Day 12/22 – Swearing to your Hurt

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Thoughts from the Diary of a Desperate Man by Walter Henrichsen
Swearing to your Hurt
Day Three Hundred Fifty-six

“0 Lord, who may abide in Thy tent? Who may dwell on Thy holy hill? He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, and speaks truth in his heart. He swears to his own hurt, and does not change” Psalm 15:1, 2, 4

David analyzes those ingredients of godliness that qualify a person to fellowship with God. He says that one characteristic is, “He swears to his own hurt, and does not change.” Have you ever made a promise to someone and later regretted it? Maybe it was to take your child on an outing, only to learn that your boss wanted you to work that weekend. Or maybe you committed to sell an asset for a certain amount and then discovered that it was worth much more. Fulfilling your promise appeared to hurt your present condition.

These are moments of truth in people’s lives -a time of testing when they learn the value of their promises. God ensures that these moments of truth appear in each person’s life. Is your God big enough to make up whatever loss you incur as a result of your keeping your word? According to your value system, what is more important, temporal gain at the expense of your promise, or meeting the expectations of God?

Each generation muses over bygone days when ostensibly people honored their word, while lamenting the lack of integrity of people’s oaths in their own day. Whether such a day ever existed, or whether there exists a dearth of such people today begs the question. What the Lord wants to know is, are you willing to swear to your own hurt and not change?

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Micah 6-7 Revelation 13 (New King James Version)

