In Psalm 3 the first Psalm of our reading today one verse really ministered to my heart,
“I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the Lord sustains me.” –Psalm 3:5
How many nights have I been sleepless with worry, with stress, with fear? David’s own son was trying to usurp him, his own son had chased him out of the city he was king over. Yet David slept. This sentiment is again expressed in regards to a different matter in Psalm 4,
“In peace I will both lie down AND sleep, for you alone, O Lord, make me to dwell in safety.” –Psalm 4:8
Oh Jesus, help me to sleep even when crisis is in my life because I am at peace with You!
In Psalm 4 there was similarly a line that struck me,
“Tremble and do not sin…” –Psalm 4:4a
David acknowledges his fear, trembling is not the problem it is when that fear leads to sin. I’ll use something that most feel is innocuous in our modern society, but I see it as a result of sin in my life. As I have gotten older I’ve found that I deal with my stresses, anxieties by eating. Late at night when I can’t sleep to take my mind off the problem, I eat. To me this is sin. It is putting comfort in food, rather than God, “Tremble and do not sin…”
How?
“Meditate in your heart upon your bed, and be still.” (4:4b)
David acknowledges anxiety, he lays down and thinks upon, meditates upon God, and then he is still. Oh Jesus, keep me from sinning in my stress!
And finally in the last Psalm of the day, Psalm 5 the following text convicted me,
“In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice; In the morning I will order my prayer to you and eagerly watch.” (5:3)
Some neglect the first part of this verse, but many more probably neglect the last part of this verse.
David makes a commitment to God, “when I get up in the morning God You will hear from me!” Many of us do this though some of us don’t do it as often as we should.
But it was the second part of this text that convicted my heart to the core,
“I will order my prayer to you and EAGERLY WATCH.” (5:3b)
I read that “watch” in a couple different ways all equally convicting.
The second time I read it through (the first time I read each of these Psalms I got nothing, so I prayed and asked God to open my eyes and this blog is what He revealed to me after that prayer) this word “watch” meant to me that after I finish talking to God in the morning I won’t just rise-up and go on with my day as if nothing happened, no I will “watch” to see how God answers those prayers I prayed in the morning. I don’t believe enough folk do this. We pray and then don’t even keep our eyes open to see how God will answer.
But then the third or fourth time I read this Psalm the “watch” took on a different meaning to me, based on the rest of the Psalm following this verse.
I will “eagerly KEEP watch” so that I do not leave the presence of Jesus which I entered into in my morning prayers.
Why did I understand it in this way? Because verses 4-12 are all about staying in the ways of the Lord, not falling into sin. Not getting distracted by the wickedness of the world, staying on the pathway of God.
Both these ways of “watching” mean something to me, I will watch to see how the Lord works, and I will watch to make sure I prayerfully remain in Jesus’ presence all day long and not just in the morning!
Tomorrow’s Reading: Job 3-4
So this was a bloody reading. The picture of God in these chapters and really in the rest of the book of Joshua is a hard picture for many. It leads some to ask the question, “How could a loving God do such things?” When we ask that question we forget about the more appropriate question, “What was the true causation of death in the first place?”
The answer is in our reading today.
In the seventh chapter of Joshua we learn of a man named Achan who sinned and did not follow the wisdom and counsel of God in the destruction of Jericho, due to this man’s action Israel loses a battle and 36 soldiers die (7:5). What is Joshua’s immediate reaction?
He blames God (7:6-9).
The Lord takes the blame for a time then He stops Joshua…
“Rise up! Why is it that you have fallen on your face?” (7:10)
God asks the question rhetorically, He knows Joshua is blaming Him for the consequences of life lost, and what Joshua perceives to be impending doom.
But then God reveals to Joshua the real reason lives are lost in three little words…
“Israel has sinned…” (7:11a)
The rest of our reading today and the rest of the reading of this book, rather than blaming God, maybe we should pause and remember those words…
Maybe we should substitute our name for Israel, “Chad has sinned…”
“For the wages of SIN is death.” -Romans 6:23
God gets blamed but it is our sin and the corporate sin of all humanity that has lead to all physical and ultimately eternal death, both in the book of Joshua and beyond.
This warning was given to us (humanity) in the garden, we read it just the other day,
“The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” –Genesis 2:15-17
You sin, you shall surely die.
