Another reading in Job and again the view of God is a ‘bit disturbing. Oh how patient God was…is!
But in today’s reading there was something that ministered to me, it actually reminded me of a memory in which I was ministered to and taught a valuable ministry lesson.
“I have heard many such things;
Sorry comforters are you all.
3 “Is there no limit to windy words?
Or what plagues you that you answer?
4 “I too could speak like you,
If I were in your place.
I could compose words against you
And shake my head at you.
5 “I could strengthen you with my mouth,
And the solace of my lips could lessen your pain.” Job 16:2-5
This ministered to me because Job makes a point we should all remember when speaking to or about others and their situation. It is always easy to be critical of the manager from the cheap seats.
Job says to his “friends” if I was pain free as you are. If i still had my family like you do. If I still had my possessions like you do, then I could talk with the confidence that you have…in other words, “hey y’all, you don’t understand my situation, so ’till you’ve been in my shoes you don’t realize how little your words help.”
He even sarcastically says or at least that is the tone I hear in my head,
“And the solace of my lips could lessen your pain.”
I hear it sarcastically because his “friends” think they are helping him out by speaking and giving him all this advice but really what might have been best is what they did at the very beginning, just sit in silence.
I learned this truth many years ago…
I got dumped by a girl in college, it caught me off guard and it truly laid waste to my heart. One Sabbath afternoon not to long after that I was with a bunch of my friends eating a Sabbath meal together, our mutual friends, my ex and I (she wasn’t there), and I was sick with sadness that she wasn’t there, so I slipped away into another room, I thought unseen. I sat down in this dark room on the edge of this bed, put my head in my hands and cried, sobbed really. Not too many minutes later my friend Evie came in the room. She sat down next to me on the edge of the bed, put her arms around me and I cried even harder into her shoulder. I would guess that at least 10 minutes maybe even 15 minutes went by before I really collected myself, when I did she gave me one last tight squeeze then got up and walked out of the room. From the moment she came in and sat down next to me ’till the moment she left 10-15 minutes not a single word was spoken, and that memory is what I remember as the most comforting and encouraging moment of that period of my life.
And from that moment I learned the ministry of silent presence.
Job’s friends are talking thinking they are helping, but they are not where he is at in that moment.
What would have really brought him comfort would have been silent presence.
Maybe today’s reading can be an important reminder to all of us that our words don’t always comfort, sometimes they injure.
Let us practice the ministry of silent presence.
Tomorrow’s Reading: Isaiah 40-44
All three psalms in today’s reading were beautiful, but truly there is a reason The 23rd Psalm is one of the most beloved scriptures in all the Bible. And as I read it again today, it still stirred in my soul!
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”
-Psalm 23 (KJV)
The central theme of this passage is that we are not abandoned by God even when this world is tough. The Psalm does not promise ease, in fact it assures us of the exact opposite and yet in spite of the turmoil, with The Lord as our shepherd it will feel like we are already dwelling in His house.
Every line of this Psalm has gravity. Read it very slowly and discover how each point is speaking to some aspect of your life.
Today the line “I shall not want” is what stirred my heart. The more I have of Jesus the less material things I want for myself, the less emotional want I need from others to make me feel good about myself. The more I have of Jesus the less I want this world!
I want more of Jesus because I want to want less!
What line or lines spoke to you?
Tomorrow’s Reading: Job 15, 16
With the exception of chapter 12 this is the story of the life of Samson.
Can I give a word of encouragement to parents? This story demonstrates that parents can seek the will of the Lord on behalf of their children. raise them as God directs and those children can still wander. Maybe that is not encouragement to new parents like myself just getting started, but I know many parents live under a banner of guilt and regret, maybe some the regret is truth, but for many there was nothing more they could have done, they asked like Samson’s parents, “What shall we do unto the child that shall be born unto us?”
If only Samson had obeyed God’s divine direction with the same discipline as his parents, but he did not and his great flaw of life was, yes women, but more importantly the types of people he chose to associate with. Maybe the greatest lesson we can teach our kids is who they choose to hang-out with. We should associate with everyone for the sake of witness, but our true “bosom buddies” should be those that help us to grow closer to Jesus.
In the story of Samson and his wife, the young philistine girl, we see the tragic trajectory of sin. First he was hanging out with a crowd that had no desire for God’s will. Next he allowed himself to be drawn to a girl that was not “equally yoked” with him, then he ignored the counsel of his parents.
We also see how pride can lead to great sin. He kills a lion, the Bible tells us that God gave him the strength and power to kill that lion. But later on Samson’s pride leads him back to admire his kill. When he sees it he sees the honey, and he eats the honey out of dead animal which is unclean, and thus he has there broken his Nazarite vow. He then gives some of that unclean honey to his parents, but he doesn’t tell them where it came from thus leading them into a sinful act, though an unknowing one. He then again with his pride decides to show-off by telling a riddle about his triumph. And when his pride leads to a fall rather than just manning up he kills people and eventually gets his own wife and her father burned alive.
Then with Delilah, again the trajectory of sin. He is with a woman he should not be with. She keeps trying to trap him, he thinks he is strong enough to resist her traps and so thought she is bad news, he had to know that he keeps going back to her…she is like a drug. She finally wears him down, how he just gets annoyed and decides to fold thinking he can handle whatever comes.
Probably the saddest line in the entire book…well at least one of the saddest lines,
“But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.” -Judges 16:20
For so long he had been walking with one foot in the world and one foot with God that when he finally put both feet in the world he didn’t even realize that he’d made that transition.
