by Gardner Hall<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Mrs.-Partington-sweeping-back-the-waves-291x300.jpg\")
About 1831, Sydney Smith told the story of an old woman by the name of Mrs. Partington who was observed outside her house by the sea trying desperately to hold back the encroaching ocean tide by sweeping at it with a broom. The story became a popular illustration of someone who is trying to hold back the inevitable with a mere broom.<\/p>\n
When thinking of that story I think of Old Testament prophets trying to sweep back the tide of idolatry that was flooding Israel and Judah: Jeremiah with his tears, Zephaniah with his fiery missives, and Hosea with his tragic marriage. It may have all seemed to be in vain as Israel and Judah kept sliding inexorably into full-blown idolatry. It wasn’t in vain, however. In trying to hold back the sea with a broom, the prophets were following the Lord’s leading. He wanted them to “keep sweeping” until the bitter end of those cultures.<\/p>\n
Today the sea of worldliness and idolatry is encroaching upon God’s people. Many praise movies that are full of vulgarity. Political entanglement dominates the thoughts of many. Pictures of disciples in skimpy clothing fill social media and scorn is heaped upon any who would dare put a sad emoji by them. (I don’t recommend doing that!) Scripture is “restudied” with a predetermined outcome to justify compromises with new philosophies that are popular in the world.<\/p>\n
Sometimes it seems that the voices of protest against the onrushing sea are gradually fading away. It is true that many have passed into eternity and others are close to making that journey. Others are bullied or intimidated into silence. However, I believe the Lord wants us to be like the old woman trying to hold back the sea with the broom. More specifically, he wants us to imitate his prophets of old, carrying on until he destroys our culture or returns to take his saints home. In other words, he wants us to keep sweeping! Don’t give up!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Gardner Hall About 1831, Sydney Smith told the story of an old woman by the name of Mrs. Partington who was observed outside her house by the sea trying desperately to hold back the encroaching ocean tide by sweeping at it with a broom. The story became a popular illustration of someone who is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[353],"class_list":["post-43187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-influence"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14793,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-did-god-take-israel-and-judah-back\/","url_meta":{"origin":43187,"position":0},"title":"When did God take Israel and Judah back?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 4, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: When exactly did God take both Israel and Judah back? Answer: When Judah returned from the Babylonian captivity, they did not come alone. \"So all Israel was enrolled by genealogies; and behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel. And Judah was carried away into\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14130,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-god-divorce-all-of-israel-or-only-the-northern-tribes\/","url_meta":{"origin":43187,"position":1},"title":"Did God divorce all of Israel or only the northern tribes?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 25, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In Jeremiah 3:8, who did God divorce? Was it the House of Israel (ten northern tribes) only or all twelve tribes? Thank you. Answer: \"Then the LORD said to me in the days of Josiah the king, \"Have you seen what faithless Israel did? She went up on every\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63896,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jamaica-patois-wisdom-experience\/","url_meta":{"origin":43187,"position":2},"title":"Jamaica Patois Wisdom \u2013 Experience","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 4, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant The Jamaican Patois dialect is colorful, unique, and humorous. It is my desire to share some of the philosophy shown in this mix of colorful phrases that are witty as well as thought-provoking. I hope the readers both profit and enjoy. In my quarter-century plus of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/old-broom-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":56300,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-found-tribes-of-israel\/","url_meta":{"origin":43187,"position":3},"title":"The Found Tribes of Israel","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edwin L. Crozier, via Gospel Power, Vol. 15, No. 4, Jan. 27, 2008. One of the most common mistakes made about Biblical history is the supposedly lost tribes of Israel. We know God divided the descendants of Jacob into 13 different tribes: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17211,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/an-overview-of-the-old-testament-prophets\/","url_meta":{"origin":43187,"position":4},"title":"An Overview of the Old Testament Prophets","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 22, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Hosea 14 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Old Testament is divided into three major sections: the Law, the Psalms, and the Prophets - Luke 24:44 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Law refers to the first five books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Prophets or teachings were divided by the Jews\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5751,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/remember-shiloh\/","url_meta":{"origin":43187,"position":5},"title":"Remember Shiloh","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 11, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Jeremiah 7:1-15 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Around the country we have many memorials and historical sites established to remind us of our victories. Yet, we keep several sites to remind us of our losses. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I was able to see the Alamo in San Antonio. Only the mission still\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43187\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}