Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabeel, who was shut up; and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple: for they will come to slay thee; yea, in the night will they come to slay thee. And I said, Should such a man as I flee? and who is there, that, being as I am, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in. And, lo, I perceived that God had not sent him; but that he pronounced this prophecy against me: for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. Therefore was he hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, and that they might have matter for an evil report, that they might reproach me. (Nehemiah 6:10-13)
There may be people that will come to you claiming to seek to protect you, people may bring forth an idea that seems good to the fearful heart. They may say to do something...Or even to stop doing what you are so that your life might be preserved (or just less stressful). But these men may not actually speak for the Lord and what they plan that seems good is actually a wicked trap set to cause you to sin. And in that sin they will say to all who will listen, "See? This person doesn't know God, he doesn't serve God, look at this sin in his life!" Or perhaps they might say, "What kind of God does she serve that she goes out in sin like this?"
And so we must be cautious and prayerful, we must be alert as Nehemiah was and be sure not to sin out of fear. After all, who is man that we should fear him?
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28)
Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. (Hebrews 13:5-6)
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, (Hebrews 12:1)
Showing posts with label Devotion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Devotion. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Rise Up and Defend Your Faith in Prayer
But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth, And conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it. (Nehemiah 4:7-8)
Now, this is interesting, here we see the world (who normally can't agree upon anything) joining forces to stop the Jews from following God and serving Him as He has called them to. And like the Jews of old we too face opposition when we set out to rebuild the walls. When we set out to separate ourselves from the world and serve God in the way He has directed us to we will undoubtedly be opposed. The enemy will seek to stop our work by threat, violence, or even with the promise of earthly fame, riches, and pleasure. Did he not do this with Christ Himself? Indeed we see this third tactic used in the book of Matthew.
Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. (Matthew 4:8-10)
But no matter what way we are attacked it is important that we continue on in our work, we must be attentive and watch for the attack, we cannot allow ourselves to become comfortable lest we are caught off guard when the attack comes. We must watch day and night as we continue on and it is only though prayer that we will find the strength to continue our work in the midst of the attack (see Nehemiah 4:9). And finally we must stand prepared to defend our faith from the attacks of the enemy, and no doubt we will need the support of those around us who share our faith. We must join together in prayer, and in our labors, to help guard each other from the temptation of laying down and giving up.
And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses. And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was known unto us, and God had brought their counsel to naught, that we returned all of us to the wall, every one unto his work. (Nehemiah 4:14-15)
Now, this is interesting, here we see the world (who normally can't agree upon anything) joining forces to stop the Jews from following God and serving Him as He has called them to. And like the Jews of old we too face opposition when we set out to rebuild the walls. When we set out to separate ourselves from the world and serve God in the way He has directed us to we will undoubtedly be opposed. The enemy will seek to stop our work by threat, violence, or even with the promise of earthly fame, riches, and pleasure. Did he not do this with Christ Himself? Indeed we see this third tactic used in the book of Matthew.
Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. (Matthew 4:8-10)
But no matter what way we are attacked it is important that we continue on in our work, we must be attentive and watch for the attack, we cannot allow ourselves to become comfortable lest we are caught off guard when the attack comes. We must watch day and night as we continue on and it is only though prayer that we will find the strength to continue our work in the midst of the attack (see Nehemiah 4:9). And finally we must stand prepared to defend our faith from the attacks of the enemy, and no doubt we will need the support of those around us who share our faith. We must join together in prayer, and in our labors, to help guard each other from the temptation of laying down and giving up.
And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses. And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was known unto us, and God had brought their counsel to naught, that we returned all of us to the wall, every one unto his work. (Nehemiah 4:14-15)
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
A Word From Jeremiah
Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD. Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD. And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD. (Jeremiah 23:1-4)
Monday, June 19, 2006
Psalm 63
A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.
O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;
To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.
Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.
Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.
My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:
When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches. Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.
My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me.
But those that seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth.
They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes.
But the king shall rejoice in God; every one that sweareth by him shall glory: but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.
O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;
To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.
Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.
Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.
My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:
When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches. Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.
My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me.
But those that seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth.
They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes.
But the king shall rejoice in God; every one that sweareth by him shall glory: but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.
In God I Have Put My Trust
To the chief Musician upon Jonath-elem-rechokim, Michtam of David, when the Philistines took him in Gath.
Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresseth me.
Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O thou most High.
What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.
In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.
Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil. They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul.
Shall they escape by iniquity? in thine anger cast down the people, O God.
Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?
When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me.
In God will I praise his word: in the LORD will I praise his word. In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.
Thy vows are upon me, O God: I will render praises unto thee.
For thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living. (Psalm 56)
Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresseth me.
Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O thou most High.
What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.
In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.
Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil. They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul.
Shall they escape by iniquity? in thine anger cast down the people, O God.
Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?
When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me.
In God will I praise his word: in the LORD will I praise his word. In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.
Thy vows are upon me, O God: I will render praises unto thee.
For thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living. (Psalm 56)
Let Them Return Unto Thee
I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand: for thou hast filled me with indignation. (Jeremiah 15:17, emphasis mine)
Jeremiah doesn't join together with those who mock God and His righteousness. He sits separated from those who may pay lip service but do not worship in their heart and spirit. He sees God's hand in his separation, he is frustrated - disgusted even - by the sin of those around him. God has caused him to be incapable of being complacent about sin. He cares, and he cares deeply. He understands that these people who were called by God, who claim to serve Him, are marring the Lord's name. Their behavior, their attitudes dishonor the name of the One who has called them. Surely the pagans that surround them must look at these people and say, "Look at them. They claim to serve the God of gods, yet they do not seem to be any different than us. If their God is greater, why do they do things that our unlawful people would do?"
Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them. (Jeremiah 15:19, emphasis mine)
God calls us to maintain our separation from the world, do not return to it, do not return to our previous lives but to remain steadfast in our following Him. Our differences shall be a light to the world, should not the unbeliever be able to see we are different? We're called to be holy as our Father is holy (Leviticus 11:44, Matthew 5:48), and to let our light shine before all men so that they might glorify the God that works through us (Matthew 5:16). And on top of that we have a duty to each other, to our brethren in Christ to point out their sin (I'm not saying beat them in the head with their Bibles, but sin must be addressed). We cannot turn a blind eye to something that can send our brothers and sisters tumbling down the road to destruction and in the process mar their witness for Christ and lead others into temptation as well (1 Corinthians 5).
Hundreds of years before it was written Jeremiah's pleas to the Israelites to turn back from their wickedness seems to foreshadow James:
Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins. (James 5:19-20)
Jeremiah doesn't join together with those who mock God and His righteousness. He sits separated from those who may pay lip service but do not worship in their heart and spirit. He sees God's hand in his separation, he is frustrated - disgusted even - by the sin of those around him. God has caused him to be incapable of being complacent about sin. He cares, and he cares deeply. He understands that these people who were called by God, who claim to serve Him, are marring the Lord's name. Their behavior, their attitudes dishonor the name of the One who has called them. Surely the pagans that surround them must look at these people and say, "Look at them. They claim to serve the God of gods, yet they do not seem to be any different than us. If their God is greater, why do they do things that our unlawful people would do?"
Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them. (Jeremiah 15:19, emphasis mine)
God calls us to maintain our separation from the world, do not return to it, do not return to our previous lives but to remain steadfast in our following Him. Our differences shall be a light to the world, should not the unbeliever be able to see we are different? We're called to be holy as our Father is holy (Leviticus 11:44, Matthew 5:48), and to let our light shine before all men so that they might glorify the God that works through us (Matthew 5:16). And on top of that we have a duty to each other, to our brethren in Christ to point out their sin (I'm not saying beat them in the head with their Bibles, but sin must be addressed). We cannot turn a blind eye to something that can send our brothers and sisters tumbling down the road to destruction and in the process mar their witness for Christ and lead others into temptation as well (1 Corinthians 5).
Hundreds of years before it was written Jeremiah's pleas to the Israelites to turn back from their wickedness seems to foreshadow James:
Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins. (James 5:19-20)
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Jeremiah On The Word of The Lord
"Thy words were found, and I did eat them;" (Jeremiah 15:16) to eat is to be sustained, to be nurished by what you're eating. Jeremiah is saying here that in the midst of his persecution, in the midst of his hardship, in the midst of what must have seemed like a spiritual wilderness he found God's Word and was nurished by it.
But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4)
He continues, "and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts." Here we see Jeremiah rejoicing because he knows the Word. It is in the Word of God that we find God's love, patience, righteousness, and glory displayed (at least until the return of Christ!) most clearly. He knows the Word and because of that knowledge he rejoices. He's being persecuted, people hate him because he is a reproach to their sinful lives and still he finds joy! It is in knowing and embracing the Word of the Lord that we can rejoice when those around us who do not know the Lord would be weeping and crying out about their misfortune.
We rejoice in knowing that we are "called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts." Ignorance of God's Word often leads to doubt, sadness, and hopelessness. But as we learn and grow in the Lord, when we come to understand this God who knew us before we were born, this God who guides and protects us, this same God who created the heavens is calling us to Him we can rejoice and experience a deep setting joy and peace that is not dependant upon our current situations. It is in knowing God as revealed through His Word that we find this joy. And I rejoice in the fact that He cares so much for us that He has chosen to give us His Word as a constant reminder of His ever loving presence in the lives of those who serve Him.
