offering nor for sacrifice, but to be a witness between us and you and between the generations after us, that we will perform the service of the Lord before Him with our burnt offerings and sacrifices and peace offerings” (Joshua 22:22-27 NIV).
“The Mighty One, God, the Lord… He knows.” He knows our every thought. He knows our intentions. He knows the heart behind our actions and our words. Sometimes our writing can be perceived the wrong way by others. But the Lord, He knows our heart.
I have a friend who recently received a request from someone to be removed from her devotional email list. Immediately my friend thought she had written something to offend the person. She agonized, assuming her writing had turned the person off or hurt them in some way. My friend sent a response to the person apologizing if she had offended her. It turned out, the person realized she was receiving too many email devotionals and decided to unsubscribe to some of them.
Perhaps something my friend wrote could have offended the person. The gospel is often offensive. We must write it anyway. Often what we write does not offend, but a person’s reaction coincidentally makes us assume it did. Then we agonize and doubt what we have written. I have come to the conclusion this is the way our enemy works. He plays our actions and words against us trying to cause confusion and self doubt. He whispers lies forhe is the father of lies (John 8:44 NIV).He wants to cause conflict. He wants to make us doubt ourselves and our call from God to write and to doubt what we have written.
The Lord knows our heart. He placed the desire to write in our hearts. He often prompts the very words we write. Sometimes the intentions of our words will be misread. We must write them anyway. Especially when the words are a reminder to us and future generations of the One true God whom we serve.
Isaiah 30:8 (NIV) Go now, write it on a tablet for them, inscribe it on a scroll, that for the days to come it may be an everlasting witness.
