Psalm 50:9-13
I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the field are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? --
God is the Creator and Owner of everything that exists. He had Moses set up a complete sacrificial system for His people, to teach them that sin requires death, a payment of blood. But it is not for God's benefit; there is nothing He needs from us, because it all already belongs to Him.
When we pray, when we want to do something for God in response to what He has done for us, we need to remember that all the laws, all the rules, all the guidelines God gives us in His Word are for our benefit, not His. God wants us to live our lives in the knowledge that He is our source, the wellspring of life itself, and we depend on His bounty to meet all our needs. When we have that mind-set, then we will recognize all the good that God has given us, and be able to avoid what does not align with the Truth of our world or of the Heavens.
The rest of this Psalm is what God says to the wicked, and ends with:
Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors me; and to him who orders his way aright I shall show the salvation of God (vs.22-23).
Even when people think that God is like they are, because He kept silence when they ignore what He said and do what they know is wrong (v.21), there is still hope for them. If you turn around your thinking processes to realize how God is providing for you, and thank Him; then turn your life around to order your way aright; then God will show Himself powerful to rescue you and you will be able to receive His blessings.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Tuesday, May 3, 2016
Monday, May 2, 2016
God's Poetic Justice
The Book Of Esther
In this story God's sense of humor can be seen in the "poetic justice" that happens to Haman, involving Mordecai the Jew.
The story opens with the King Ahasuerus, also known as Xerxes I, deposing his Queen Vashti (1:1-22), then holding a "beauty contest" to determine who would take her position as Queen. Now the Jewish people had been conquered by his predecessor, Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, and had been dispersed among the nations of his kingdom. As it happened, Mordecai the Jew lived in the capital city, who was bringing up his orphaned relative Hadassah, known as Esther, and she won the position, becoming the new Queen (2:1-20).
Now, Mordecai refused to bow down to anyone but the Lord God, and when the King's official, Haman, realized this, he was so full of himself that he did not want to punish just Mordecai, but all of his people, who would refuse to bow to him, and had the King sign the law to destroy all the Jews in the whole kingdom (3:1-15).
Chapter 4 brings us to the most famous verse in this book, affirming God's sovereign control over the people, rulers and events of this earth. When Esther inquires why Mordecai is dressed in rags, he informs her of the king's decree, with a copy of the edict, asking her to implore the favor of the king for their survival. Her answer reveals how she would take her life in her hands to do so, and requests fasting and prayer for her success, saying, And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish (4:16).
Chapter 5 has Haman so vengeful toward Mordecai that he has a gallows built to hang him on it. But God gives the King sleeplessness that night, so he has the book of records read to him to put him to sleep, and he learns how Mordecai had saved his life, and not been rewarded for it. Early the next morning Haman comes into the palace courtyard just then, and advises the King as to how he thought the King wanted to honor himself! So the King tells him to do so to Mordecai the Jew! (Poetic justice.)
(Chapter 7) Then that night, when Esther informs the King that it is Haman who is plotting to destroy her and her people, the King hangs Haman on his own gallows! (More poetic justice.)
(Chapter 8) He then promotes Mordecai into Haman's government position, and together they devise a way for the Jews to defend themselves, so they won't be wiped out, and (Chapter 9) they had a great victory over their enemies. This is the origin of the Feast of Purim, to be celebrated annually.
We know that God is sovereign in the affairs of men and nations, when we read that, Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, "Do not imagine that you in the king's palace can escape any more than all the Jews. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?" (4:13-14).
This is another example of how our Enemy wants to destroy God's people, and how only His working in our affairs supernaturally will thwart Satan's genocidal plans to wipe out those on whose God's favor rests. But we need to be sure of our trust in the Lord, and not in our own humanity, and our obedience to His urgings in our spirits to do His will in our everyday lives.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
In this story God's sense of humor can be seen in the "poetic justice" that happens to Haman, involving Mordecai the Jew.
The story opens with the King Ahasuerus, also known as Xerxes I, deposing his Queen Vashti (1:1-22), then holding a "beauty contest" to determine who would take her position as Queen. Now the Jewish people had been conquered by his predecessor, Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, and had been dispersed among the nations of his kingdom. As it happened, Mordecai the Jew lived in the capital city, who was bringing up his orphaned relative Hadassah, known as Esther, and she won the position, becoming the new Queen (2:1-20).
Now, Mordecai refused to bow down to anyone but the Lord God, and when the King's official, Haman, realized this, he was so full of himself that he did not want to punish just Mordecai, but all of his people, who would refuse to bow to him, and had the King sign the law to destroy all the Jews in the whole kingdom (3:1-15).
Chapter 4 brings us to the most famous verse in this book, affirming God's sovereign control over the people, rulers and events of this earth. When Esther inquires why Mordecai is dressed in rags, he informs her of the king's decree, with a copy of the edict, asking her to implore the favor of the king for their survival. Her answer reveals how she would take her life in her hands to do so, and requests fasting and prayer for her success, saying, And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish (4:16).
Chapter 5 has Haman so vengeful toward Mordecai that he has a gallows built to hang him on it. But God gives the King sleeplessness that night, so he has the book of records read to him to put him to sleep, and he learns how Mordecai had saved his life, and not been rewarded for it. Early the next morning Haman comes into the palace courtyard just then, and advises the King as to how he thought the King wanted to honor himself! So the King tells him to do so to Mordecai the Jew! (Poetic justice.)