But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4)
He continues, "and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts." Here we see Jeremiah rejoicing because he knows the Word. It is in the Word of God that we find God's love, patience, righteousness, and glory displayed (at least until the return of Christ!) most clearly. He knows the Word and because of that knowledge he rejoices. He's being persecuted, people hate him because he is a reproach to their sinful lives and still he finds joy! It is in knowing and embracing the Word of the Lord that we can rejoice when those around us who do not know the Lord would be weeping and crying out about their misfortune.
We rejoice in knowing that we are "called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts." Ignorance of God's Word often leads to doubt, sadness, and hopelessness. But as we learn and grow in the Lord, when we come to understand this God who knew us before we were born, this God who guides and protects us, this same God who created the heavens is calling us to Him we can rejoice and experience a deep setting joy and peace that is not dependant upon our current situations. It is in knowing God as revealed through His Word that we find this joy. And I rejoice in the fact that He cares so much for us that He has chosen to give us His Word as a constant reminder of His ever loving presence in the lives of those who serve Him.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
The Kingdom is a Treasure
For a long time I considered myself a Christian, you see once upon a time I'd had a run in with Jesus and had realized He was exactly who He said He was. But somehow I managed to stray, the hardness of my own heart led me away to follow the voice of one who was not my Shepherd. But I really never thought much about it, I thought I was following God, I realize now how lost I was. Sometimes I think that is even more difficult, calling someone off a path that they are sure leads to God can be more difficult than calling someone who knows they aren't following God. But you see, I think in part my problem was when I began to stray is that I really didn't have much of a foundation. I didn't read my Bible on regular basis, or even a semi-regular basis, the "church" I was in didn't preach on sin, and was absorbed in the latest movements to hit the Body. They were more focused on making everyone feel good about themselves than really displaying God's glory through His Word. It isn't their fault I strayed, that lies on my shoulders, but they most certainly weren't doing their job by calling me back from the brink of sin. Years when by and this continued, I got more lost and the place I called my church just kept on going their own way as well.
But God in His great mercy was calling me back to Him, and one night I hit the floor in tears. A trial like I'd never experienced had just knocked the wind right out of me and I realized there was no way I'd make it through on my own. In the early morning hours of the following day I realized how I hadn't been following God. Oh, I may have been using His name and claiming to know Him, but I most certainly wasn't following Him. I easily fell into the latter category of John 14:23-24:
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.
After that night I discovered a deep rooted hunger for God's Word. I just couldn't seem to get enough of it. And the more I studied the more I understood God. And it continues to this day. You see, before this trial I'd never studied the Word and because I'd never studied I really didn't have firm grasp on who God was. I knew Jesus was sent to the cross because of my sins, but I didn't know it in my heart, I hadn't let it take root there. And because I didn't know the Word I wasn't able to understand just how precious Christ's sacrifice was, I wasn't able to see the value of the Cross in a life changing way. I wasn't able to comprehend that losing just about everything I held dear to me was worth the loss if I'd gained Christ.
Ah, but when we get that glimpse, when God opens His Word to us, when we begin to understand the value of living a life in submission to God, when we really begin to grasp that we can and will be changed drastically. Why are people all around the world dying for the name of Jesus? Why are people seeing the Bible and their relationship with God as more important than a house, food, water, or their very lives? It's because they've opened their hearts to Him and allowed Him to show them His magnificence!
I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil. (Psalms 119:162)
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it. (Matthew 13:44-46)
Oh, how I want Him to open my heart like this, to be willing to risk everything to call Him my own.
But God in His great mercy was calling me back to Him, and one night I hit the floor in tears. A trial like I'd never experienced had just knocked the wind right out of me and I realized there was no way I'd make it through on my own. In the early morning hours of the following day I realized how I hadn't been following God. Oh, I may have been using His name and claiming to know Him, but I most certainly wasn't following Him. I easily fell into the latter category of John 14:23-24:
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.
After that night I discovered a deep rooted hunger for God's Word. I just couldn't seem to get enough of it. And the more I studied the more I understood God. And it continues to this day. You see, before this trial I'd never studied the Word and because I'd never studied I really didn't have firm grasp on who God was. I knew Jesus was sent to the cross because of my sins, but I didn't know it in my heart, I hadn't let it take root there. And because I didn't know the Word I wasn't able to understand just how precious Christ's sacrifice was, I wasn't able to see the value of the Cross in a life changing way. I wasn't able to comprehend that losing just about everything I held dear to me was worth the loss if I'd gained Christ.
Ah, but when we get that glimpse, when God opens His Word to us, when we begin to understand the value of living a life in submission to God, when we really begin to grasp that we can and will be changed drastically. Why are people all around the world dying for the name of Jesus? Why are people seeing the Bible and their relationship with God as more important than a house, food, water, or their very lives? It's because they've opened their hearts to Him and allowed Him to show them His magnificence!
I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil. (Psalms 119:162)
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it. (Matthew 13:44-46)
Oh, how I want Him to open my heart like this, to be willing to risk everything to call Him my own.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
In the Name of the Lord
At what point do our sacrifices become unacceptable? Does God have a standard for how we are to approach Him, or can we simply come however we see fit? It is becoming more and more common to hear that we can come as we please and so long as we are sincere God will accept it. We can take the physical side of yoga and remove it from the intertwined spiritual aspects without concern. We can take things that originally were found in other religions and slap the name of Jesus on it and that will make it "Christian." Or will it? And can we really do a service in the name of God and demand reward for it? If I do x, y, and z do I force God's hand into giving me what I want? If I do 10 prayers does that mean I will get what I want? And if I'm willing to do 100 prayers will I get 10 times as many blessings? Is God a genie that is willing to give whatever we want so long as we bring something, anything to Him? If we just rub that little bottle He'll answer our prayers, after all He has to. Doesn't He?
To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me. (Jeremiah 6:20)
It seems to me that we can't just do whatever we want and expect God to accept it. If we can pick and choose our methods for approaching God from other religions, why then shouldn't we just be able to follow those other religions and still come to God? If God is going to accept certain aspects of false religions as a way to come to Him, why then would He insist that coming to Him through Christ's sacrifice is the only way (John 14:6)?
If we could make sacrifices to God in whatever manner we wanted, why would He kill Aaron's sons in Leviticus for doing this very thing?
And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the LORD spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace. And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said unto them, Come near, carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of the camp. So they went near, and carried them in their coats out of the camp; as Moses had said. And Moses said unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar, his sons, Uncover not your heads, neither rend your clothes; lest ye die, and lest wrath come upon all the people: but let your brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the LORD hath kindled. And ye shall not go out from the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: for the anointing oil of the LORD is upon you. And they did according to the word of Moses. And the LORD spake unto Aaron, saying, Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations: And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean; And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses. (Leviticus 10:1-11)
If God is a God of order, and we know He is, then why would He be so disorderly that man could choose to do whatever he wanted? This idea contradicts all of Scripture. He set up the world in a specific order, the way the ark was to be built, He had Abraham come to a specific mountain to offer Isaac in sacrifice, He brought the Israelites out of Egypt along a specific path, specific ways for how the tabernacle was to be laid out, even the way the land was divided once they were able to enter the land was very specific and left no doubt as to who lived where. God was so specific that He gave over a hundred prophecies concerning the coming of His Son. So, if God is going to be that detail oriented in everything else, why do we seem to think that He doesn't have specific things He will and will not allow as valid ways of worshiping Him?
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
(Matthew 7:22-23)
Likewise just doing the "right" thing isn't good enough. Our hearts must be engaged, we must serve because we long to see God glorified, not to attempt to use our servanthood as something to dangle over God's head. He wants us to do what He commands because we love Him, to desire His glorification over all else. God doesn't do half way. Christ said that those who love anyone more than Him are not worthy of Him (Matthew 10:37), He shot down the Pharisees outward righteousness because they were not doing their works out of a pure heart (Matthew 23:25). Clearly doing "good" to appear righteous is not righteous at all, one must do good because God has commanded us to do so and one must do that work faithfully with a clean heart to the glory of God.
And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; (Colossians 3:23)
To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me. (Jeremiah 6:20)
It seems to me that we can't just do whatever we want and expect God to accept it. If we can pick and choose our methods for approaching God from other religions, why then shouldn't we just be able to follow those other religions and still come to God? If God is going to accept certain aspects of false religions as a way to come to Him, why then would He insist that coming to Him through Christ's sacrifice is the only way (John 14:6)?
If we could make sacrifices to God in whatever manner we wanted, why would He kill Aaron's sons in Leviticus for doing this very thing?
And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the LORD spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace. And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said unto them, Come near, carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of the camp. So they went near, and carried them in their coats out of the camp; as Moses had said. And Moses said unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar, his sons, Uncover not your heads, neither rend your clothes; lest ye die, and lest wrath come upon all the people: but let your brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the LORD hath kindled. And ye shall not go out from the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: for the anointing oil of the LORD is upon you. And they did according to the word of Moses. And the LORD spake unto Aaron, saying, Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations: And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean; And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses. (Leviticus 10:1-11)
If God is a God of order, and we know He is, then why would He be so disorderly that man could choose to do whatever he wanted? This idea contradicts all of Scripture. He set up the world in a specific order, the way the ark was to be built, He had Abraham come to a specific mountain to offer Isaac in sacrifice, He brought the Israelites out of Egypt along a specific path, specific ways for how the tabernacle was to be laid out, even the way the land was divided once they were able to enter the land was very specific and left no doubt as to who lived where. God was so specific that He gave over a hundred prophecies concerning the coming of His Son. So, if God is going to be that detail oriented in everything else, why do we seem to think that He doesn't have specific things He will and will not allow as valid ways of worshiping Him?