The story ends tragically with Samson killing himself…and yet also with grace…because the Holy Spirit inspired the writer of Hebrews years later to include Samson in the hall of faith. What does this mean? To me it means that though Samson got a lot in life, even his suicide…at the end to the best of his ability as a fallen and broken individual he reached his hand out to God and God said that is enough and through Jesus on the cross, like for so many of us the gap was bridged! The faith of a mustard seed…
Samson’s life is a absolute reminder of this statement from Ellen White in regards to Samson,
“if men (or women) willfully place themselves under the power of temptation, they will fall, sooner or later.” Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 568
I’ve fallen to willful sin, maybe so have you, if we put ourselves in the seat of temptation we will all eventually fall, but that doesn’t have to be our end, that doesn’t have to be the end of our story or our hope!
If it has already happened in your life don’t be like Samson and repeat that willful mistake over and over again for 20 years.
Ask Jesus for forgiveness and renewed strength and walk forward in the newness of life…maybe with a limp…but still assured of life in Jesus!
Tomorrow’s Reading: Psalms 21-23
I love the book of Genesis the stories are so rich and insightful into so many areas, human nature, the effects of sin, theology, doctrine, personal relationships, etc..
Today two points that I was struck by
In Genesis 28:10-22 the story of Jacob’s Ladder dream is relayed to us the readers, in this dream God promises to bless Jacob and to be with him always. Jacob then in response to this promise worships God and notice one aspect of this worship,
“This stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.” -Genesis 28:22
A TITHE. Jacob when he had nothing in his worship committed to God a tithe. Before there was a “tithe” system. Tithe was already an outflow of the expression of a worshipful heart. When we are truly worshiping we will be compelled to RETURN back to God in response to all His blessings.
The second thought that struck me is based on this verse,
“So Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed to him but a few days because of his love for her.” -Genesis 29: 20
Let no one tell you “love is not emotion it is only a choice.” Yes there are days we must choose to love even when we don’t want to, but a God that would inspire the above verse in scripture, is a romantic that has a love that is more than just choice it is very emotional too.
And here is my tangent to that thought, there are times in our corporate worship when it is okay that the driving aspect of the relationship in that moment is emotion! People need to not just know at times in worship they also need to FEEL something in worship!
I love the book of Genesis! I pray it is blessing you as well.
Talk with y’all tomorrow.
Tomorrow’s Reading: Judges 12-16
I am back! Sorry for the troubles with my internet and then my blog over the last couple days. Pastor Jason who works on my team and manages a lot of things in updating my blog settings discovered a number of people had tried to break into my blog to hack it. So Jason reset everything in so doing I was a bit confused on how to get into the blog and then the blog was blocking me because of the new security settings, and so on and so on…But I am here and glad to be back!
Now to today’s reading, Romans chapters 15 & 16:
“Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves.” -Romans 15:1
If we lived by this text in our churches and in our world, but for now let us just consider our churches, how much conflict and distraction from petty things would be avoided. Think of all the fights over carpet colors or music style (not based on conviction but preference) or what about even when people get mad that someone sits in “their seat” at church. Yes, yes this really happens. If we lived by Romans 15:1 it never would.
This is not just good advice this is God’s call to us by more than just words, which are enough, but they are strengthened, if that is possible by verse 3a,
“For even Christ did not please Himself;” -Romans 15:3a
The next time we start to want our own way can we pause and remember Jesus even did not do things just as He wanted.
Another text that I was touched by is the reminder of the purpose of scripture,
“For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” -Romans 15:4
The way Paul writes points can get lost, but here is the point of that text,
“For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that…we might have hope.”
Scripture instructs us to give us hope. If we find ourselves walking away from the Bible discouraged, arrogant, proud, angry, etc…we are missing the point, we should walk away with HOPE!
Finally in Romans 16:7 a name is mentioned, “Junia” or “Junias” this name was a name of much contention over the last 5 years. Follow THIS LINK and read a nice article from The General Conference’s Ministerial Magazine addressing this text and the significance of it.
Have a great Sabbath!
Tomorrow’s Reading: Genesis 28-31
I am but a broken record when blogging on the book of Job. I know…I understand that at some point in my life I’m sure something within these chapters we’ve been reading from Job will resonate with my soul, not because I want them to but because I understand, “in this life you will have trouble,” and when that day comes I pray that I will have the strength to continue to say, “I will hope in Him” (13:15b), but I also hope that I will not accuse or blame God.
I guess that is a truth though that should be comforting to many, even if they have blamed or been angry at God, the book of Job shows us that God is big enough to take it and also that God is gracious to us in our ignorance.
I will say about chapter 14 we see some truth about the state of the dead,
“So man lies down and does not rise.
Until the heavens are no longer,
he will not awake or be aroused out of his sleep.” -Job 14:12
and then…
“You will call (*at the resurrection morning*), and I will answer You;
You will long for the work of Your hands.” -Job 14:15
Keep being patient with the book of Job as God was with Job, it begins to transition around chapter 20 🙂
Tomorrow’s Reading: Isaiah 34-39
Today Psalm 19 stirred my heart and filled me with a desire to be more like Jesus.
This psalm acknowledges the two books that reveal His character, nature and the scriptures (referred to by David and at this point in history, “the law”).
Psalm 19:1-6 are about God’s works seen in the power of creation. I particularly like the following,
“The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.
Day to day pours forth speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.” -Psalm 19:1, 2
David is stating that all creation, each and every day testifies to the existence of a creator God. No wonder the devil attacks the theory of creation so intensely!
Then Psalm 19:7-11 speak of God’s character and will for humanity being revealed through His “Word.”
