THE SECOND THURSDAY OF ADVENT
Thursday, December 9, 2010
ISAIAH 11:3-4a His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide by what his ears hear;
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
Upon first reading these lines I was confused. Don’t we want a judge who will judge by the facts and not be swayed by bribes or personal feelings? I want a judge who will judge by what he sees and hears. Then I remembered Cart Man at Giant, the man who gathers the shopping carts from the parking lot.
He is a little man who at the first hint of frost in the air bundles up like an Eskimo and has what appears to be a tissue stuffed in both ears. He always has a hard stoic look on his face and would never acknowledge a smile or a greeting. So, I made it my goal in life to make him smile or at least acknowledge me. I was always pleasant, kind and courteous but persistent in smiling and greeting him, commenting on how cold he must be, etc. Never a response! Finally deciding he was simply an unfriendly curmudgeon Scrooge, I gave up.
One afternoon while visiting in the hospital, I met another Giant employee who was the exact opposite of Cart Man, friendly, engaging and always smiling. I told him about the unfriendly curmudgeon Scrooge who tended the carts. “Oh, you mean Jim. He is totally deaf and cannot speak.” All of a sudden I wanted a judge who would not judge by what his eyes see or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness will judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth.” I thank my God that God will judge Cart Man and not me and that God will judge me.
SO WHEN have you judged a situation only to find that you were all wrong? Are you not glad our God is judge and not you?
Stir up your power, O Lord, and come. Come to us and keep us from being judge over others. AMEN
Last Saturday, we went to DAR meeting for Kelly to get a Good Citizen Award. They had a trio from Susquehanna University to provide some musical entertainment. Before the 3 of them performed, I already had in my mind what they were going to sound like.
ReplyDeleteBoy was I wrong. The girl that sang had a wonderful Opera-like voice that took me totally by surprise. I had prejudged her voice, even before she sang a single note. I need to be better about not doing that.
I am one of those people who, when meeting new people, forms first impressions that are hard to overcome, especially negative ones. I have certainly reversed my thinking on more than one occasion and in general am doing better with this. My daughter is a positive role model for me in this matter. Thank you Lord for helping me to overcome my hard-heartedness!
ReplyDeleteThis has helped me to see that I cannot judge a whole person from a single behavior. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteEach day I judge myself and know that I fall short. Thank God that because of the blood He will not "judge by what his eyes see or decide by what his ears hear."
ReplyDeleteYes, how easy it is to judge others and then want to be free of judgment ourselves. Esp. when I was serving a parish, I tended to (in my heart, at least) judge others for sporadic worship attendance, wanting their kids confirmed but not wanting to help them learn to be involved in the church in any way, not being good stewards, etc.
ReplyDeleteI read about the Pharisees in the Bible, and then have to acknowledge that I can be pretty darn pharisaical myself.