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
(Matthew 7:22-23)
Likewise just doing the "right" thing isn't good enough. Our hearts must be engaged, we must serve because we long to see God glorified, not to attempt to use our servanthood as something to dangle over God's head. He wants us to do what He commands because we love Him, to desire His glorification over all else. God doesn't do half way. Christ said that those who love anyone more than Him are not worthy of Him (Matthew 10:37), He shot down the Pharisees outward righteousness because they were not doing their works out of a pure heart (Matthew 23:25). Clearly doing "good" to appear righteous is not righteous at all, one must do good because God has commanded us to do so and one must do that work faithfully with a clean heart to the glory of God.
And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; (Colossians 3:23)
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
On Psalm 124
A Song of degrees of David.
If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, now may Israel say;
If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us:
Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us:
Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul:
Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.
Blessed be the LORD, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.
Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.
Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth. (Psalm 124:1-8, emphasis mine)
Simply beautiful. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side we would be consumed, truly how could we stand if not for the Lord? I have seen this truth displayed so well in my own life. There have been things that I'm sure I would have never been able to manage if God hadn't been there leading me through. Things I'm sure could have broken me, made me endlessly bitter, even some things could have killed me if God had not been there. But He was there, and continues to be there. And when the trials come He lifts me back up off my knees and leads me through. I rejoice in knowing He has gone before me, all I have to do is walk the path He has laid out...And I don't even have to do that in my strength, but in His.
If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, now may Israel say;
If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us:
Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us:
Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul:
Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.
Blessed be the LORD, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.
Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.
Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth. (Psalm 124:1-8, emphasis mine)
Simply beautiful. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side we would be consumed, truly how could we stand if not for the Lord? I have seen this truth displayed so well in my own life. There have been things that I'm sure I would have never been able to manage if God hadn't been there leading me through. Things I'm sure could have broken me, made me endlessly bitter, even some things could have killed me if God had not been there. But He was there, and continues to be there. And when the trials come He lifts me back up off my knees and leads me through. I rejoice in knowing He has gone before me, all I have to do is walk the path He has laid out...And I don't even have to do that in my strength, but in His.
Thursday, June 08, 2006
The Canaanite Woman: A Woman of Scripture
[Today we'll wrap up the (Gentile) Women of Scripture series, you can find Ruth here, the woman at the well here, and Rahab here.]
Can I be honest? This woman and her interaction with Jesus had me scratching my head for a good three days. Really, go read Matthew 15:21-28. I mean at first Jesus ignores her pleas for mercy, (I can count on my hand the times Jesus doesn't reply to someone) then because she keeps crying out the disciples turn to Him and basically say, "Look, Jesus, You should send her away. She keeps crying, she's getting on our nerves, should we tell her to go for You?!" And finally He responds by telling her that He has come for the lost children of Israel, He's come for the Jew. And so she bows herself down in submission to Him (she obviously knows He is the Messiah) and worships Him. And still He seems to want to dissuade her:
But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. (Matthew 15:26)
Boy, if Jesus had said that to me when I'd been pleading for the life of my child I'd probably just sit and cry (or I'd be shocked at least for a moment). But not this woman, she was there to fight, she knew He could deliver her daughter from the spirits and refused to give up.
And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. (Matthew 15:27)
Oh, she's a quick one! And so Jesus marvels at her, can you imagine? Jesus just sitting there for a moment, jaw agape. He sees that she has "great" faith and sends her on her way with the assurance that her daughter will be fine.
Now that aside, how does this apply to our faith, what lesson can we pull from this, how does this connect to the other three women of our series? Truth be told I started this series because I was studying Pentecost. And what is one of the things that happened at Pentecost? The Gentile was brought into the family of God. The lost were found and redeemed. The faith went from the Jew to the Jew and the Gentile. God opened up the gates and declared for all to come. The Jew, the widow, the fatherless, the stranger, everyone can come! But you must believe.
One verse really stuck out to me (verse 27) and that's where God started me at with this woman. The crumbs. Jesus says it isn't right for Him to take what is for the Jew to give to a dog and the woman retorts, "Yes, but even the dogs are fed crumbs." The dogs get the crumbs, the left overs! What struck me so significantly about this verse is that I had just been studying the Law of the Old Testament, and in that God commands that when one harvests their crop they must leave some for the widow, the fatherless, and the stranger that is amongst them. It is as if this woman who wasn't a Jews and probably didn't know the Law understood this concept. Jesus came to feed the Israelites first, but the crumbs, the left-overs were rightfully for the stranger.
It strikes me that while crumbs may not sound great, or that God loves the Jews more, we have to keep in mind that the Jews walked all those years in the wilderness being fed by God. And what did He choose to feed them? Manna...Crumbs from heaven! And those crumbs were enough, heck they were more than enough! Left-overs in the field were more than enough to sustain Ruth. God's crumbs are plenty, and are something to rejoice over!
Admittedly this can be hard to hear, especially for all us non-Jews. Our pride tends to puff up, but really let us consider this. God isn't a respecter of persons, the Bible tells us that repeatedly. So, obviously God isn't playing favorites, He doesn't love them more than us, so what's the deal?
I have two children. They're both small and I love them both. But the fact remains that my boy is nearly two years older than my girl. Now, I give my son bigger portions of food, I give him food that takes a little more effort to eat. Does this mean that I love my little girl any less? Do I love her with an inferior love because I don't think she is ready for steak just yet? I love her just as I love my son, and truthfully it is the very fact that I love her that keeps me from giving her things she isn't ready for! I give her just what she needs lest she be overwhelmed or choke.
Similarly God loves us. The Jews started out with the manna that fell from the sky just as crumbs would fall from a table. And you know what? That was exactly enough to take care of them, and it taught them to depend only upon God. It taught them to wait beneath that table eagerly expecting those crumbs to fall. And they weren't under that table eating crumbs for eternity, when God determined they were ready He brought them up to the table and gave them the next step up. And so the Gentiles are brought in. For a time we need to learn that same dependence, that same eagerness, that same persistent pursuit of food, of His provision. And when we get to the point where He decides we are ready for more than just crumbs He'll step us up to the corn. He'll bring us to it, but out of love for us He will not give us more than we are ready for. And so we must wait upon the Lord.
One last thing about this woman. When she approaches Jesus she's pleading for mercy, and for the deliverance of her daughter from evil spirits. We see in this woman a child-like faith. She knows who Jesus is, she knows what He is capable of, she knows that He can do this work and save her daughter. She asks Him to have mercy on her, why and what is this mercy she desires? She asks for Him to deliver her daughter, and in doing so He will have mercy upon her. Any parent knows how heart wrenching it is to see a child being afflicted. Do our hearts not break for our children when they are hurt, do we not cry out for deliverance when we see them going astray? And when our child heals, or returns from disobedience do we not rejoice? In delivering the daughter He is being merciful to the parents. And this is what the woman cries out for. She knows He can do this, and she has it in her mind that she will not leave until she hears from God. She'll wait there behind Him for as long as it takes, but she will hear Him answer. She knows He can answer and refuses to let a slight delay in that answer deter her. She hears those around her saying He will not answer, that she should give up and go home, she hears all this and still she has faith. He will answer, but she must wait.
We are called to have this faith. To know that God does hear us, and that even though He might seem silent, He might seem as if He will never answer, we know He will. It may not be what we want to hear all the time, but He will answer. He hears us when we call, we can be sure of that. Sometimes it is beneficial for us to have to wait. But He will answer in His timing.
Can I be honest? This woman and her interaction with Jesus had me scratching my head for a good three days. Really, go read Matthew 15:21-28. I mean at first Jesus ignores her pleas for mercy, (I can count on my hand the times Jesus doesn't reply to someone) then because she keeps crying out the disciples turn to Him and basically say, "Look, Jesus, You should send her away. She keeps crying, she's getting on our nerves, should we tell her to go for You?!" And finally He responds by telling her that He has come for the lost children of Israel, He's come for the Jew. And so she bows herself down in submission to Him (she obviously knows He is the Messiah) and worships Him. And still He seems to want to dissuade her:
But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. (Matthew 15:26)
Boy, if Jesus had said that to me when I'd been pleading for the life of my child I'd probably just sit and cry (or I'd be shocked at least for a moment). But not this woman, she was there to fight, she knew He could deliver her daughter from the spirits and refused to give up.
And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. (Matthew 15:27)
Oh, she's a quick one! And so Jesus marvels at her, can you imagine? Jesus just sitting there for a moment, jaw agape. He sees that she has "great" faith and sends her on her way with the assurance that her daughter will be fine.