Sin brings on death.
Let us lay blame at the proper feet…
Our own.
And I know our reading was in Joshua…
But I praise God for the rest of the verse in Romans 6:23…
“…but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.”
How?
“He (Christ) Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.” 1 Peter 2:24
Amen and Amen!
Tomorrow’s Reading: Psalms 3-5
Sorry I am getting to this blog so late! I didn’t have time to write prior to church and this is the first time I am able to settle in at home and share with you my thoughts on today’s reading, Genesis chapters 4 through 7.
Before I get into some of the spiritual lessons that spoke to me in these chapters I want to share with you a question that developed out of this reading that I don’t know that there is an answer to. At what ages and what stages in life were Cain and Abel when Cain killed Abel? I speculate it is much later in life than we have traditionally imagined in our storybooks. I believe this based on two passages.
First, after Cain kills Abel and God tells him what the consequences will be Cain speaks the following, “My punishment is too great to bear…whoever finds me will kill me.” (4:13, 14b)
What I want to know who are these “whoevers.” This to me implies that there are other people living, this means Adam and Eve would have already had to have other sons and daughters.
The second verse that further supports this idea is that Cain leaves his home and settles in the land of Nod and the very next verse states, “Cain had relations with his wife and she conceived…” (4:17) Maybe I am reading it wrong but it seems the spacing and transition of these verses again implies that this wife was already Cain’s before he left home.
What ages and stages of life were Cain and Abel? I think later than we’ve believed before, but of course there is no definite answer.
I see in verse 5 an allusion to faithful stewardship, “Abel on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock…” The “firstlings” Abel didn’t bring the leftovers, he didn’t give to himself or his family first, he brought the firstling, def: “the first agricultural produce or animal offspring of a season.”
We are to bring the first of our paycheck to God!
The question to Cain, “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up?” (4:7a) shows that Cain knew right from wrong. Which means Cain decided God wouldn’t “mind” if Cain did it as he pleased rather than as God asked. Wow, how many things do we do in like manner in regards to both private and corporate worship?
In chapter 6 verse 4 there are some that believe this is speaking of Angels coming down out of heaven and sleeping with human women creating these super beings. Other people say, “No it wouldn’t be angels from heaven, but rather wicked angels.” I’ve never believed this but I for some reason have never had a great Biblical answer to combat it, ‘till I was reading today.
As I was reading verse 4 suddenly it struck me how verses 1 & 2 read, “Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.”
Notice in verse 2 it reads, “the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took WIVES for themselves…”
And now I have my argument against breeding between angels and men, yes folk many people believe this…
Here is the argument and not even an argument we will use Jesus’ words to support the theory both these groups are humans and not angels, “But Jesus answered and said to them,
“You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.” (Matthew 22:29, 30)
Angels don’t take wives according to Jesus, thus Genesis 6:4 cannot be talking about some super humans because of angelic intermingling with humans.
Now does that mean I understand why these individuals were the “mighty men of old, men of renown”?
Nope. But I know it’s not because they had an angel parent.
I also do know that verse 2 is clearly condemning choosing spouses based on “whatever.”
Verse two also strikes me in that the scriptures here are laying out the beginning of the corruption of the whole earth and they start with Godly people intermarrying with the ungodly. This seems like a warning to all unmarried Christian folk that try and justify dating those with dissimilar beliefs. Not a good idea!
In these chapters we have some tremendous examples of faithful people. Abel who obeyed God with his worship and it cost him his life. Enoch who walked so near to God that he was translated to Heaven before seeing death. Finally Noah, who stood apart not just from a group, but from the entire world in his day, talk about tough. We struggle when a friend or two is pulling us in a specific direction, imagine the hold world pushing against us? Yet Noah stood strong. It would be more than wise for all of us to pray, “let me be an Abel with my worship, an Enoch in my walk, a Noah in this wicked world.”
May God hear and answer that prayer in each of our hearts!
Tomorrow’s Reading: Joshua 6-10
I resonate with verses 1 and 2 of Romans chapter 3. Verse 1 asks the question is there any benefit to being a Jew and being circumcised. Here the question related to circumcision is not speaking of the physical benefits, but rather the act of knowing and doing the law. Verse 2 answers the question, “the benefits are great!” Why? Because the Jews whether they followed it or not or believed it or not they had been given the “truth.”