Micah 6-7
God Pleads with Israel
6 Hear now what the Lord says:
“Arise, plead your case before the mountains,
And let the hills hear your voice.
2
Hear, O you mountains, the Lord’s complaint,
And you strong foundations of the earth;
For the Lord has a complaint against His people,
And He will [a]contend with Israel.
3
“O My people, what have I done to you?
And how have I wearied you?
Testify against Me.
4
For I brought you up from the land of Egypt,
I redeemed you from the house of bondage;
And I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
5
O My people, remember now
What Balak king of Moab counseled,
And what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,
From [b]Acacia Grove to Gilgal,
That you may know the righteousness of the Lord.”
6
With what shall I come before the Lord,
And bow myself before the High God?
Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings,
With calves a year old?
7
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
Ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
[c]The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8
He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justly,
To love [d]mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?
Punishment of Israel’s Injustice
9
The Lord’s voice cries to the city—
Wisdom shall see Your name:
“Hear the rod!
Who has appointed it?
10
Are there yet the treasures of wickedness
In the house of the wicked,
And the short measure that is an abomination?
11
Shall I count pure those with the wicked scales,
And with the bag of deceitful weights?
12
For her rich men are full of violence,
Her inhabitants have spoken lies,
And their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
13
“Therefore I will also make you sick by striking you,
By making you desolate because of your sins.
14
You shall eat, but not be satisfied;
[e]Hunger shall be in your midst.
You may carry some away,[f] but shall not save them;
And what you do rescue I will give over to the sword.
15
“You shall sow, but not reap;
You shall tread the olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil;
And make sweet wine, but not drink wine.
16
For the statutes of Omri are kept;
All the works of Ahab’s house are done;
And you walk in their counsels,
That I may make you a [g]desolation,
And your inhabitants a hissing.
Therefore you shall bear the reproach of [h]My people.”
Sorrow for Israel’s Sins
7
Woe is me!
For I am like those who gather summer fruits,
Like those who glean vintage grapes;
There is no cluster to eat
Of the first-ripe fruit which my soul desires.
2
The faithful[i] man has perished from the earth,
And there is no one upright among men.
They all lie in wait for blood;
Every man hunts his brother with a net.
3
That they may successfully do evil with both hands—
The prince asks for gifts,
The judge seeks a bribe,
And the great man utters his evil desire;
So they scheme together.
4
The best of them is like a brier;
The most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge;
The day of your watchman and your punishment comes;
Now shall be their perplexity.
5
Do not trust in a friend;
Do not put your confidence in a companion;
Guard the doors of your mouth
From her who lies in your bosom.
6
For son dishonors father,
Daughter rises against her mother,
Daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
A man’s enemies are the men of his own household.
7
Therefore I will look to the Lord;
I will wait for the God of my salvation;
My God will hear me.
Israel’s Confession and Comfort
8
Do not rejoice over me, my enemy;
When I fall, I will arise;
When I sit in darkness,
The Lord will be a light to me.
9
I will bear the indignation of the Lord,
Because I have sinned against Him,
Until He pleads my case
And executes justice for me.
He will bring me forth to the light;
I will see His righteousness.
10
Then she who is my enemy will see,
And shame will cover her who said to me,
“Where is the Lord your God?”
My eyes will see her;
Now she will be trampled down
Like mud in the streets.
11
In the day when your walls are to be built,
In that day [j]the decree shall go far and wide.
12
In that day they[k] shall come to you
From Assyria and the [l]fortified cities,
From the [m]fortress to [n]the River,
From sea to sea,
And mountain to mountain.
13
Yet the land shall be desolate
Because of those who dwell in it,
And for the fruit of their deeds.
God Will Forgive Israel
14
Shepherd Your people with Your staff,
The flock of Your heritage,
Who dwell [o]solitarily in a woodland,
In the midst of Carmel;
Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead,
As in days of old.
15
“As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,
I will show [p]them wonders.”
16
The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might;
They shall put their hand over their mouth;
Their ears shall be deaf.
17
They shall lick the dust like a serpent;
They shall crawl from their holes like [q]snakes of the earth.
They shall be afraid of the Lord our God,
And shall fear because of You.
18
Who is a God like You,
Pardoning iniquity
And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?
He does not retain His anger forever,
Because He delights in mercy.[r]
19
He will again have compassion on us,
And will subdue our iniquities.
You will cast all [s]our sins
Into the depths of the sea.
20
You will give truth to Jacob
And [t]mercy to Abraham,
Which You have sworn to our fathers
From days of old.
Footnotes:
• Micah 6:2 bring charges against
• Micah 6:5 Heb. Shittim, Num. 25:1; Josh. 2:1; 3:1
• Micah 6:7 My own child
• Micah 6:8 Or lovingkindness
• Micah 6:14 Or Emptiness or Humiliation
• Micah 6:14 Tg., Vg. You shall take hold
• Micah 6:16 Or object of horror
• Micah 6:16 So with MT, Tg., Vg.; LXX nations
• Micah 7:2 Or loyal
• Micah 7:11 Or the boundary shall be extended
• Micah 7:12 Lit. he, collective of the captives
• Micah 7:12 Heb. arey mazor, possibly cities of Egypt
• Micah 7:12 Heb. mazor, possibly Egypt
• Micah 7:12 The Euphrates
• Micah 7:14 Alone
• Micah 7:15 Lit. him, collective for the captives
• Micah 7:17 Lit. crawlers
• Micah 7:18 Or lovingkindness
• Micah 7:19 Lit. their
• Micah 7:20 Or lovingkindness

Revelation 13
The Beast from the Sea
13 Then [a]I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having [b]seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. 2 Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. 3 And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast. 4 So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?”
5 And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to [c]continue for forty-two months. 6 Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. 7 It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every [d]tribe, tongue, and nation. 8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear. 10 He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the [e]patience and the faith of the saints.
The Beast from the Earth
11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. 12 And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13 He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. 14 And he deceives [f]those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. 15 He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 16 He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has [g]the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.
Footnotes:
• Revelation 13:1 NU he
• Revelation 13:1 NU, M ten horns and seven heads
• Revelation 13:5 M make war
• Revelation 13:7 NU, M add and people
• Revelation 13:10 perseverance
• Revelation 13:14 M my own people
• Revelation 13:17 NU, M the mark, the name