In each of these chapters God reminds the people, He’s appealed, just like He did to their ancestors and they have rejected, just like their ancestors did and thus destruction comes.
It is the truth we must all be reminded of. God as He describes it a couple times in this reading, “rose early in the morning” to speak truth and to guide them. The early in the morning means that God has gone before them, yet they have not listened. The truth is God has done the work humanity does not respond.
And then the call goes out in a question,
“Is there no balm in Gilead?” -Jeremiah 8:22a
God was trying to tell them there was He was trying to give them the answer but they would not listen.
Hopefully we will…
Tomorrow’s Reading: Mark 7 & 8
I continue to read Job as I have made this commitment, but I continue to read without great understanding. My previous two posts were easy, but Job has and continues to the struggle of my blogging.
I will share that I appreciate the contrast he makes in chapter 28 between digging for treasures in comparison to the search for wisdom.
For those who fancy themselves wise, based on Jobs understanding of which I believe are accurate, while we can find diamonds, and silver, and gold many places wisdom is only from one source, The Lord.
So the person who says they are wise but is not connected to Jesus…I’d be hesitant to listen to their wisdom.
Have a blessed night!
Tomorrow’s Reading: Jeremiah 7-11
A verse that has come to mean a great deal to me and there is another verse similar to it later in the Psalms (Psalm 90:12) is Psalm 39:4 and then I appreciate the subsequent two verses that tie into it as well. But of particular blessing to me that I believe has helped me is verse 4,
“Show me, Lord, my life’s end
and the number of my days;
let me know how fleeting my life is.”
It may cause wonder why a text like that is helpful to me and has helped my ministry. Maybe the following will explain…
Possibly because in my career I am often around death, I was just at a funeral today; possibly it is the melancholy in me, but I don’t see the span of my life as long. I don’t expect to die soon by any means, I am only 38…I say only, even though 38 seemed very old not so many years ago…but I am only 38, yet in spite of that I don’t view life or my life at least as a long expanse, I don’t see that I have that much time, I see my days or the days I have left “as a mere handbreadth.” (v. 5a)
I also look upon my life the totality of those 38 years and I see a lot of waste. Many years spent in absolute sin…and still to this day I see far too many moments wasted in sinful living and I know that is time I’ve lost, I am losing that belongs to God.
Therefore with these two thoughts in mind, I’ve found that this text (Ps. 39:4) and Psalm 90:12,
“Teach us to number our days,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
or as I like to think of it based on the song lyric…
“Teach me to count my days, teach me to make my days count.”
affirm that I only have a short life to live for Jesus. I only have this span of time to make a difference for Him and then I am gone.
Within a generation or so no one will remember me. No books will be written about me. My name won’t be in the church annals of history.
The only legacy I will have is the people I played a small role in helping to fall in love with Jesus and their names written in the Lambs Book of Life and because I don’t see my life as long and I view life as very fragile and because I was careless with so many years and so many minutes these texts are special to me because they remind to drive, to push, to strive, to dream, to work, to talk, to share, to prod, to demand excellence in ministry from myself and my team, because I only have a short span to serve Jesus and then I’m done.
“Show me, Lord, my life’s end
and the number of my days;
let me know how fleeting my life is.”
I will share something with you, in my quiet time sometimes when I am alone and no one else is around (of course it happens sometimes when everyone is around in church during a hymn or something) I may hear a song about the love of Jesus, or I’ll read a scripture about Jesus’ love, or the Holy Spirit will just speak to my heart of His love through the stillness or through the love of one of my boys, or through a memory I’ll recall and I start to cry…I cry first because I am so grateful for Jesus’ love, but honestly I cry just as much because I’m worried, I’m worried that I have not done enough, not in regards to my own salvation, I trust that I am “saved by grace through faith”, but I cry because I am worried that I have not done enough to reach others.
I think of my uncle who I love so much and I think of my friend who died last year. I think of my close friends that are living now. I think of the young men I’m coaching in baseball. I think of the people I ruined my witness to because of my sin. I was overzealous and drove them away or I was lazy and didn’t follow through, and I cry, because I don’t know if I’ve done or did everything I could to introduce them to Jesus.
This text, coupled with my melancholy self reminds me that my life is fleeting and I only have yea long to be a witness and that knowledge drives me to never settle for status quo in my personal witness or in the ministry sphere I have influence on.
So if you wondered why I would say this text has been a blessing to me and has helped me in my ministry, that is how this text has helped me. And maybe some of you that get annoyed or wonder about my obsession with evangelism will understand it better now.
Well that was more than I planned on writing but there you go 🙂
Tomorrow’s Reading: Job 27 & 28
From day one David did nothing but improve and enhance Saul’s kingdom, and yet Saul found hatred in his heart for David. We see here the clear signs of an insecure leader.
Leaders should celebrate with the victories that come from the team around them.
Leaders should work to improve the position of those around them.
Leaders should enable further successes of those around them.
Saul did none of this. Yet the integrity of David was so great, he continued ’till he could no longer strive to be not only a servant of Saul, but a close companion.
Both David and Saul when anointed had the Spirit of God come over them in a strong way. In our leadership the Spirit of God only remains in us to the extent that we choose to have Him stay.
David and Saul were both chosen. They both were mighty. They both were handsome. But one chose self and one chose sacrifice and God honored the latter.
Tomorrow’s Reading: Psalm 39-41
I know this post won’t make me popular with some, but the correlation and lesson just jumped out at me as I was reading the following that I couldn’t help but write out my thoughts…popular or not…
“Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 He said to his people, “Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we.10 Come, let us deal wisely with them, or else they will multiply and in the event of war, they will also join themselves to those who hate us, and fight against us and depart from the land.” Exodus 1:8-10
History should be our teacher! Whenever leaders begin to appeal to the negative aspects of nationalism bad things happen!
Listen to what this new king is saying and tell me if any of it sounds familiar:
History should be our teacher!
Why aren’t there more Christian voices…why aren’t there more Adventist voices speaking out LOUDLY against such rhetoric?
Nationalism over humanitarianism has never worked well in history and it won’t this time around either!
Tomorrow’s Reading: 1 Samuel 16-20
“For the body is not one member, but many. 15 If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body.” -1 Corinthians 12:14-16
A word we need to hear! Every person that has by the grace of Jesus been attached to His church, His body is a “member” of that body. In other words they have a role. This means that the member that sneaks out during the last song who doesn’t support God’s body with their treasures and in the utilization of their time and talents is in no less way a member of the body, “‘I am not a part of the body,’ it is NOT FOR THIS REASON ANY THE LESS a part of the body.” That individual is still part of the body, just a dysfunctional part of the body and injured a crippling part of the body. The result then of this is not that these members only effect themselves…no quite the opposite…
“if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it” -1 Corinthians 12:26a
Each person whom God has put in a church that chooses to not engage, not support, not give of treasure, time, and talent is causing the entire body, the entire church to suffer at some level.
Our decisions are about more than just us!
Engage today!
Tomorrow’s Reading: Exodus 1-4