Looking for Trouble

by Jeanette Levellie

Illustration: Kevin Carden/stock.Adobe.com God has guts. He could’ve given us a 1,189-chapter Handbook for Living, full of stories about noble heroes to serve as examples. Instead, He gave us the Bible, overflowing with accounts of murderers, adulterers, betrayers and thieves.

Some of these “bad boys and girls” realized they were headed for trouble and did a U-turn before it was too late. Others wallowed in their sin and paid the price. And God, never one to waste, used every story to help us understand Him better (Really, Lord? You didn’t condemn an adulteress?) or show us what to avoid (Be careful who you tell your secrets to.).

This new series will examine some of these biblical bad boys and girls. A few we might recognize, such as Delilah, whose badness was blatant. Others may surprise us, such as Zechariah, who sinned in secret. But every one of these stories will spark hope for our own messes.

Life-Changing Verse I spent years running from God’s grace while I “did my own thing” as a bad girl. Then I found a Bible verse that changed my life: “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more” (Hebrews 8:12). That reassurance led me to surrender my life to God.

I won’t lie and tell you I haven’t done anything bad since that decision. But I will tell you that God’s grace is bigger than any badness.

Since that day, I’ve diligently studied God’s Word and taught it in many settings, including Sunday school classes, kids’ neighbourhood Bible clubs and worship services.

Last year, I was ordained as a minister, and now I preach several times a month. I’ve co-pastored seven congregations and authored six Christian books plus hundreds of articles that focus on God’s grace and humour.

Because everyone can relate to bad boys and girls—whether our worst sin is saying a bad word or stealing a million dollars—this series will encourage us to receive God’s forgiveness, forgive ourselves and help us stay faithful to the Lord.

Turn the page for the first article in the series.

by Jeanette Levellie

When Abram (later called Abraham) was called by God to leave his homeland and start His chosen nation of Hebrews, or Israelites, he not only packed up his family, servants, possessions and livestock. He also took his nephew, Lot, and his entire household.

As the two groups travelled throughout Israel and Egypt, they grew wealthy. The land they’d chosen to settle in could no longer support their huge flocks and herds. And, worse, their servants quarrelled over wells.

Abram proposed a solution. “Let’s not have any quarrelling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives. Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left” (Genesis 13:8-9).

Viewing the lush valleys to the east watered by the Jordan River, Lot selfishly chose to settle there, near the city of Sodom. The Bible tells us that the people who lived in Sodom “were wicked and sinning greatly against the Lord” (Genesis 13:13). According to the Apostle Peter, their disregard of God’s standards tormented Lot day and night (see 2 Peter 2:8). Yet he chose to remain in that raunchy neighbourhood. He even raised his two daughters there.

Don’t Look Back But the day came when the people of Sodom and its neighbouring town, Gomorrah, became so wicked that God sent an angel to destroy them. The angel warned Lot to take his family and not walk but run away from his old neighbourhood and not look back.

Soon fire and brimstone—burning sulfur with poisonous fumes—fell from heaven. Every person in both cities died a painful, horrible death. Lot and his two daughters fled from God’s wrath pouring out on those evil ones, looking forward to their new destination. But Lot’s wife disobeyed the Lord’s command. When she looked behind her, she instantly turned to a statue of salt. Lot and his

Illustration: Woodcut by Gustave Doré (1832-1883), courtesy of The Doré Bible Gallery

daughters fled from the horror and started their new life in a neighbouring region.

We Can’t Fix Our Own Messes Although the Apostle Peter tells us that Lot was a righteous man (see 2 Peter 2:8), he made some bad decisions.

Moving to a city filled with wickedness had terrible results, not only for him but also for his family. His story shows how people who are trying to live for God can still make foolish choices. We go in the direction that looks best, that seems ideal, the “greener grass” on the other side of the fence. And when our environment turns evil, we feel stuck. The truth is, on our own, we can’t fix the mistakes we’ve made in the past. But when we ask for God’s help, He will always give us a way out.

It’s probably an accurate guess that Lot couldn’t imagine how God would rescue his family when He sent the angel to warn them of Sodom’s destruction. But he still obeyed the Lord and became a perfect example of God’s faithfulness to His children.

What About Lot?

Read Genesis 12-14, 19 • Who: The nephew of Abram • When: Around 2,000 BC • Where: The land of Canaan (now Israel, the West Bank and Gaza,

Jordan, and the southern portions of

Syria and Lebanon)

Photo: Dallas Callaway

by Phil Callaway

At the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England, a loose shoelace, a lack of handrails, a marble wall and a stroke of misfortune conspired to give one ill-fated individual, who shall remain nameless—until the next paragraph—an Inspector Clouseau moment.

Shattering Conclusion After hiding from embarrassment for several days, Mr. Flynn recalled the events of that fateful afternoon to reporters.

His misadventure began with the realization that he had ascended the wrong staircase, so he swung gracefully around but trod upon his untied shoelace.

“I was trying to grab hold of something,” he said, “but I couldn’t stop myself.”

Hurtling toward the vases displayed on

a windowsill, he thought, I will only shatter the first one. But it was not to be.

“Although I knew the vase would break, I didn’t imagine it would be loose and crash into the other two,” he said. “I’m sure I only hit the first one, which then hit the other, like a set of dominoes.”

The “dominoes,” which had been intact since the 17th century, were valued at $200,000.

“I can say with my hand on my heart,” said Mr. Flynn, with his hand on his heart, “that it was not deliberate. It was just one of those unbelievably unlucky things that can sometimes happen. I collided with a vase, which shattered into thousands of razor-sharp shards, and I was unhurt. I think it must have been a miracle.”

The vases had been displayed on the windowsill for 60 years before Mr. Flynn’s unfortunate visit. Tumbling down the museum staircase, he brought a shattering conclusion to the earthly pilgrimage of three Qing dynasty vases.

Choose Velcro I’ll tell you a little more about the fall of Mr. Flynn in a minute. But, first, I imagine you’ve had a bad day or two yourself. A friend sometimes says, “Just because today is a bad day doesn’t mean tomorrow won’t be the worst day of your life.” What an encouragement. What a friend.

I prefer the advice of something my wife hung on the fridge: “Sometimes bad days remind us that we have good ones to look forward to.”

None of us are immune to circumstances, phone calls, tragedies. That’s why we might want to set our GPS to Psalm 118 (New Living Translation). In it, the writer mentions his distress. Fearful, he’s surrounded by hostile nations; enemies want to take his life. I’ve had bad days, but none like that. So how can he say in the midst of it, “This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it” (verse 24)?

Smacked around by trouble and pain, he chose to focus on God’s goodness and mercy. “In my distress I prayed to the Lord,” he wrote, “and the Lord answered me and set me free. The Lord is for me, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me? (verses 5-6). Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! His faithful love endures forever” (verse 29).

Your calendar and your circumstances may label this a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. God says, “I’m with you. Have no fear. Choose gratitude. Choose joy.”

As for Mr. Flynn, it took experts six months to reassemble the vases and they are now back on display— in a special case. Reportedly, he was banned from the museum for some time following his fall.

So, listen to your mothers, you children. Do up your laces. Or choose Velcro.