The verse that particularly touched my heart is verse 13,
“Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins;
Let them not rule over me;
Then I will be blameless,
And I shall be acquitted of great transgression.” -Psalm 19:13
After walking with Jesus for nearly 20 years, oh how I wish I could say all presumptuous sins were behind me, but there have still been some and there are still times of struggle with these sort of sins. So David’s prayer is the cry of my heart today,
“Let them not rule over me!…Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” -Psalm 19:13b, 14)
I want to get to the place where my only thought is “what is pleasing, what is acceptable to You Jesus?”
If you want to pray for me you can pray that on my behalf!
Tomorrow’s Reading: Job 13 & 14
For all the good of Gideon’s life and story how tragic that it ends with this note,
“Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, both you and your son, also your son’s son, for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian.” 23 But Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; the Lord shall rule over you.” 24 Yet Gideon said to them, “I would request of you, that each of you give me [t]an earring from his spoil.” (For they had gold earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.) 25 They said, “We will surely give them.” So they spread out a garment, and every one of them threw an earring there from his spoil. 26 The weight of the gold earrings that he requested was 1,700 shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments and the pendants and the purple robes which were on the kings of Midian, and besides the neck bands that were on their camels’ necks. 27 Gideon made it into an ephod, and placed it in his city, Ophrah, and all Israel played the harlot with it there, so that it became a snare to Gideon and his household.” -Judges 8:22-27
Verses 22 & 23 show such great character, but then verse 27 show that for such a grand gesture in verses 22 & 23 there was still a part of him that wanted an aspect of the people’s “worship.”
James 2:20 tells us,
“faith without works is dead”
Judges 10:10-17 seem to show evidence of this concept in the Old Testament.
The people cry out to God to deliver them. But God does not answer their prayer the way they desire. So they cry out again, but this time they also destroy their idols and God delivers. Maybe some would say that seems like righteousness by works, but since the idols were a symbol of worship as long as they kept them it showed their faith was not 100% focused upon God.
These are the two stories that spoke to me in todays reading and both are reminders that half-way with God always comes up all the way short.
Tomorrow’s Reading: Psalm 18-20
No big lesson into today’s post, though there are many. I do want to point out several insights I found interesting:
24:6–“Beware that you do not take my son back there!” = The promise of Isaac was a promise to Land. The seed of Abraham was never to leave this land, this land was to be his offsprings heritage forever. Abraham saw Isaac and the Land intrinsically tied together. Here is the insight though I find somewhat ironic, through in part Isaac’s actions of favoring one son over the other he drove his son Jacob to the very land he was never supposed to go (27:43).
24:16–“The girl was very beautiful…” the word for girl “na’arah is the word indicating adolescent, yet in spite of her adolescence she showed more integrity of character than her older family members; yet again ironic that integrity was not sustained in later life (27:5-17)
25:9–“Then his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him…” whatever the struggles between these two lines were before or after, for a moment they put aside their differences to show honor to their dad. I like to think, maybe it is pastoral license, that this is an indication that in spite of Ishmael being “sent away” Abraham remained a good father to him.
26:7–“She is my sister…” Isaac repeats the sin of his father with even less truth. Sarah truly was Abraham’s half-sister, in this case Rebekah was in no way Isaac’s sister.
27:5-17–we see in these verses Rebekah doing the same as Sarah did in offering Hagar to Abraham. She knew that God had promised a child to Abraham and so she wanted to “help” God out. Rebekah knows that God has promised the blessing to Jacob and now she sees that maybe not being possible and so she wants to “help” God out. Maybe we should learn from both of these ladies “helping” God out in a deceitful way or undermining way never turns out well!
27:44–“Stay with him a few days, until your brothers fury subsides” Little did Rebekah know that her sons sojourn would be much more than a few days it would be 14 years. And, to our knowledge she never saw her son Jacob again. What was her statement, “Your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice…” (27:13) Truly this was a curse on her heart I’m sure for the rest of her days.
In today’s reading comes a chapter that is often used to knock not just one of Adventism’s beliefs, but two of them.
Eating unclean foods and Sabbath. Even some Adventists become particularly worried when asked to explain Romans 14:5, 6.
I would say to all Adventists sound exegesis should give you hope first and foremost that this text is not talking about the Sabbath. Two verses deal with a day surrounded by 21 verses that are discussing food.
So the issue is not a day of the week for worship, but a day of the week related to food, thus then also not about clean and unclean meat…
Here is an article by Angel Manuel Rodriguez former chair of the Biblical Research Institute that will hopefully fully illuminate your understanding of this text so that you never have to worry or be fearful of someone bringing up this passage again:
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In the study of a passage it’s important to notice not only what it says but also what it does notsay. In some cases what a passage does not state is more important than what it explicitly states. In this particular case we’ll concentrate on what the passage does not say, then we will make a suggestion about what Paul is dealing with in Romans 14.
1. Paul is not attacking biblical practices. Some of the recipients of this letter apparently believed that one should abstain from eating meat and drinking wine (Rom. 14:2, 21). The Old Testament does not require total abstinence from animal flesh, but only of the flesh of some animals (Lev. 11). Neither does the Old Testament consider grape juice unclean; only the high priest and the Nazarite are forbidden to drink it. The discussion is not over unclean (Greek, akáthartos) food, but over food that is considered common (koinós, the term used in verse 14) and therefore not proper for consumption under certain circumstances.
2. Paul is not discussing the Sabbath. Paul says that the individual who is “weak” values one day more than another, but he doesn’t explicitly state the reason for the distinction. There is no explicit statement from Paul indicating what was done during that day or why the day was considered special.