I said I resonate with this because when I accepted Jesus due to my upbringing I did not have a lot of mental hurdles to overcome about what is and isn’t truth. I had already been exposed, so even the things I had once not believed in, they were not new concepts to me and thus it was easier for me to embrace those ideas through faith as I saw them revealed through scripture.
All of us that have been raised in Bible believing homes should rejoice at the advantages we had over so many others. All of us that were able to attend Bible believing schools should rejoice at the privileges we had/have.
I’m going to go on a tangent here…this is why I believe that every Adventist parent should do everything in their power and through the resources offered to them through local churches to send their kids to Adventist schools. I know our schools aren’t perfect, neither was the Jewish nation, but Paul here under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit tells us that even with all the imperfection…oh and what was that imperfection? Staunch legalism, at times idol worship, different factions some who believed in resurrection of the dead, some who didn’t, i.e. there were heretics in the camp, even the camp of leaders…even with all that imperfection Paul tells us that in “EVERY RESPECT” the benefit was great. Something for us to think about when we complain about our schools, not perfect, but still beneficial in the long run. Okay off my tangent.
Let me jump down to verse 20…the next text that resonated with today’s reading.
Let us get it straight once and for all, the purpose of the law is to show us that we NEED justification from Jesus, not to justify us!
And we do ALL need justification, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (3:23)
But we must maintain with Paul and all the teachings of scripture, “that a man (humankind) is justified by faith APART from works of the law.” (3:28)
Some people resist this, they just can’t accept that they are saved without any of their own works.
Others embrace this and go to the opposite extreme so Paul has a word for them too,
“Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! (or ABSOLUTELY NOT!) On the contrary, we establish the Law.” (3:31)
Paul then goes back to reaffirming the truth that justification PRECEDES works, he does so by pointing out that Abraham was credited righteous by faith PRIOR to being circumcised, “not while circumcised but while uncircumcised.” (4:10)
This is important because Abraham is then not just the father of the Jews, but also of all humanity! And when I say father I mean yes our ancestral heritage, but more importantly our example. (4:11-13)
Circumcision was a sign of righteousness. It was not righteousness it was a sign of faith in Jesus and commitment to Him. I believe in the garden of Eden that sign was the tree of knowledge of good and evil. If you had faith in the promises of God you would stay away from it. Then the sign as Paul tells us in Romans, but as we also see in the Old Testament was circumcision, again it did not save but it showed that you trusted the promises of Jesus. Then I believe that baptism by immersion was the sign in the New Testament and continuing throughout history, a public declaration not that you are saved through baptism, but that you have faith in the promises of Jesus. And I believe at the very end of time, that the sign will be the seventh day Sabbath. I do not believe it is the sign yet, but that it will be (Revelation 13 & 14), again the Sabbath won’t save anyone or make anyone righteous, it will simply be an outward sign in the midst of opposition and standing against the world of one’s faith in the promises of Jesus. But this will come just like circumcision did after righteousness is received by faith, it will not precede and create righteousness!
Let me throw in maybe a disconnected comment about one of my favorite promises in all the Bible (4:17) and I like the way the New King James renders it,
“(as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;”
This text is speaking of when God called Abraham, and He called Him not as He was but as God knew He could/would become.
I am grateful that God calls me/sees me not as I am but at what I can become through faith in Him!
Then I want to close with something I believe is very beautiful and shows the love and care God has for us,
“Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him, (that righteousness was credited to Abraham through faith) but for the sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him (God) who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.” (4:23, 24)
Why is that beautiful to me? Because God didn’t just say to Abraham your salvation has nothing to do with your works, God inspired it to be written down so that we would not be buried under the burden of thinking that we’d only have access to God through our own merits our own works. Too many of us still live like this, but it is not because God has taught it, it is because we believe the lies of the devil who says “you’re never good enough.” He’s right, praise to Jesus I don’t have to be, “He (Jesus) who was delivered over because of our transgression, and was raised because of our justification.” (4:25).
Thank you Jesus!
Tomorrow’s Reading: Genesis 4-7
It is good to be in the Gospels for this day. I went to bed a little spent, but I was refreshed today as I was in the first 2 chapters of the book of Matthew.
