The Nose Knows
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. Galatians 6:7 NASB
Not mocked – It’s been two weeks since you made those annual New Year’s resolutions. By now you are back to the routine of life. Things haven’t really changed, have they? What you did before, you are doing again. Reaping what you sowed. Measure for measure. The way God designed the world.
In the process of rediscovering just how little change you actually made, you might want to consider just how little you pay attention to Paul’s stern warning about the consequences of the measure-for-measure universe. “God is not mocked,” says Paul. We read the words, but we hardly have any idea what they really mean.
The Greek is ou (the strong “not”) and the verb mukterizo. It’s a funny word. It literally comes from “blowing your nose,” clearing out the mucus. Metaphorically, it means “to turn up your nose.” “Scorn” would be an appropriate definition. We could add “sneer, deride, ridicule, make fun of, lampoon, satirize and taunt.” Anyone who watches Saturday Night Live or who reads certain left-wing periodicals or who keeps tabs on Hollywood’s anti-Christian bias can instantly recognize the application of mukterizo in our culture. We live in a world that celebrates mocking God. It will not go unpunished.
But it isn’t just the wicked world that mocks the Creator. Even His own children are too often disrespectful. Think of the promises we make to Him. All those times we said, “I’ll never do that again, Lord.” Like New Year’s resolutions, fallen by the wayside. Is that not also mocking? Every time we presume on God’s forgiveness, are we not also sneering at His grace? This too demands retribution.
“The thought of retribution cannot be taken out of the message of the NT without destroying it. The relationship between God and man is a personal one in which man the recipient is responsible to God the Giver and is thus subject to His retribution. To do good for good’s sake, artlessly and without regard for self, is not the morality of the NT. The morality of the NT is love for God, to whom man is bound by his very existence, and above all as His possession. God and man are not equal partners in their mutual relationship; they are Creator and creature. It thus belongs to the very nature of man to be subject to divine retribution.”[1]
There are two critical nose idioms in Hebrew. The first is the long nose of God’s mercy. He draws breath slowly, giving men time to repent. But the second is just as important. No one blows the nose slowly. That is ineffective. To clear out the nose requires a sudden burst of air. Retribution is like that. It suddenly comes upon those who presume on God. It is just as inevitable as mercy. The end is included in the beginning.
Topical Index: mock, mukterizo, blowing the nose, Galatians 6:7
“There are two critical nose idioms in Hebrew.
The first is the long nose of God’s mercy. He draws breath slowly, giving men time to repent.
But the second is just as important. No one blows the nose slowly. That is ineffective.
THE ALLERGIES OF GOD – SNEEZING: “To clear out the nose requires a sudden burst of air. Retribution is like that. It suddenly comes upon those who presume on God. It is just as inevitable as mercy. The end is included in the beginning.”
“The thought of retribution cannot be taken out of the message of the NT without destroying it. The relationship between God and man is a personal one in which man the recipient is responsible to God the Giver and is thus subject to His retribution. To do good for good’s sake, artlessly and without regard for self, is not the morality of the NT. The morality of the NT is love for God, to whom man is bound by his very existence, and above all as His possession. God and man are not equal partners in their mutual relationship; they are Creator and creature. It thus belongs to the very nature of man to be subject to divine retribution.”
Some of the quotes I read really stick with me and enrich my life. Especially the ones that define and crystallize what is at the core and substance of my foundational motivation and worldview.
This is one for the refridgerator. Thanks Skip!
~ And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, for the LORD disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives ~ (Hebrews 12.6)
A word of encouragement? How can this be? This “chastisement” (NOT punishment!) is with a view toward correction and also speaks of our “relationship” with our Heavenly Father. We are the sons and daughters of the (now) Living G-d!- but as sons our Father is saying to us- please do not disgrace this family. I need to display the character of my Father at all times and in all places.
Friends, – today is MLK day. A day of remembrance in honor of a great man. “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
(Martin Luther King, Jr.)
Amen Dr. King- may it be so..- and my Christian brothers- how we need to exhibit in our lives, before our families, neighbors, co-workers and community lives that reflect the character of our Father.
I am slow on reading everything, therfore slow on commenting on “The Nose Knows”, however I still wish to — maybe no one will hear . . .
This sobering fact you are teaching on was made very clear to me one day when G-d corrected a misconception I had been holding.
I didn’t even know I was holding onto a wrong way of thinking, but I was believing that somehow when one is converted & sins forgiven, that we also got off free from past things we have done.
When it pleased G-d for correct me, our brother Paul’s life story jump forward clearly in my mind & I saw that he received beatings & prison time for preaching the Gospel, but also it was payment, beating for beating, stoning for stoning, just as Paul had wreaked against others before he himself became a believer. If Paul wasn’t excuced, — neither will I be.
I hear you.
Just some encouragement, in all the things that were returned to Paul (and others) God was able to use it for His purposes and glory. In other words, if God hadn’t allowed all that “stuff” to occur in Pauls life, we wouldn’t be reading his letters (perhaps someone elses) God works consistently in all mens lives from Adam to us to turn evil to Good.
I was reading Psm. 4 the other day and in the KJV it reads like this:
Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me [when I was] in distress;
As you can see the “when I was” is added (probably for flow) but it tends to make us miss the point. A more literal rendering would probably go: “in distress (a tight place, trouble or tied up in a bag) you gave to me room (to broaden or make wide)
You’ll notice that David didn’t ask for deliverance from the circumstance, but rather that he acknowledged that IN the tight place is where God did His work. That work is what freed him, and without the tight place it wouldn’t be possible. We see the same thing in Paul (and us)
Was Paul free, even in the middle of the stoning and beatings? He seemed to think so. He counted all the things he thought he had and knew as dung compared to this.
“to know Him and the power of His resurection!!”