Now that aside, how does this apply to our faith, what lesson can we pull from this, how does this connect to the other three women of our series? Truth be told I started this series because I was studying Pentecost. And what is one of the things that happened at Pentecost? The Gentile was brought into the family of God. The lost were found and redeemed. The faith went from the Jew to the Jew and the Gentile. God opened up the gates and declared for all to come. The Jew, the widow, the fatherless, the stranger, everyone can come! But you must believe.
One verse really stuck out to me (verse 27) and that's where God started me at with this woman. The crumbs. Jesus says it isn't right for Him to take what is for the Jew to give to a dog and the woman retorts, "Yes, but even the dogs are fed crumbs." The dogs get the crumbs, the left overs! What struck me so significantly about this verse is that I had just been studying the Law of the Old Testament, and in that God commands that when one harvests their crop they must leave some for the widow, the fatherless, and the stranger that is amongst them. It is as if this woman who wasn't a Jews and probably didn't know the Law understood this concept. Jesus came to feed the Israelites first, but the crumbs, the left-overs were rightfully for the stranger.
It strikes me that while crumbs may not sound great, or that God loves the Jews more, we have to keep in mind that the Jews walked all those years in the wilderness being fed by God. And what did He choose to feed them? Manna...Crumbs from heaven! And those crumbs were enough, heck they were more than enough! Left-overs in the field were more than enough to sustain Ruth. God's crumbs are plenty, and are something to rejoice over!
Admittedly this can be hard to hear, especially for all us non-Jews. Our pride tends to puff up, but really let us consider this. God isn't a respecter of persons, the Bible tells us that repeatedly. So, obviously God isn't playing favorites, He doesn't love them more than us, so what's the deal?
I have two children. They're both small and I love them both. But the fact remains that my boy is nearly two years older than my girl. Now, I give my son bigger portions of food, I give him food that takes a little more effort to eat. Does this mean that I love my little girl any less? Do I love her with an inferior love because I don't think she is ready for steak just yet? I love her just as I love my son, and truthfully it is the very fact that I love her that keeps me from giving her things she isn't ready for! I give her just what she needs lest she be overwhelmed or choke.
Similarly God loves us. The Jews started out with the manna that fell from the sky just as crumbs would fall from a table. And you know what? That was exactly enough to take care of them, and it taught them to depend only upon God. It taught them to wait beneath that table eagerly expecting those crumbs to fall. And they weren't under that table eating crumbs for eternity, when God determined they were ready He brought them up to the table and gave them the next step up. And so the Gentiles are brought in. For a time we need to learn that same dependence, that same eagerness, that same persistent pursuit of food, of His provision. And when we get to the point where He decides we are ready for more than just crumbs He'll step us up to the corn. He'll bring us to it, but out of love for us He will not give us more than we are ready for. And so we must wait upon the Lord.
One last thing about this woman. When she approaches Jesus she's pleading for mercy, and for the deliverance of her daughter from evil spirits. We see in this woman a child-like faith. She knows who Jesus is, she knows what He is capable of, she knows that He can do this work and save her daughter. She asks Him to have mercy on her, why and what is this mercy she desires? She asks for Him to deliver her daughter, and in doing so He will have mercy upon her. Any parent knows how heart wrenching it is to see a child being afflicted. Do our hearts not break for our children when they are hurt, do we not cry out for deliverance when we see them going astray? And when our child heals, or returns from disobedience do we not rejoice? In delivering the daughter He is being merciful to the parents. And this is what the woman cries out for. She knows He can do this, and she has it in her mind that she will not leave until she hears from God. She'll wait there behind Him for as long as it takes, but she will hear Him answer. She knows He can answer and refuses to let a slight delay in that answer deter her. She hears those around her saying He will not answer, that she should give up and go home, she hears all this and still she has faith. He will answer, but she must wait.
We are called to have this faith. To know that God does hear us, and that even though He might seem silent, He might seem as if He will never answer, we know He will. It may not be what we want to hear all the time, but He will answer. He hears us when we call, we can be sure of that. Sometimes it is beneficial for us to have to wait. But He will answer in His timing.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Rahab: A Woman of Scripture
[Today we'll take a look at the next person in the (Gentile) Women of Scripture series, you can find Ruth here, and the woman at the well here.]
In the second chapter of Joshua two spies are sent to Jericho from the Israelite camp, upon coming to the city they hide in the home of a harlot named Rahab. I've always wondered, when she let them into her house did she immediately realize these men were not native to the city? Did their speech betray them? If she did know who these men were before the king sent for them, then she'd probably been ready to hide them from the very beginning. Another question I've had, how exactly did the king and his advisers know the spies were in her house? Did someone see them enter? Surely she wasn't the only woman of her...occupation, so perhaps someone saw them enter her house. Perhaps one of her competitors was trying to put her out of business. However it came about the king knew the men had been there and sent people to capture them.
Rahab sends them on a wild goose chase by telling them the spies have left. She knows the Lord has given them the land, she has heard about the Red Sea, the various battles, and she understands that the city will not be able to stand. In fact, she tells the spies how the men of Jericho have no courage because they have all heard of these things. This is why the king seeks them out, no doubt to prevent their return to the Israelites. She asks that since she protected them that they would protect her and her family. They tell her that they will, but she must hang a scarlet rope out her window.
This gentile woman heard of all that the Lord had done for the Israelites and when given the opportunity to serve or reject Him she embraces and protects what He has trusted her with. God sent these men to her, He gave her this opportunity and she responds faithfully.
This reminds me of our lives, how God has given us a most precious treasure, how He has entrusted us with His word, with His message. When we first hear the Gospel message, when we understand the value of it, when we begin to understand the strength of God, the holiness of God, the glory as it is displayed in the Gospel, when we embrace this message the enemy comes knocking. You see he knows how dangerous this message is, that this Word that has entered our hearts means the sure destruction of his plans, and so he seeks it out to destroy it. But we must guard our hearts and protect the message, we must not open the door and let the kings men take the spies away.
These men coming to her was a merciful act on the part of God, had they not gone and all this transpired Rahab would have died with the rest of the city. But God had a plan for her, He loved her and was calling her to the family, and it was His love for her that enabled her to love and serve Him.
The scarlet thread is an act of faith. She puts herself out there, marks herself as the harlot that hid these men and trusts the men (and by implication, God) will stay true to their word and save her. When we come to Christ, we must lay it all out in faith, trusting God is an honest God and will forgive our sins.
Can you imagine how frightening it must have been to stay in that house and trust she would be safe when the attack came? How difficult it must have been to not run away? The faith it took to stay in the midst of that terror astounds me. But she stayed, and God did save her.
And He will save us when we trust Him. When God tells us to stay we must. When God tells us to have peace we must. When God speaks a promise to us, you can be sure it shall come to pass exactly as He has said. We must rest in Him as Rahab did, and have confidence that He will bring us through.
In the second chapter of Joshua two spies are sent to Jericho from the Israelite camp, upon coming to the city they hide in the home of a harlot named Rahab. I've always wondered, when she let them into her house did she immediately realize these men were not native to the city? Did their speech betray them? If she did know who these men were before the king sent for them, then she'd probably been ready to hide them from the very beginning. Another question I've had, how exactly did the king and his advisers know the spies were in her house? Did someone see them enter? Surely she wasn't the only woman of her...occupation, so perhaps someone saw them enter her house. Perhaps one of her competitors was trying to put her out of business. However it came about the king knew the men had been there and sent people to capture them.
Rahab sends them on a wild goose chase by telling them the spies have left. She knows the Lord has given them the land, she has heard about the Red Sea, the various battles, and she understands that the city will not be able to stand. In fact, she tells the spies how the men of Jericho have no courage because they have all heard of these things. This is why the king seeks them out, no doubt to prevent their return to the Israelites. She asks that since she protected them that they would protect her and her family. They tell her that they will, but she must hang a scarlet rope out her window.
This gentile woman heard of all that the Lord had done for the Israelites and when given the opportunity to serve or reject Him she embraces and protects what He has trusted her with. God sent these men to her, He gave her this opportunity and she responds faithfully.
This reminds me of our lives, how God has given us a most precious treasure, how He has entrusted us with His word, with His message. When we first hear the Gospel message, when we understand the value of it, when we begin to understand the strength of God, the holiness of God, the glory as it is displayed in the Gospel, when we embrace this message the enemy comes knocking. You see he knows how dangerous this message is, that this Word that has entered our hearts means the sure destruction of his plans, and so he seeks it out to destroy it. But we must guard our hearts and protect the message, we must not open the door and let the kings men take the spies away.
These men coming to her was a merciful act on the part of God, had they not gone and all this transpired Rahab would have died with the rest of the city. But God had a plan for her, He loved her and was calling her to the family, and it was His love for her that enabled her to love and serve Him.
The scarlet thread is an act of faith. She puts herself out there, marks herself as the harlot that hid these men and trusts the men (and by implication, God) will stay true to their word and save her. When we come to Christ, we must lay it all out in faith, trusting God is an honest God and will forgive our sins.
Can you imagine how frightening it must have been to stay in that house and trust she would be safe when the attack came? How difficult it must have been to not run away? The faith it took to stay in the midst of that terror astounds me. But she stayed, and God did save her.