Whatever it was, the “strong” individual valued every day the same for the purpose or activity that he or she had in mind. Hence, the problem was not the activity, but the arguing over which was the best day to perform it. Those to whom he wrote doubtless understood what Paul had in mind.e should not jump to the conclusion that Paul is discussing here the Sabbath commandment. This is not stated or suggested by the text, and the simple mention of the word “days” does not justify that conclusion. He is not dealing here with the Old Testament torah, or law.
3. Paul did not put the emphasis on the problem of “days.” He dedicates only two verses to that subject and about 21 to the issue of food. Had he been discussing the Sabbath, he would have developed his thought much more, because of the potentially controversial nature of this subject. (A good parallel would be the topic of circumcision and the controversy that topic generated in the churches.) This suggests that for Paul, selecting one day over another was a personal matter, not one in which he wanted to be involved as a referee.
4. Paul is not attacking legalism. Paul is addressing a problem in the church based on differences of opinion. He apparently didn’t consider it to be a threat to the gospel. Whatever church members were doing, they were not going against God’s revealed will; therefore, he does not condemn the practices, but simply gives advice on how to accept the differences in Christian love. The fundamental issue is the unity of the church and the preservation of that unity in spite of the diversity of opinion in some unimportant areas. Paul is not attacking the legalism of false teachers among the believers.
Then what should we conclude? The reference to “days” in the context of abstaining from certain foods suggests days of fasting. This is the conclusion reached by some scholars, both Adventist and non-Adventist. According to them, Paul was probably addressing the practice of days of fasting, during which certain foods were considered “common” and improper for consumption. This would explain the dispute over food.
In addition, some individuals considered certain days as good days for fasting, while others considered all to be of equal value. This would explain the conflict. Fasting was an important topic in the early church. A document written in the second century encouraged believers to fast on Wednesday and Friday instead of Monday and Thursday, as was the practice among Jews (Didache 8.1). As far as we can tell, the Jews did not fast during the Sabbath.
****WARNING I MAY STEP ON TOES, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK”
As always there are dozens of points I could make in this reading, but I will share with you what particularly caught my eye. I wondered why it caught my eye and so I searched my heart and I’ll be honest the pericope I am going to share with you caught my eye because I am a pastor and as a pastor (and any pastor could affirm this) I (we) regularly have people inform us of their great angst about issues that are not doctrine of God. Whether it be the removal of furniture, standing on a different part of the platform, walking around when one preaches, moving a service time, non-men, i.e. young people and women picking-up offering, etc.. Angst to the point of being mean, not just in the church I am in, in every church I’ve been a part of. Why? Because we are all humans and we are all sinful and some sin is manifested in anger over issues that are not of significance to God. If we don’t believe having moral angst over such things is sin then we should read the text that caught my attention in my devotional time today.
Matthew 15:1-14
There is a “conflict” between Jesus and the church people (leaders) over something that they deem important. This something is found in verse 2,
“Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”
Now let us understand something, this was not a question of hygiene, this was a question of worship. To understand in what way, find a good commentary and it will explain how this was an aspect of worship. So they are vexed thinking that Jesus is ignoring something that is not scripture, but is “tradition.” At least they acknowledge it is not holy writ. But that is the problem they are upset as if it is holy writ. Then Jesus points out to them in verses 3-6 that they get upset about things that are not in Holy Writ, but they are not bothered with God’s commands which are broken, even by them.
Jesus then references a very powerful statement,
‘But in vain do they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’” (15:9)
Jesus here defines false worship as teaching others “a preference of man” as if it were as important as scripture.
Isn’t this what we are doing when we become upset to the point of treating someone unkindly or shunning someone or making someone feel excluded based on a “preference of man?”
We then see what will take place in the hearts of people participating in this type of false worship, who hold their preferences and their traditions to such a high level.
They will become OFFENDED…
Have you ever met an offended Christian over something that is not clearly a “thus saith the Lord?”
Have you ever been an offended Christian over something that is not clearly a “thus saith the Lord?” I have!
When this is taking place…when we take OFFENSE over personal preference to this degree we are participating in false worship. We are worshiping our preferences, which means we are not truly worshiping God!
Jesus tells us how to deal with such folk.
“Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”
Pastors go back and read that again…Hold on I have to go back and read it again…
To my brothers and sisters serving the Lord in ministry whether as a volunteer or as a paid position.
What go counsel this is…
“Let them alone!”
The disciples are like so many pastors and or members, they are basically asking Jesus, “Jesus you’ve upset them, you’ve offended them, how should we appease them and make them feel better?”
A lot of pastors try to fix things that cannot be fixed.
(And members please know I understand there are bad pastors that offend without thought or unnecessarily)
Also a lot of pastors fail to do the right thing for fear of offending someone.
We need to heed the counsel of Jesus,
“Let them alone! Only other blind people that also like to participate in false worship will follow them, and eventually they’ll follow them right off the edge!”
Here is a great quote that I think applies to this situation:
“We should choose the right because it is right, and leave consequences with God. To men of principle, faith, and daring, the world is indebted for its great reforms. By such men the work of reform for this time must be carried forward.” –Ellen G. White, Great Controversy, p. 460
And to all of us I say, it is okay to not like when our preferences aren’t met, but let us not dislike this so much that we become “offended” and thus participate in the false worship of the spiritually “blind”.