Some little insights that are interesting: Matthew’s primary audience were the Jews. This is revealed right in the first verse,
“The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham:”
This verse is revealing Jesus as King, “the son of David,” which was very important to the Jewish people.
Affirming this or connecting this kingship is verse 17,
“Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.”
If you dig deep on this I’ll just give you a heads-up there are more than 14 generations. Matthew skips some names. Why does he do this? Is the Bible inaccurate? Not at all! Many commentators believe that the divisions of 14 generations is simply a literary structure by Matthew not intended to set forth a strict biological lineage. The purpose of a genealogy is to document the proof of ancestry from the origin of the line to the person under discussion. Every individual need not be included, but only those necessary to establish descending relationship. Why then 14? Because 14 is the number of King David. The letters of the ancient alphabet had numeric value, D = 4 V = 6 D = 4 which all together equals 14. Thus again setting Jesus up as the King of the Jews.
Another evidence of Matthews desire to convince the Jews of Jesus’ Messianic fulfillment is seen throughout the book, but we see this phrase 4 times just in chapter 2, “took place to fulfill” or something very near that. And if we count the prophecy the Magi shared with Herod there are 5 prophetic references in chapter 2. Again all of this would be important to convince Jews of Jesus’ Messianic fulfillment.
All of this is more than just cool information it is a fine example to us of how to witness.
Three Questions this story teaches us to ask in our witnessing:
After we have the answer to those three questions start there (where they are at) and share that first! Don’t start with what you like or feel is important. Scratch where they’re itching.
Each of the Gospels is to a specific group and each tells the story in a way that would appeal to that group. Great witnessing technique!
If there were nothing else in this chapter that were interesting there would be still three things about Jesus that I praise Him for.
I am so grateful for Jesus!
Tomorrow’s Reading: Romans 3 & 4
Prior to this reading I want to remind people. These blogs are not intended to be sermonic quality. They are also not going to be in depth exegetical works generally. I say that because I would tell you that understanding Isaiah 1-6 would best be understood with a solid commentary to assist in the study of this reading but really all of Isaiah, maybe a Biblical encyclopedia as well. What I will be sharing this evening…and I apologize for this coming out so late tonight…but what I will be sharing are the things that touched my heart, remember this is my personal devotions that I am doing daily so I’m not studying first for knowledge or first to teach, those things happen out of this, but when I read Isaiah 1-6 I must admit my heart was what engaged more.
So here goes…
I was struck by the strong, strong rhetoric of Isaiah 1:1-17 and then suddenly this is this heart cry appeal,
“Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord, “Though your sins are as scarlet they will be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool. If you consent and obey…
I pause…Consent to what? I think consent to God’s appeal to be washed clean by The Lord,
“If you consent and obey, you will eat the best of the land…”
A lot of people know these verses? I wonder how many realize they come bookended by strong rebuke.
At the end of 1:23 the Bible states, “They do not defend the orphan, nor does the widow’s plea come before them.”
This is the second time widow’s and orphans are mentioned. They are also mentioned in verse 17, “Learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.”
True religion, religion that is honorable to God is not just obedience to personal rules, for the Jewish people he mentions offerings and burnt sacrifices or going to the temple (church) vv. 11 & 12.
True religion must involve caring for people.
Isaiah 2:5, 6 is a clear reminder that consorting with those of the world DOES have a negative influence. No matter what we may try to rationalize.
Isaiah 5:18-23 is a description of our world and even to many degrees modern Christianity. Verse 19 is particularly biting in light of verse 18, people who are really embracing sin and then being deceitful about it, yet are pretending (v. 19) to care about the works of the Lord and His return. Scary! Let all who express a desire for Jesus to return to pause and ask to search our hearts that vv. 18 & 19 are not true of us.
Now I want to go back to the part of the reading that struck my heart most: Chapter 5 verses 1-4 are my favorite portion of this reading. It reminds me of the night I accepted Jesus, I heard Him say to me, “You’ve tried everything else, why don’t you give me a chance.”
I tried Him and I’ve never been disappointed. If I ever make a decision to walk away from God I will not be able to give any suggestion if asked, “What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it.”
God asked me to try Him, I did, and blessing after blessing I’ve received.
God there is nothing more You could do for me.
Tomorrow’s Reading: Matthew 1 & 2