And He will save us when we trust Him. When God tells us to stay we must. When God tells us to have peace we must. When God speaks a promise to us, you can be sure it shall come to pass exactly as He has said. We must rest in Him as Rahab did, and have confidence that He will bring us through.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
The Woman at The Well: A Woman of Scripture
[Yesterday we kicked off the (Gentile) Women of Scripture series, you can find Ruth here]
In John 4 Jesus is traveling with His disciples and comes to rest at a well, the disciples go off to find some food while Jesus rests. And as He rests this woman, this Samaritan woman comes to draw some water. Jesus turns to her, and despite all the many cultural reasons why a Jewish man would never address a Samaritan woman He asks her for a drink, He asks her to serve Him. To say she is blown away is the understatement of the year.
When we first hear God's call, when we first realize He wants us to serve Him our response very often is, "Do You know who You are talking to? I mean, really Jesus, You must not know or there is just no way You'd be talking to me!" But He says to us that it is we who don't understand. If we really understood at that point who He was, we wouldn't question why He is calling us. When He calls it can seem odd to us, after all why would God be talking to me?! But still He calls, He sees us going about our business, going back to the same temporal well to fill our needs each day, trying desperately to feel whole, and when He offers that living water, when He offers Himself to us we're amazed because we'd never imagined anything could fill us so that the luster of the world seems to fade. We try to make our lives "better," more complete by our own strength, but this emptiness we feel, this emptiness we try to distract ourselves from can only be filled by God. When He offers this living water, this thing that can make us thirst again we get excited, we cry out just as the woman did, "Lord, give me this water!"
But then He tells us to go get our husband - we have no husband but have been laying down with man after man, temporary fix after temporary fix, sin after sin. I imagine the woman's heart sunk a little as He told her to get her husband, I imagine her shame as she told Him she had no husband. Perhaps she thought, "Oh no, He won't take me now. He won't give me that living water, He won't fill this need now. I've messed up and now He will revoke His offer." Instead of withdrawing, however, He probes further.
The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. (John 4:17-18)
You see we cannot hide anything from God. We can't hide our actions, our thoughts, or even our desires from Him. He sees it all and in spite of this He is still calling. Do you remember? Can you imagine it? The way her heart must of rejoiced! He knew everything about her and still He called her! He calls us to bring forth our "husbands," the idols in our lives to present what we having trying to fill our lives with. I think there are two reasons for this. First, we bring these things forth and must admit to ourselves and to God that we have had idols in our lives, and in bringing them into the light we are able to see that the Glory of God is so much greater than anything. We have the opportunity to rejoice as He shows us the fallacy in our lives. He calls us to bring forth that man, that job, that drug, that TV show, that CD, whatever it is we are using to distract ourselves from Him He tells us, "Bring it here! Set it next to me! I'm going to show you my greatness, so go and get this thing, this powerless thing that has been crafted by man's hand. Go and get it, and I will show you nothing can stand, nothing can over power the beauty of My Glory. Go, get it, I know it's there, bring it forth and release it!"
Can you imagine the excitement as He declared to her that He was the Messiah? As He confirmed her suspicions? Can you hear the joy in her voice as she rushed to tell everyone the Messiah had come? And for some it is like that, someone in their life receives the call and it causes them to wonder, perhaps they even accept that what this person says is the truth as many of the people in John 4:39 did. But those people weren't content with just hearing it from the woman, they needed to hear it from God's own lips, they needed to experience God for themselves. And so it is with us, we cannot ride the back of another, we must go down to that well and meet Jesus for ourselves, we must hear Him ourselves, we must because everything else is a sad substitute to really knowing Him. We must hear His call from His own lips. And when we go down to that well, then we will believe not just because this woman's life has been turned inside out, but because our own lives have been turned upside down. And so it is with the Church. We are called to tell the world about our wonderful Savior, but ultimately we can only point the way. They may believe what they say, but they can only believe because God has enabled them to. We love Him because He loved us first.
In John 4 Jesus is traveling with His disciples and comes to rest at a well, the disciples go off to find some food while Jesus rests. And as He rests this woman, this Samaritan woman comes to draw some water. Jesus turns to her, and despite all the many cultural reasons why a Jewish man would never address a Samaritan woman He asks her for a drink, He asks her to serve Him. To say she is blown away is the understatement of the year.
When we first hear God's call, when we first realize He wants us to serve Him our response very often is, "Do You know who You are talking to? I mean, really Jesus, You must not know or there is just no way You'd be talking to me!" But He says to us that it is we who don't understand. If we really understood at that point who He was, we wouldn't question why He is calling us. When He calls it can seem odd to us, after all why would God be talking to me?! But still He calls, He sees us going about our business, going back to the same temporal well to fill our needs each day, trying desperately to feel whole, and when He offers that living water, when He offers Himself to us we're amazed because we'd never imagined anything could fill us so that the luster of the world seems to fade. We try to make our lives "better," more complete by our own strength, but this emptiness we feel, this emptiness we try to distract ourselves from can only be filled by God. When He offers this living water, this thing that can make us thirst again we get excited, we cry out just as the woman did, "Lord, give me this water!"
But then He tells us to go get our husband - we have no husband but have been laying down with man after man, temporary fix after temporary fix, sin after sin. I imagine the woman's heart sunk a little as He told her to get her husband, I imagine her shame as she told Him she had no husband. Perhaps she thought, "Oh no, He won't take me now. He won't give me that living water, He won't fill this need now. I've messed up and now He will revoke His offer." Instead of withdrawing, however, He probes further.
The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. (John 4:17-18)
You see we cannot hide anything from God. We can't hide our actions, our thoughts, or even our desires from Him. He sees it all and in spite of this He is still calling. Do you remember? Can you imagine it? The way her heart must of rejoiced! He knew everything about her and still He called her! He calls us to bring forth our "husbands," the idols in our lives to present what we having trying to fill our lives with. I think there are two reasons for this. First, we bring these things forth and must admit to ourselves and to God that we have had idols in our lives, and in bringing them into the light we are able to see that the Glory of God is so much greater than anything. We have the opportunity to rejoice as He shows us the fallacy in our lives. He calls us to bring forth that man, that job, that drug, that TV show, that CD, whatever it is we are using to distract ourselves from Him He tells us, "Bring it here! Set it next to me! I'm going to show you my greatness, so go and get this thing, this powerless thing that has been crafted by man's hand. Go and get it, and I will show you nothing can stand, nothing can over power the beauty of My Glory. Go, get it, I know it's there, bring it forth and release it!"
Can you imagine the excitement as He declared to her that He was the Messiah? As He confirmed her suspicions? Can you hear the joy in her voice as she rushed to tell everyone the Messiah had come? And for some it is like that, someone in their life receives the call and it causes them to wonder, perhaps they even accept that what this person says is the truth as many of the people in John 4:39 did. But those people weren't content with just hearing it from the woman, they needed to hear it from God's own lips, they needed to experience God for themselves. And so it is with us, we cannot ride the back of another, we must go down to that well and meet Jesus for ourselves, we must hear Him ourselves, we must because everything else is a sad substitute to really knowing Him. We must hear His call from His own lips. And when we go down to that well, then we will believe not just because this woman's life has been turned inside out, but because our own lives have been turned upside down. And so it is with the Church. We are called to tell the world about our wonderful Savior, but ultimately we can only point the way. They may believe what they say, but they can only believe because God has enabled them to. We love Him because He loved us first.
Monday, June 05, 2006
Ruth and Naomi: Women of Scripture
Naomi and her family lived in Bethlehem during a famine, but rather than riding out the famine they decided to leave. Famines were generally understood to be of the hand of God, usually brought about by sin and corruption seeping into the hearts of the people. In this aspect it could be argued that famines were most often a direct result of the people walking in disobedience outside of the will of God. And as we all know, being outside of the will of God has consequences.
Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it. Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. (Deuteronomy 28:38-39)
If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD; Then the LORD will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.
(Deuteronomy 28:58-59)
So, the famine was a result of sin, of disobedience, of an unwillingness to humble themselves before the Lord. Rather than seeing God's great patience and mercy in this they see it as trouble and run away. God sent this as a wake up call. Can you not hear His heart pleading, "My beloved children, turn back to Me! Do you not see what your disobedience brings? Your land and lives are in great peril. Turn back and walk in My loving protection!" But Naomi and her family refuse and turn their backs on the God who loves them all in order to join hands with an unbelieving world and try to prosper in their own strength. This, of course, is directly against what God commands of them in Deuteronomy 26:3, "Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days forever." This further disobedience leads to further destruction - Naomi's husband dies. In this God is being merciful, Naomi and her two sons are still alive, they easily could have returned to Israel but refused to do so.
Instead her son's go against God's commandment and marry foreign women. The sons die, now only the women are left. One family's disobedience has not only brought devastating results in their lives, but has directly affected the lives of two other women. After all this Naomi gets wind that the famine has passed in Bethlehem and decides to return. Now, at first glance one breathes a sigh of relief because she's returning. Perhaps all this trouble has caused her to understand how she needs God and she's willing to trust Him now. Sadly, I'm not sure this was the case. Notice she only returns after the famine passes. They left because life got rough and now she returns because life got even more rough. And so she prepares to head home. She bids her daughters in law farewell, and after some convincing one daughter decides to return to her family, to her friends, to her old life, to the gods of her youth. But in Ruth we something truly remarkable. We see a heart called by God. In the midst of what must have been a sad and frightening time we see a woman who has gotten a glimpse of God's glory and has been changed by it.