Tomorrow’s Reading: Romans 13 & 14
Even though today’s reading is 29-33 I am including chapter 28, because chapter 28 is where the theme of these chapters begin. There are six woes and the first woe is in chapter 28, so really the last chapter of last weeks reading should be with us today.
The woes are things we still should be mindful of…by the way a “woe” is an interjection or exclamation setting up a lament.
Here are the woes:
Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words
And honor Me with their lip service,
But they remove their hearts far from Me,
And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,
The third woe is also found in chapter 29 it is again against the leadership of Israel for planning and scheming thinking they can hide their dark desires and plans from God.
The fourth woe is against all God’s rebellious children in Israel who refuse to follow God’s plan but try and execute their own (30:1). Quick note remember Rahab not the former prostitute now redeemed forbearer to Christ, but the mythical sea monster in the book of Job. Yep, that must have been a popular myth because the sea monster of chaos Rahab shows up again in this Woe (30:7).
The fifth woe is against God’s people for relying on Egypt for protection/security rather than God.
The sixth woe actually isn’t against God’s people, this woe is against the enemies of God’s people who try to destroy, but in themselves will be destroyed.
I want to point out that in the midst of all these woes there are continual reminders of God’s love, care, grace, and promise that He still desires to be their God.
We see it in:
Some people would read these texts and only see the woes. Some may read the texts and only see the joyous promises.
Maybe read the text and see that they are both there. The woes to remind us to not be blind to the dangers, to not be hypocrites, to not make plans apart from God, to not trust in other powers than God, to not continue to ignore God’s ways, and to not seek to destroy the ways/people of God…but the texts of grace and love to remind us there is always a way out of these woes…none of us are stuck in the ruts we’ve made for ourselves!
Tomorrow’s Reading: Matthew 14-16
I told Christina tonight that Job has been the hardest of my reading thus far. I must be honest, maybe it is the stage I am at in life, maybe it is what genre of writing I prefer, but I cannot say anything new about today’s text that I did not say the last several times I wrote about Job.
So instead I’m going to take this post to endorse two books I read one based on the book of Job and one related to the book of Job which to me are two of the greatest books outside of Adventism to give voice to the great controversy narrative, “Disappointment With God: Three Questions No One Asks Aloud” & “Where is God When it Hurts?” both by Philip Yancey.
As Yancey wrote,
“Chapters 3-37 contain no action to speak of, just the opinionated dialogues of five prickly men-Job, his three friends, and the enigmatic Elihu-concerning the problem of pain. They are all trying to account for the slings and arrows of outragious fortune that have fallen upon poor Job, who sits forlorn in the ashes of what used to be his mansion.”
In the lack of action I am struggling to find points, but I will continue on through remembering “All scripture is God breathed and useful…” so I will keep trying to learn. I hope you’ll stick with me 🙂
Tomorrow’s Reading: Isaiah 29-33
Before Psalm 16 even starts there is something interesting to note in the title: “A Mikhtam of David” This designation is also applied to Psalms 56-60. The meaning of this term is not entirely known, some say it means it is an “Epigrammatic Poem” or an “Atonment Psalm.” Ancient translations “construe it as a designation for an engraving or inscription in stone, suggesting that this psalm played an especially prominent role in the liturgy and ritual culture culture of ancient Israel.”
This is a Messianic Psalm and even though it begins in verse 2 in the English with, “I said to the Lord…” when actually the Hebrew reads “You said to the Lord…” The “You” whom David spoke is the Messiah, this indicates the rest of the psalm contains the words of the Messiah. By us understanding this we see two of the three God-head interacting…David is the author but he is prophetically writing the prayer of the Messiah.
The Psalm tells us much about the Messiah and reminds us that the Trinity had a plan long before Jesus came to this earth to live, die, and rise again on our behalf!
Tomorrow’s Reading: Job 11 & 12
Today we start a new book! The book of Judges. This book could be made into a movie, if you don’t believe me check out the story in 3:15-30 or what about the story of Deborah and Jael in chapter 4 those are two tough women!
In today’s post though I want to focus on the first two chapters because they set the stage for the rest of the book. Beginning in verse 27 of chapter 1 we see a pattern begin to take place:
This inspired writing is not just here to instruct us in history. Something very clear is happening, the people of Israel were to remove all the remnants of those who did not worship the one true God, and they did not. By not doing so this decision eventually led to what we see taking place in the rest of the book of Judges, a people constantly waffling back and forth between loyalty and compromise.
I want us to notice something though, the effects of this decision to not drive out the Canaanites at first doesn’t seem like such a bad thing from the perspective of Israel. In fact in several instances the scriptures tell us that the Canaanites were forced into labor as the Israelites servants. For an entire generation the decision to not drive these people out seemed “ok.”
“The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the Lord which He had done for Israel.” (2:7)
But then…
“All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel.” (2:10)
Why was this so?
“they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked the Lord to anger. 13 So they forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtaroth.” (2:12, 13)
Notice the phrase in there
“and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them”
And why were those people around them? Because they had chosen “not to drive them out”
Then in chapter 2 verse 21 God said
“I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died,”
God is not being mean He is just not delivering them from their willful choice.
So my summary in all of this is:
From a Spiritual lesson that borderline sin that is hanging around or that slight compromise that might not seem like that big of deal to us at the time, may have great ramifications on the generations below.
I think of the parent that may watch some subjective movies with their kids…maybe no big deal for the parent in the big picture, but what if it opens the door for the kids to desire to explore even greater depths of that subjective material and the next thing the parent knows their children are addicted to pornography.
Or the parents that compromise slightly on their Sabbath afternoon activities, but they still go to church in the morning…no big deal…’till they see their own kids not taking the grandkids to church because they not only compromise Sabbath in the afternoon, they also compromise Sabbath in the morning.
