i like it when the bible makes me laugh.

...but only because i am caught red-handed by it.

today's chuckle-bearing scripture-whipping was from isaiah twenty-eight.

"and now do not carry on as scoffers, or your fetters will be made stronger."


a couple of weeks ago, i shared with my community group that i had been experiencing a recent episode of conviction over my attitude toward sin; specifically, i had begun to notice that i have a seemingly innate desire to laugh at sin. i make a joke over it. i treat it with sarcasm or silliness. my sin, sin in the world, sin of others in my life ... i try to lighten the weight of all this sin with simple triviality. when a friend tells me a tale of their destructive behavior, which so clearly is the outward manifestation of an inward turmoil, i join them in having a good laugh over it. and when i share my own turmoils with trusted friends, even those friends who will faithfully administer the gospel salve to my gaping wounds, i try to ease the blow of confession with sarcasm.

do not be fooled, rachel. God cannot be mocked; a man reaps what he has sown.


tonight i am asking for stronger fetters. it is a dangerous request, but i entreat the Lord in utter solemnity. i know ... deeply, i know that i need tighter fetters. i do not welcome the raw flesh they will inflict upon me, but the reward is more than worth the injury.


the earth is broken asunder,
the earth is split through,
the earth is shaken violently,
the earth reels to and fro like a drunkard
and it totters like a shack,
for its transgression is  heavy upon it,
and it will fall, never to rise again.

but when the earth experiences Your judgments,
the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. 

isaiah twenty-four : nineteen and twenty; twenty-six : nine 


let me be bound by the fetters of Your judgment, for only then will i be bound for righteousness.