We see a woman who is unable to turn her back and forget what she has seen. We see a woman who, upon hearing the call on her life, turns away from everything she has ever known in order to follow the God of her mother in law. She leaves behind her friends, her family, the idols of her home land, even any opportunity she would have had to get remarried and be cared for. She trusts God, and despite the difficulties that laid before her she sets off with Naomi.
In Naomi's family we see people who were brought up knowing God, yet their hearts refuse Him and they turn away to serve their desires. We see a family who knew God on some level but chose to ignore Him. They went out to find food and prosperity and found only destruction.
Upon her return to Bethlehem Naomi declares that she should be called Mara (bitter). She says that she went out full and returned empty. Still she seems unwilling to accept the sins she and her family committed and refuses to look at God's grace in all of it. She didn't come back empty - she came back! She was alive and able to return! God had sparred her life, yet she sees only the death. And as if her life weren't enough He blessed her with a loyal daughter in law who sought to care for her. But still she cries out "I have nothing!"
This is quite the contrast to Ruth. She has lost just as much as Naomi and yet we never hear these complaints from her. Perhaps she, like Paul, counted the costs and realized everything she lost was nothing if she'd gained God. She is willing to step out in faith and do the work He provides her. Sunrise to sunset she is in the fields collecting food to feed her and Naomi.
You see, God has seen all of this. He has seen the devastation and hardship, He has seen Ruth's faithfulness. People who had heard about Him and sat under His teaching all their lives didn't seem to get it, but Ruth did. She'd only just heard about Him, just come to Him, and yet she shows more character, more faith than those around her. With a child-like faith she sets out. God put a specific field in front of her, ironically enough it is the field of the husband He has determined to give her, and told her to work it. He says, "Here is your work, I've determined this is what is best for you. Do the work and trust that it will be enough." God knows all she needs, He knows she essentially has no family, but by seeking God she has been brought into His family and eventually He blesses her with a godly husband with a heart for serving the Lord. He knows she needs food and a roof over her head, and He provides the means to receive those. But beyond that He gives her time. Time to unlearn her old way of life, time to learn about Him. Time to learn to trust Him first and foremost.
You see, if He had given her Boaz right after coming to Bethlehem she would have been more likely to focus on him. She would see him as the one who protects and provides for her, and yes this is true he would be, but God protects and provides for him, so really anything Boaz is able to give her would have been by the hand of God. And she needed time to learn that. In all of this we see that God gave her the highest treasure, Himself. The gods of her youth had no power, now she had an all powerful God caring for her. She was hell bound and He called her to the salvation which can only be found in Him. God in His great mercy rescued her from a life that would have ended in the destruction of her life, He called her out of the world that didn't care for her and could provide nothing of lasting value for her. He saved her from her sins. The ones He had originally reached out to turned their backs on Him, yet He used this sin to bring in a Gentile woman and join her with the faithful in worship of Him.
We cannot read the book of Ruth without seeing God's passion for calling the lost, without seeing what He desires for the believer - to draw them to Himself in faithful submission to His will. He longs to provide and protect, to make us part of the family with Him as the head. He longs to redeem us from our sin. He longs for us to wake up and see His glory and that there is nothing this world could ever offer that compares to that.
Naomi had it backwards, she didn't leave full and come back empty. She left with nothing because she was leaving God, and came back with everything to gain. And that everything, the beginning and the end was God.
Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it. Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. (Deuteronomy 28:38-39)
If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD; Then the LORD will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.
(Deuteronomy 28:58-59)
So, the famine was a result of sin, of disobedience, of an unwillingness to humble themselves before the Lord. Rather than seeing God's great patience and mercy in this they see it as trouble and run away. God sent this as a wake up call. Can you not hear His heart pleading, "My beloved children, turn back to Me! Do you not see what your disobedience brings? Your land and lives are in great peril. Turn back and walk in My loving protection!" But Naomi and her family refuse and turn their backs on the God who loves them all in order to join hands with an unbelieving world and try to prosper in their own strength. This, of course, is directly against what God commands of them in Deuteronomy 26:3, "Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days forever." This further disobedience leads to further destruction - Naomi's husband dies. In this God is being merciful, Naomi and her two sons are still alive, they easily could have returned to Israel but refused to do so.
Instead her son's go against God's commandment and marry foreign women. The sons die, now only the women are left. One family's disobedience has not only brought devastating results in their lives, but has directly affected the lives of two other women. After all this Naomi gets wind that the famine has passed in Bethlehem and decides to return. Now, at first glance one breathes a sigh of relief because she's returning. Perhaps all this trouble has caused her to understand how she needs God and she's willing to trust Him now. Sadly, I'm not sure this was the case. Notice she only returns after the famine passes. They left because life got rough and now she returns because life got even more rough. And so she prepares to head home. She bids her daughters in law farewell, and after some convincing one daughter decides to return to her family, to her friends, to her old life, to the gods of her youth. But in Ruth we something truly remarkable. We see a heart called by God. In the midst of what must have been a sad and frightening time we see a woman who has gotten a glimpse of God's glory and has been changed by it.
We see a woman who is unable to turn her back and forget what she has seen. We see a woman who, upon hearing the call on her life, turns away from everything she has ever known in order to follow the God of her mother in law. She leaves behind her friends, her family, the idols of her home land, even any opportunity she would have had to get remarried and be cared for. She trusts God, and despite the difficulties that laid before her she sets off with Naomi.
In Naomi's family we see people who were brought up knowing God, yet their hearts refuse Him and they turn away to serve their desires. We see a family who knew God on some level but chose to ignore Him. They went out to find food and prosperity and found only destruction.
Upon her return to Bethlehem Naomi declares that she should be called Mara (bitter). She says that she went out full and returned empty. Still she seems unwilling to accept the sins she and her family committed and refuses to look at God's grace in all of it. She didn't come back empty - she came back! She was alive and able to return! God had sparred her life, yet she sees only the death. And as if her life weren't enough He blessed her with a loyal daughter in law who sought to care for her. But still she cries out "I have nothing!"
This is quite the contrast to Ruth. She has lost just as much as Naomi and yet we never hear these complaints from her. Perhaps she, like Paul, counted the costs and realized everything she lost was nothing if she'd gained God. She is willing to step out in faith and do the work He provides her. Sunrise to sunset she is in the fields collecting food to feed her and Naomi.
You see, God has seen all of this. He has seen the devastation and hardship, He has seen Ruth's faithfulness. People who had heard about Him and sat under His teaching all their lives didn't seem to get it, but Ruth did. She'd only just heard about Him, just come to Him, and yet she shows more character, more faith than those around her. With a child-like faith she sets out. God put a specific field in front of her, ironically enough it is the field of the husband He has determined to give her, and told her to work it. He says, "Here is your work, I've determined this is what is best for you. Do the work and trust that it will be enough." God knows all she needs, He knows she essentially has no family, but by seeking God she has been brought into His family and eventually He blesses her with a godly husband with a heart for serving the Lord. He knows she needs food and a roof over her head, and He provides the means to receive those. But beyond that He gives her time. Time to unlearn her old way of life, time to learn about Him. Time to learn to trust Him first and foremost.
You see, if He had given her Boaz right after coming to Bethlehem she would have been more likely to focus on him. She would see him as the one who protects and provides for her, and yes this is true he would be, but God protects and provides for him, so really anything Boaz is able to give her would have been by the hand of God. And she needed time to learn that. In all of this we see that God gave her the highest treasure, Himself. The gods of her youth had no power, now she had an all powerful God caring for her. She was hell bound and He called her to the salvation which can only be found in Him. God in His great mercy rescued her from a life that would have ended in the destruction of her life, He called her out of the world that didn't care for her and could provide nothing of lasting value for her. He saved her from her sins. The ones He had originally reached out to turned their backs on Him, yet He used this sin to bring in a Gentile woman and join her with the faithful in worship of Him.
We cannot read the book of Ruth without seeing God's passion for calling the lost, without seeing what He desires for the believer - to draw them to Himself in faithful submission to His will. He longs to provide and protect, to make us part of the family with Him as the head. He longs to redeem us from our sin. He longs for us to wake up and see His glory and that there is nothing this world could ever offer that compares to that.
Naomi had it backwards, she didn't leave full and come back empty. She left with nothing because she was leaving God, and came back with everything to gain. And that everything, the beginning and the end was God.
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Women of Scripture Series
Tomorrow I will be starting a short series, I'm not really sure what to call the series quite yet, but it is a study into the lives of four Gentile women in Scripture that were brought into the family of God. These women are fabulous depictions of faith at work, and I believe there is an endless wealth of knowledge and encouragement that can be gleaned from their lives as God unfolds their stories for us. And as their lives unfold I believe we can gain an even deeper appreciation for God's grace, His mercy, and above all His glory. These stories help remind me that it is often the small stuff, the things the world wouldn't see as miraculous that are truly from the hand of God. If we sit around waiting for the seas to part we're going to miss all the little things that go on around us each day that are as much a blessing as that would be. I'm not going to tell you who the women are ahead of time, though you'd probably be able to guess at least a couple of them. So, come back tomorrow and we'll get started. One a day until I run out of notes. I'll see you soon.
**Update**
Here are the links to the articles:
Woman one.