I think it can also happen to us corporately just as it corporately effected Israel:
Just tonight a group of us that love sports (as we watched the Super Bowl I know the irony) were discussing the challenges of interscholastic sports within our Adventist schools (also a concern outside of Adventism as well).
Years ago our schools decided to move away from the counsel of Ellen White in regards to emphasizing or over promoting interscholastic sports,
“I do not condemn the simple exercise of playing ball,” Ellen White said, “but this, even in its simplicity, may be overdone. I shrink always from the almost sure result which follows in the wake of these amusements. It leads to an outlay of means that should be expended in bringing the light of truth to souls.” Ellen White, 2nd Selected Messages, p. 322.
She also states in another book,
“The games that occupy so much of … [the student’s] time are diverting the mind from study. They are not helping to prepare the youth for practical, earnest work in life. Their influence does not tend toward refinement, generosity, or real manliness. Some of the most popular amusements, such as football and boxing, have become schools of brutality. They are developing the same characteristics as did the games of ancient Rome. The love of domination, the pride in mere brute force, the reckless disregard of life, are exerting upon the youth a power to demoralize that is appalling. Other athletic games, though not so brutalizing, are scarcely less objectionable because of the excess to which they are carried, they stimulate the love of pleasure and excitement, thus fostering a distaste for useful labor, a disposition to shun practical duties and responsibilities. They tend to destroy a relish for life’s sober realities and its tranquil enjoyments. Thus the door is opened to dissipation and lawlessness, with their terrible results.” –Ellen Whtie, Education, pp. 210, 211.
By ignoring this counsel at some point years and years ago we now have people that love sports, some of us that played varsity sports all through Adventist Education now asking the questions, “Are we missing something?” “Are we really helping the current generation by endorsing this the way we do?”
This is not a diatribe on sports. I enjoy them very much, we (my family) enjoy watching the games of our school and supporting the youth of our area. But with this passage in Judges in mind and the conversation I was a part of tonight, I just must be honest…I take pause…
Of course could we say the same for the emphasis on classroom academics and our abandonment of more outdoor education, or starting kids in school at 4, 5, & 6 rather than 7, 8, & 9…
What about in the church are our shrinking churches in North America reaping the consequences of abandoning the model of pastor as church planter/evangelist for the more convenient model of settled pastor.
Okay I will save those for another post 🙂
Whether you agree or disagree I hope we will all think and be cautious if not for ourselves, for the sake of future generations in all our decision making.
Tomorrow’s Reading: Psalm 15-17
The obvious topic to write on in today’s reading is the story of God’s call to Abraham to sacrifice Isaac and then His intervention when He observed Abraham’s trust and faithfulness.
But…
That is not what I am going to spend time looking at.
What I needed to hear and what spoke to me in my devotional today is the story of Abraham and the return of his deceit to not claim Sarah as his wife. I see in this story that Abraham is a repeat offender of the same sin, just like I can be…but that is not what caught my attention…
What truly caught my attention was God’s response to Abimelech,
“But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.” 4 Now Abimelech had not approached her. So he said, “Lord, will you kill an innocent people? 5 Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.” 6 Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her. 7 Now then, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.” -Genesis 20:3-7
God spared Abimelech from unknowingly sinning, but God still calls it sin. “I who kept you from sinning against me.” When I was a child I was taught to pray forgiveness for both the sins I was aware of and the sins I was unaware of. Society has shifted, even within the church, now sin is only sin if “I” think it is sin or know it is sin. Sin to me is no longer defined by God it is now defined by themselves. God clearly shows here that it didn’t matter that Abimelech didn’t know it was Abraham’s wife, if he had touched her it would have still been sin.
The sins we’ve committed both with knowledge and without knowledge Jesus took both on the cross. That is what is said, “I who kept you from sinning against ME.” All sin known and unknown is sin that killed Jesus, let us return to seeking forgiveness for both.
Tomorrow’s Reading: Judges 1-6
In chapters 1-11 Paul has been expounding on our need for and the mercies of God and now Romans 12:1 is a transition statement into the practical response to The Lord’s mercies,
“Therefore (or in light of God’s mercies) I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”
Paul in verse 2a tells us how to do the previous,
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,”
and to what end 2b,
“so that you may prove (discern) what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
And then beginning in verse 3 Paul lays out the implications of “being right” with God, but please note, the implications of “being right” with God are not to be played out in private or I should say their ultimate value comes not in isolation, but within the context of the “Body of Christ” the church (vv. 4 & 5).
Verses 6-8 then paint a beautiful picture of the gifts that are to be exhibited and lived out within the body of the church.
Something jumped out at me when I read this list I realized it describes most churches expectations of a “singular pastor.”
Biblically though one individual does not likely possess all these gifts, they’re more likely distributed amongst many.
Could this be the problem…or rather I would state this is the problem I believe in many churches. The teacher and exhorter is also expected to be the manager and the merciful one.
When building a team a church or the lead pastor should think to fill in his or her gaps. If we have the opportunity to hire another individual at the current church I serve at I will be looking for someone with the gifts of nurturing and mercy (a flat side for me). I brought in someone “who leads with diligence” (the word “leads” is slightly deceiving for our modern culture as the true translation would be better served as “gives aid to” or “manages.”) another semi-flat side in my ministry. We as pastors must see our weak sides and build a team accordingly…sorry for this ramble…remember this is my response to my devotional along with hopefully a blessing to you. Anyway, back to my point churches I believe suffer when they hire a pastor thinking he or she should possess an abundance of all these gifts, they should be patient knowing that the pastor will always have a flat side or maybe more than one, and hopefully that pastor will acknowledge that flat side and put a team around them to fill the gaps or if there are not the resources for a paid team then a group of elders around them that can fulfill this gift listing in Romans 12.
And while we should all serve primarily in the area(s) of our giftedness sometimes we must be willing to move out more broadly and verses 9-13 tell us how.
And then finally verses 14-21 tell us how to live in relation to the secular world beyond the confines of the Body of Christ. We are to still live and serve and witness in this world and so we must know how to be outside of those most like us.
Romans 12 is a practical chapter that I believe all of us as Christians should read and apply on a regular basis.
Oh and can I go back once more to the listing of the gifts…
Will you pause and ask yourself which one of those gifts most aligns with me (maybe check out also the lists in 1 Corinthians 12 or Ephesians 4), and would others agree. And then ask yourself are you stepping up to use those gifts as God has given you in the context of your local church?
Happy Sabbath!
Tomorrow’s Reading: Genesis 20-23
As is often the case I could blog a dozen or more points from the Gospels. Reading the Gospels is such an affirmation of Jesus’ Lordship! But rather than making a dozen different points, what I was most focused on in my reading was the pericope of Matthew 11:1-19. In this passage there are a number of challenging thoughts, statements and maybe what I’ve learned or how I understand things can be of benefit to the readers.
The very first challenging thought I have when reading this text is, “How can the forerunner of Jesus who baptized Him and heard the voice of God and saw the dove come down out of heaven, now doubt Jesus?” This question is based on John’s question in 11:3.
The question becomes understandable when we think of John’s own prophesying of the “judgment” of the Messiah (Matthew 3:7-12). To all that John hears there is very little judgment taking place, in fact he’s sitting a jail for standing up for morality and Jesus is out speaking of the “good news.” Also, we see here as we’ve seen in Job that just because someone was righteous did not necessarily mean they possessed the correct world view of the Messiah…again something we should note as Seventh-day Adventists and that should give us pause before we condemn those with “wrong” views outside or even inside our church…the worldview of the Jews was that the Messiah would come as a great warrior king like David, “Saul slays his thousands, David his ten thousands.” That the Messiah would through force free Israel from her oppressors. If this was John’s world view, which I think it would be safe to say it likely was, we can then better understand why he is sitting in jail wondering, what is going on. While his question is,
“Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?” -Matthew 11:3
That could be code for…
“So are you going to get me out of here or do I need to try and figure out another way?”
John’s world view did not match Jesus’ actions and thus John had doubts.
That leads us to the second difficult statement in Matthew chapter 11. Jesus begins to defend John’s ministry and he references Exodus 23:20 & Malachi 3:1 to confirm that John was the chosen one by God to be the forerunner for the Messiah. Jesus then states matter-of-factly,
“Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! -Matthew 11:11a
How was John the Baptist the greatest? Well part of that is pretty obvious, he is greatest in that he was the one who would point to Christ more clearly than anyone else. He was greatest in that his mission was to set the stage for the immediate presence of Jesus…the last pre-messianic prophet.
But then comes the really hard statement,
“Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” -Matthew 11:11b
To understand this lets first forget about the way we use the term “least.” We think of this as valuable. There is the Most Valuable Player and then there is the Least Valuable Player…when a player says “it was a team effort it took all 12 of us to win this game”, do any of us believe that? Or when coaches say, “everyone on this team is of equal value. We are going to win or lose together as a team.” Do we believe that? No because we know what least is and put any 12th man on the Chicago Bulls and they still would have won 6 championships in the 90’s, take away Michael Jordan and they would have won zero! Why? Because there is the Most Valuable and they matter and the least valuable and they can be replaced. This is not what Jesus is saying at all. John actually could not be replaced he was the most valuable…so what does “least in the Kingdom of Heaven” mean?
John was a prophet he spoke looking forward but without a clear picture. He did not fully perceive or understand truly who Jesus was and what He would do on this earth. His mission was to speak about Jesus (the coming Messiah). I believe what makes the people “greater’ that are part of the messianic kingdom moving forward is that those who are after the life of Jesus, after the cross, after the resurrection these individuals can look back and give a more profound explanation of Jesus than John could. So the “least” concept is addressing directly his full understanding of all things Jesus. I would say this then affirms also the position that John would question Jesus, because he was living under the banner of the old motif, the old perspective of the Messiah, but all those that witnessed the life of Jesus, saw the cross, and had understanding of that perspective, including us even in 2016 could give better explanation to the mission of Jesus than John.
Matthew 11:12 is another puzzling statement for some,
“From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force.”
This is Jesus simply summarizing what he is about to say in verses 18 & 19. That through the human race there are those used to wage spiritual war against the cause of Christ trying to discourage people from following Jesus. I could give you half-a-dozen names right now of just such individuals, but i will let you think of those on your own.
Then verse 14 has been troublesome to some,
“And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come.”
This is not speaking in the literal sense of Elijah returning in the form of John the Baptist, how do we know this? Well on the basis of the rest of scripture, but even beyond that we have a text that clearly explains what is being said here,
“It is he (speaking of John the Baptist) who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah,” -Luke 1:17a
Maybe you’ve never had any curiosity about some of these texts or maybe this was review for you. But hopefully for a couple this was helpful in their journey with the Lord.
Keep reading the scriptures daily and may we all continue to grow individually and corporately in knowing and loving Jesus more!