Woman two.
Woman three.
Woman four.
**Update**
Here are the links to the articles:
Woman one.
Woman two.
Woman three.
Woman four.
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Fear Not, Beloved
When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the LORD thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people, And shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them; For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you. (Deuteronomy 20:1-4)
Speaking to the Israelites Moses passes on this commandment from God. When going into war that the Lord has led you to do not fear. When the enemy is bigger, fear not.
Throughout Scripture we are exhorted to trust God, to not worry, to not fear. If our hearts would tremble we must speak to them to have trust, we must abide in the beautiful rest that is found in following and submitting to His plan for our lives. God has promised to go before us, He has gone and has made away for us to go, all we must do is faithfully walk it out.
When we follow God and a trial arises we can take comfort in knowing God has led us here for our good and will lead us out. When the enemy rises up and appears to be bigger, stronger, faster, smarter, or even more rich, we must not fear. God has given us victory in the cross. But we must trust Him, so fear not. And if you do fear, cry out to Him. He will hear you, even in the midst of your trials.
Speaking to the Israelites Moses passes on this commandment from God. When going into war that the Lord has led you to do not fear. When the enemy is bigger, fear not.
Throughout Scripture we are exhorted to trust God, to not worry, to not fear. If our hearts would tremble we must speak to them to have trust, we must abide in the beautiful rest that is found in following and submitting to His plan for our lives. God has promised to go before us, He has gone and has made away for us to go, all we must do is faithfully walk it out.
When we follow God and a trial arises we can take comfort in knowing God has led us here for our good and will lead us out. When the enemy rises up and appears to be bigger, stronger, faster, smarter, or even more rich, we must not fear. God has given us victory in the cross. But we must trust Him, so fear not. And if you do fear, cry out to Him. He will hear you, even in the midst of your trials.
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Our Separation is His Glorification
When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them: Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly. (Deuteronomy 7:1-4, emphasis mine)
In high school I once took a survey in which one of the questions was something along the lines of "Would you marry someone of a different religion?" At the time I was an atheist and determined that should I meet a Christian I think we would get along fine, this quite honestly was based upon the fact that the "Christians" I knew didn't really live their faith, they didn't seem any different to me than anyone else. They didn't talk about their faith, they didn't live differently, they just went to church on Sundays. And so I thought it would be fine for interfaith marriages to take place.
Years later I've realized that if one truly loves God, if one truly desires to live faithfully serving Him, an interfaith marriage probably isn't the best place to be. Marriage is tough, serving God is tough when surrounded by people who want you to just give a little...bend a little....compromise a little. Tough choices have to be made in marriages on their own, you have two lives coming together trying to learn how to become one, add opposing faiths into the mix and it gets even more difficult. We see a perfect example of this in Solomon.
But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon cleaved unto these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart. For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. (1 Kings 11:1-4)
I believe this is the very reason Paul writes to the Corinthians, when we join hands with people who aren't serving God we can become corrupt. This goes beyond marriage though, it touches every aspect of our lives. Marriage, friendships, buisness dealings, everything. To join together means someone is going to have to compromise, and since our flesh loves the world it can be very easy to give into our old natures and let a little worldliness creep into our lives for the sake of getting along. But God tells us to come out, to be separate:
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying, If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No. Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean. Then answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the LORD; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean. (Haggai 2:11-14)
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. (2 Corinthians 6:14-17)
God does not tell us to be separate because He is trying to spoil our fun or make our lives difficult, He tells us to be separate because He loves us! He knows the company we keep will effect the way we live and the way we love Him. He calls us to separate because He knows how easily we can be drawn away, He calls us to live a life of separation because He loves us and wants us to follow Him. It is in following Him, in loving Him "with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind," (Matthew 22:37) that we are safe. The world does not love us, not with a true and faithful love that would sacrifice itself in order to save us. But God does. He hasn't chosen us because of anything we have done, He hasn't loved us because we are strong. Indeed He loves the lowly, the poor of spirit, the humble, the few of number, the widow, the fatherless child...He loves us because in these He is glorified. When we walk knowing the strength we have is not our own, when we rejoice in the cross, when we realize there is nothing any of us can do to earn His love and realize He loves us anyway, He is glorified.
Would He be glorified in a people who don't need Him? This is why He chose the Israelites, poor slaves, to be His chosen people. This is why (in part) they spent 40 years in the desert. He is glorified in our realizing how much we need Him. And the world denies this, they deny God, they deny His power, they deny the fact that they need Him. He calls us to be separate because the world would have us believe that we don't need Him either. They would tell us the good in our lives is because we worked for it, because we earned it. They would have us think that we need nothing but ourselves, that we must look to ourselves for salvation, that if we all just work together we can make the world perfect and full of peace...all without the intervention of God. Ah, but we know this isn't true. All of scripture shows how desperately we need to lean upon God and allow Him to lead.
This is why He calls us to be separate, because if we surround ourselves with people that deny the very power of God we probably will be drawn to think we do things in our own strength and if we begin to think and act like the world this doesn't speak well of the transforming power of the cross. If we live just like the world, how is He going to be glorified in us? And so if we really want lo follow God, to serve God, to glorify God, we must be separate.
For thou art a holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; (Deuteronomy 7:6-9)
In high school I once took a survey in which one of the questions was something along the lines of "Would you marry someone of a different religion?" At the time I was an atheist and determined that should I meet a Christian I think we would get along fine, this quite honestly was based upon the fact that the "Christians" I knew didn't really live their faith, they didn't seem any different to me than anyone else. They didn't talk about their faith, they didn't live differently, they just went to church on Sundays. And so I thought it would be fine for interfaith marriages to take place.
Years later I've realized that if one truly loves God, if one truly desires to live faithfully serving Him, an interfaith marriage probably isn't the best place to be. Marriage is tough, serving God is tough when surrounded by people who want you to just give a little...bend a little....compromise a little. Tough choices have to be made in marriages on their own, you have two lives coming together trying to learn how to become one, add opposing faiths into the mix and it gets even more difficult. We see a perfect example of this in Solomon.
But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon cleaved unto these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart. For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. (1 Kings 11:1-4)
I believe this is the very reason Paul writes to the Corinthians, when we join hands with people who aren't serving God we can become corrupt. This goes beyond marriage though, it touches every aspect of our lives. Marriage, friendships, buisness dealings, everything. To join together means someone is going to have to compromise, and since our flesh loves the world it can be very easy to give into our old natures and let a little worldliness creep into our lives for the sake of getting along. But God tells us to come out, to be separate:
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying, If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No. Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean. Then answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the LORD; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean. (Haggai 2:11-14)
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. (2 Corinthians 6:14-17)
God does not tell us to be separate because He is trying to spoil our fun or make our lives difficult, He tells us to be separate because He loves us! He knows the company we keep will effect the way we live and the way we love Him. He calls us to separate because He knows how easily we can be drawn away, He calls us to live a life of separation because He loves us and wants us to follow Him. It is in following Him, in loving Him "with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind," (Matthew 22:37) that we are safe. The world does not love us, not with a true and faithful love that would sacrifice itself in order to save us. But God does. He hasn't chosen us because of anything we have done, He hasn't loved us because we are strong. Indeed He loves the lowly, the poor of spirit, the humble, the few of number, the widow, the fatherless child...He loves us because in these He is glorified. When we walk knowing the strength we have is not our own, when we rejoice in the cross, when we realize there is nothing any of us can do to earn His love and realize He loves us anyway, He is glorified.
Would He be glorified in a people who don't need Him? This is why He chose the Israelites, poor slaves, to be His chosen people. This is why (in part) they spent 40 years in the desert. He is glorified in our realizing how much we need Him. And the world denies this, they deny God, they deny His power, they deny the fact that they need Him. He calls us to be separate because the world would have us believe that we don't need Him either. They would tell us the good in our lives is because we worked for it, because we earned it. They would have us think that we need nothing but ourselves, that we must look to ourselves for salvation, that if we all just work together we can make the world perfect and full of peace...all without the intervention of God. Ah, but we know this isn't true. All of scripture shows how desperately we need to lean upon God and allow Him to lead.
This is why He calls us to be separate, because if we surround ourselves with people that deny the very power of God we probably will be drawn to think we do things in our own strength and if we begin to think and act like the world this doesn't speak well of the transforming power of the cross. If we live just like the world, how is He going to be glorified in us? And so if we really want lo follow God, to serve God, to glorify God, we must be separate.
For thou art a holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; (Deuteronomy 7:6-9)
Friday, May 26, 2006
Work a Miracle in My Heart
I had an interesting trial recently, when I say interesting trial what I mean is that someone did something that I didn't understand and it made me angry. Ok? Ok. I was hurt, offended, and I wanted to sit and be angry. I tend to do that, it is a struggle for me, honestly, to just let things go. Depending on what it is I often will let things fester, I'll replay the incident over and over in my mind and just get more upset. And that really is a problem.
Well, slowly over the past year or so I've really been seeking the Lord concerning certain things, asking Him to reveal the things in me that need to be changed and to help me change...to transform my heart. This is a big deal, because my nature is for me to want to do the work, I want to be the one to grab hold of something that needs to change and take care of it. So it has been a bit of a struggle having to admit to myself and God that I can't change things without His intervention.