Tomorrow’s Reading: Romans 11 & 12
In today’s reading of Isaiah 23-28 there was some really great insights. I wish the one who structured the reading plan had placed chapter 28 with chapter 29-33 as it is the first of six woes and fits better within that context and structure. Due to that I won’t be addressing chapter 28 at this time…not that I always address all the chapters, but I at least wanted y’all to know I don’t think it is with the right group in our reading plan J
I really appreciated chapters 24-26 but I want to focus primarily on chapter 24
These chapters are dealing with the final and eternal judgment and cleansing of the world. When all things are made right and order is restored!
On those final days all things will be equal. Myself as a pastor will have no advantage over the laymember (24:2a), the CEO will be equal to the janitor, the rich will be equal to the poor. The devastation of the judgment will affect all classes of society—not one of them will be spared by position or wealth, religion or nationality. This is the first aspect of the judgment.
The second aspect of the judgment is that the whole earth mourns because the “everlasting covenant” has been broken. What is the “everlasting covenant” According to some it is the Sabbath according to others it is the full Gospel as was presented by EJ Waggoner and AT Jones in 1888
(The links may show us it can be both/and rather than either/or)?
The third aspect of the judgment is that we see there will be a believing remnant. This is seen in Isaiah 24:14-16a
We also see in judgment there will be punishment of the host of heaven (24:21a), which host? I believe the angels that followed Lucifer in his rebellion (Revelation 12:4) but not only the angels that followed Lucifer in his rebellion but the governments on this earth that then followed Satan and those same angels in transgression at the end of time (24:21b).
Then I want to say a word quickly about chapter 25 verses 1-9
O Lord, You are my God.
I will exalt You,
I will praise Your name,
For You have done wonderful things;
Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
2 For You have made a city a ruin,
A fortified city a ruin,
A palace of foreigners to be a city no more;
It will never be rebuilt.
3 Therefore the strong people will glorify You;
The city of the terrible nations will fear You.
4 For You have been a strength to the poor,
A strength to the needy in his distress,
A refuge from the storm,
A shade from the heat;
For the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
5 You will reduce the noise of aliens,
As heat in a dry place;
As heat in the shadow of a cloud,
The song of the terrible ones will be diminished.
6 And in this mountain
The Lord of hosts will make for all people
A feast of choice pieces,
A feast of wines on the lees,
Of fat things full of marrow,
Of well-refined wines on the lees.
7 And He will destroy on this mountain
The surface of the covering cast over all people,
And the veil that is spread over all nations.
8 He will swallow up death forever,
And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces;
The rebuke of His people
He will take away from all the earth;
For the Lord has spoken.
9 And it will be said in that day:
“Behold, this is our God;
We have waited for Him, and He will save us.
This is the Lord;
We have waited for Him;
We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”
While many in our the Christian world speak negatively of the judgment, Biblically people looked forward to it, they longed for it, they had hope in the judgment.
It is not because they were callous and longing to see people destroyed. I believe it is because the people that long for the judgment are those that have a true grasp of the true depravity of sin and the destruction there of.
“And it will be said in that day:
“Behold, this is our God;
We have waited for Him, and He will save us.
This is the Lord;
We have waited for Him;
We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”” Isaiah 25:9
God’s people don’t want the destruction of the wicked they want the destruction of sin. Even they have had to suffer through the effects of sin. Think of our reading yesterday, Job, oh how he longed for the judgment, because the judgment meant the end of suffering for humanity both the righteous and the unrighteous. Judgment is not the punishment of the wicked—well it is—but this is not the ultimate purpose, it is not God saying, “Didn’t I warn you the wages of sin is death? You got what you deserved.” No I believe the judgment is ultimately an end to all sin which means and end to all suffering, for both wicked and righteous. In other words the judgment is ultimately an act of mercy, when the suffering becomes so great and God finally says “enough, my children both those who see Me as their true parent and those that don’t have endured this world long enough” and He allows sin to take its natural course…eternal death. The righteous are suffering but they are suffering with hope, “We have waited for Him, and He will save us.” The wicked are suffering but they are suffering without hope. The judgment will end all suffering and give both groups what they ultimately chose…
I hope that string of thoughts made sense. Let me know your thoughts.
Tomorrow’s Reading: Matthew 11-13
This may sound like a copout, but I feel as if I must repeat here what I have stated in the past Job’s theology is slanted. The full revelation of God through Jesus Christ had not taken place. He was seeing things only partially, but he was truly living by the text, “The just shall live by faith.” (Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38).
The one idea as I searched a commentary to see if there were points I missed in my own study that caught my interest is nothing of a devotional nature…well maybe it is, it is a reminder that some Adventist folk should be a little less sensitive about individuals using non-Adventist material,
“God will not turn back His anger;
Beneath Him crouch the helpers of Rahab.” Job 9:13
Honestly I would have thought again and again this was somehow a reference to Rahab the harlot in the story of Jericho…I would have thought this though that would have been a very ignorant thought since most believe Job lived long before that time and also because it is believed in most conservative circles that Moses is the author of Job which would also mean this book predates Rahab the harlot. But without study I would have just rushed through and not even thought of it…maybe that is the devotional lesson…don’t rush through you’ll miss something!
So then who is this Rahab individual. It turns out this is a reference to “a sea monster in Babylonian myth who was defeated by Marduk, who then captured her helpers. Rehab is another name for Leviathan.” (Moody Bible Commentary, p. 712)
So it seems inspired writ here in the book of Job allowed for a pagan mythology reference to be included…
I’ll just leave it at that 🙂
Tomorrow’s Reading: Isaiah 23-28