My tendency to dwell in my anger really is a sin, I've been doing it all my life though and it has been hard for me to realize what I'm doing until I've been doing it for a while. And so this has been something I have understood that will not change unless God changes it. When I got upset, when I started to replay the sin that was done against me (but truthfully it was done against God first and foremost) it is like God turned a light on and I realized this was it. I was aware of the sin taking place in my own heart, now what was I going to do? God had done exactly what I asked of Him, He showed me my sin and how despicable it was. So, was I going to follow through? I had told God I wanted to change, now that I was aware of the work He'd been doing in me was I going to follow Him? At first I really didn't want to, I wanted to sit and pout but after a few minutes it struck me how insane this was. I asked God to change me, to help me to become more aware of my sin so that I could repent, and now I was going to spit in His face and ignore what He was showing me?
Ah, how He is patient. I did repent, I got on my face before Him and thanked Him for being faithful and asked Him to continue this miraculous work in my heart, I told Him I didn't know how to pray concerning the person that had upset me but that I wasn't going to use their sin as a license to sin any longer. This really is huge for me. I know I'm still going to have times when I will struggle with this, but God really showed me that if I wanted to see His will done that I would rejoice because it is being done. He is being glorified in me and every other person who realizes that it is only through God that any real lasting change can take place and is willing to be humbled in order to see that work take place.
Well, slowly over the past year or so I've really been seeking the Lord concerning certain things, asking Him to reveal the things in me that need to be changed and to help me change...to transform my heart. This is a big deal, because my nature is for me to want to do the work, I want to be the one to grab hold of something that needs to change and take care of it. So it has been a bit of a struggle having to admit to myself and God that I can't change things without His intervention.
My tendency to dwell in my anger really is a sin, I've been doing it all my life though and it has been hard for me to realize what I'm doing until I've been doing it for a while. And so this has been something I have understood that will not change unless God changes it. When I got upset, when I started to replay the sin that was done against me (but truthfully it was done against God first and foremost) it is like God turned a light on and I realized this was it. I was aware of the sin taking place in my own heart, now what was I going to do? God had done exactly what I asked of Him, He showed me my sin and how despicable it was. So, was I going to follow through? I had told God I wanted to change, now that I was aware of the work He'd been doing in me was I going to follow Him? At first I really didn't want to, I wanted to sit and pout but after a few minutes it struck me how insane this was. I asked God to change me, to help me to become more aware of my sin so that I could repent, and now I was going to spit in His face and ignore what He was showing me?
Ah, how He is patient. I did repent, I got on my face before Him and thanked Him for being faithful and asked Him to continue this miraculous work in my heart, I told Him I didn't know how to pray concerning the person that had upset me but that I wasn't going to use their sin as a license to sin any longer. This really is huge for me. I know I'm still going to have times when I will struggle with this, but God really showed me that if I wanted to see His will done that I would rejoice because it is being done. He is being glorified in me and every other person who realizes that it is only through God that any real lasting change can take place and is willing to be humbled in order to see that work take place.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
These things I command you, that ye love one another.
A friend an I have been conversing via email on various topics, the latest of which I had a question regarding the Sabbath year mentioned in Leviticus 25 and the gleaning of fields by the poor. My friend graciously gave me her thoughts on the matter, which I may get into another time, and in the process sparked an idea in my mind. Why is it that the Bible focuses so much on loving each other?
When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands. When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt: therefore I command thee to do this thing. (Deuteronomy 24:19-22, emphasis mine)
I think it's interesting that God continues to call them to remember their time in Egypt, the hardship they faced, the lack of food, the oppression and mistreatment, etc. He calls them to remember how difficult it was being poor, being a foreigner with nobody looking out for their needs, and calls them to have mercy, to love each other and forgive each other (Lev 19:17), to deal justly with each other (Lev 19:14-15, Lev 19:35-36) as well as with the strangers among them and instructs that they be treated as one of their own (Lev 19:34). This idea really blows open God's promise to bless all nations through Abraham.
Through Abraham's line salvation comes, but on top of that, as if the opportunity for salvation wasn't enough He tells us to love each other. Perhaps it is in loving each other, in dealing justly with each other the person receiving such treatment will come to see the greatness of God's mercy in a new way. How often the mercy and patience of God has escaped me until I see Him at work in the heart of someone I know. To be on the receiving end, to see someone who loves God so much that they can barely contain themselves, to see them reach out to someone who is so lost and lovingly care for them...Well, there aren't words to describe how moving it is when you realize God is working through them, when you realize God reaches out to each of us in a manner that is even more loving than that of the person you see. It is often when we receive grace from others that we find a new appreciation for the work Christ did on the cross.
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13)
Even as strangers He calls us to become part of His family, He longs to provide for us, to care for us, to redeem us by His Son's sacrifice, but we must be willing to go to that field and accept the provision He has left for us, we must be willing to go and lay at His feet in submission and accept the redemption He will provide at the cross. He redeems us because it is in doing so that He is glorified.
Return, O LORD, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies' sake. For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks? (Psalms 6:4-5)
He tells us to love each other, to be merciful, to be forgiving, to be patient, because He is all these things and when we do the these things we show the strangers in our midst His love.
When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands. When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt: therefore I command thee to do this thing. (Deuteronomy 24:19-22, emphasis mine)
I think it's interesting that God continues to call them to remember their time in Egypt, the hardship they faced, the lack of food, the oppression and mistreatment, etc. He calls them to remember how difficult it was being poor, being a foreigner with nobody looking out for their needs, and calls them to have mercy, to love each other and forgive each other (Lev 19:17), to deal justly with each other (Lev 19:14-15, Lev 19:35-36) as well as with the strangers among them and instructs that they be treated as one of their own (Lev 19:34). This idea really blows open God's promise to bless all nations through Abraham.
Through Abraham's line salvation comes, but on top of that, as if the opportunity for salvation wasn't enough He tells us to love each other. Perhaps it is in loving each other, in dealing justly with each other the person receiving such treatment will come to see the greatness of God's mercy in a new way. How often the mercy and patience of God has escaped me until I see Him at work in the heart of someone I know. To be on the receiving end, to see someone who loves God so much that they can barely contain themselves, to see them reach out to someone who is so lost and lovingly care for them...Well, there aren't words to describe how moving it is when you realize God is working through them, when you realize God reaches out to each of us in a manner that is even more loving than that of the person you see. It is often when we receive grace from others that we find a new appreciation for the work Christ did on the cross.
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13)
Even as strangers He calls us to become part of His family, He longs to provide for us, to care for us, to redeem us by His Son's sacrifice, but we must be willing to go to that field and accept the provision He has left for us, we must be willing to go and lay at His feet in submission and accept the redemption He will provide at the cross. He redeems us because it is in doing so that He is glorified.
Return, O LORD, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies' sake. For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks? (Psalms 6:4-5)
He tells us to love each other, to be merciful, to be forgiving, to be patient, because He is all these things and when we do the these things we show the strangers in our midst His love.
Monday, May 22, 2006
The Same Yesterday, Today, & Forever
People often say how controversial Christ was, how revolutionary what He said was, how out of the ordinary He was. And yes, I suppose when one compares Him to the Pharisees of the day He can seem so out of the ordinary. But recently in my studies of the Old Testament I came to understand it isn't as if Jesus suddenly was doing things differently, God always had been doing things differently. It seems like everything out of Christ's mouth the Father had already revealed in the Old Testament, but because Bible literacy is at an astounding - and heartbreaking - low Jesus does sound very out of place. Admittedly I knew next to nothing of the Old Testament until recently, and still know far less than I should. It has been interesting to begin to really grasp the idea that God does not change. Like a patient father God gives us the same commands in the Old and New Testaments. We didn't grasp what He was saying in the Old so Christ came and repeated what was said and gave us more examples to help us understand the nature of God in the New.
OLD
For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. (Hosea 6:6)
NEW
But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. (Matthew 9:13)
OLD
And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. (Deuteronomy 6:5)
NEW
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. (Matthew 22:37)
OLD
Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the LORD. (Leviticus 19:18)
NEW
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. (Matthew 22:39)
I could go on and give more examples, but I think you get the point.
Oh, the comfort that is found in understanding He's been calling us to Him, willing to repeat Himself in the New to reflect the truth of the Old so that we might hear and understand. How He loves us! He wants us to seek Him, to understand Him, if He were a god who was far off with no interest in our lives would He really repeat Himself? Would He stay the same if He had no interest in being understood? Indeed He has made it simple for us, He has stayed the same so that we might find Him when He calls.
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)
OLD
For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. (Hosea 6:6)
NEW
But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. (Matthew 9:13)
OLD
And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. (Deuteronomy 6:5)
NEW
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. (Matthew 22:37)
OLD
Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the LORD. (Leviticus 19:18)
NEW
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. (Matthew 22:39)
I could go on and give more examples, but I think you get the point.
Oh, the comfort that is found in understanding He's been calling us to Him, willing to repeat Himself in the New to reflect the truth of the Old so that we might hear and understand. How He loves us! He wants us to seek Him, to understand Him, if He were a god who was far off with no interest in our lives would He really repeat Himself? Would He stay the same if He had no interest in being understood? Indeed He has made it simple for us, He has stayed the same so that we might find Him when He calls.
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