(Chapter 7) Then that night, when Esther informs the King that it is Haman who is plotting to destroy her and her people, the King hangs Haman on his own gallows! (More poetic justice.)
(Chapter 8) He then promotes Mordecai into Haman's government position, and together they devise a way for the Jews to defend themselves, so they won't be wiped out, and (Chapter 9) they had a great victory over their enemies. This is the origin of the Feast of Purim, to be celebrated annually.
We know that God is sovereign in the affairs of men and nations, when we read that, Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, "Do not imagine that you in the king's palace can escape any more than all the Jews. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?" (4:13-14).
This is another example of how our Enemy wants to destroy God's people, and how only His working in our affairs supernaturally will thwart Satan's genocidal plans to wipe out those on whose God's favor rests. But we need to be sure of our trust in the Lord, and not in our own humanity, and our obedience to His urgings in our spirits to do His will in our everyday lives.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Sunday, May 1, 2016
The Lord God Or Chemosh?
Ruth 1:16-17
But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me."
This foreign woman has married into a family of God-fearing Hebrew people, and has realized that the God they worshiped is not like her national god, Chemosh. She considered that the Lord God was worth giving up her nation, her people, her home, her religion. She left herself no loop-hole where she would be able to change her mind--she bound herself until not only the death of her mother-in-law, but to her own death, presumably years later. She would never again be attracted to a false god.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me."
This foreign woman has married into a family of God-fearing Hebrew people, and has realized that the God they worshiped is not like her national god, Chemosh. She considered that the Lord God was worth giving up her nation, her people, her home, her religion. She left herself no loop-hole where she would be able to change her mind--she bound herself until not only the death of her mother-in-law, but to her own death, presumably years later. She would never again be attracted to a false god.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Saturday, April 30, 2016
Attitude And Mind Set
Psalm 73:25
Whom have I in Heaven but You? And Earth has nothing I desire besides You.
May this be my attitude and my mind set: That God is my life, my home is in Heaven with Him, or wherever He will spend Eternity; and this Earth and everything in it, all the wealth, all the things, all the places and pleasures will not last, they are all temporary and will one day be destroyed. Then there will only be my God, and His glories forever.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Whom have I in Heaven but You? And Earth has nothing I desire besides You.
May this be my attitude and my mind set: That God is my life, my home is in Heaven with Him, or wherever He will spend Eternity; and this Earth and everything in it, all the wealth, all the things, all the places and pleasures will not last, they are all temporary and will one day be destroyed. Then there will only be my God, and His glories forever.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Friday, April 29, 2016
Our Super-Hero
Psalm 50:14-15
Sacrifice thank offering to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call on Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.
God often gives us groups of three things He requires of us. Here he tells us, as His children, to:
(1) Be thankful, have a mind-set of gratitude;
(2) Be honest in our speech and always do what we say we will do; and
(3) Turn first to God to help us through whatever problems and trials we have, to let Him be our Super-Hero, who Saves The Day! Then He will get all the honor, the glory, the credit.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Sacrifice thank offering to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call on Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.
God often gives us groups of three things He requires of us. Here he tells us, as His children, to:
(1) Be thankful, have a mind-set of gratitude;
(2) Be honest in our speech and always do what we say we will do; and
(3) Turn first to God to help us through whatever problems and trials we have, to let Him be our Super-Hero, who Saves The Day! Then He will get all the honor, the glory, the credit.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Thursday, April 28, 2016
With One Voice
Romans 15:4-6
For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus; that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. --
The perseverance and encouragement are gifts from God, so we can understand what God wants to teach us in the Scriptures. When we all have God's Holy Spirit living in us and opening our minds to understand and perceive His ways, and opening our hearts to want to follow through in our attitudes and actions according to what we've learned, then we will all live our lives in obedience to His rules; and when we experience the results of cooperating with the way He designed this world to work and receive the benefits, the blessings from God, then we will all respond to this bounty by magnifying our Creator and Redeemer and Lord together, with one voice.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus; that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. --
The perseverance and encouragement are gifts from God, so we can understand what God wants to teach us in the Scriptures. When we all have God's Holy Spirit living in us and opening our minds to understand and perceive His ways, and opening our hearts to want to follow through in our attitudes and actions according to what we've learned, then we will all live our lives in obedience to His rules; and when we experience the results of cooperating with the way He designed this world to work and receive the benefits, the blessings from God, then we will all respond to this bounty by magnifying our Creator and Redeemer and Lord together, with one voice.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
What God Established, Stands
Psalm 119:89-91
Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in Heaven. Thy faithfulness continues throughout all generations; Thou didst establish the Earth, and it stands. They stand this day according to Thine ordinances, for all things are Thy servants.
God is God, and we are not. God is sovereign over all Creation, for He made it all, and He rules it all. What He established in this Universe continues, because they all obey His ordinances, His rules for them, and they follow them. Only Angels and Man have the authority to disobey His rules; the Angels that sinned were created without the ability to die, so they cannot be redeemed. Man sinned also, but God made Mankind with the ability to live or die, so because we sinned, we can have a substitute to die in our place, so we can live. In the Old Testament, God allowed an animal to die for the sinner, and he can now be forgiven, because the death-price has been paid. When Jesus died, He was the Perfect Sacrifice, Who paid our human death in our place, so now there needs to be no more sacrifices, because what He paid was perfect and forever.
So now we have a truly free choice to obey, and love Him; or to rebel and refuse Him. We can live in His power, as His Spirit has come to live in us, and we are able to now obey His rules; or if we refuse Him, we will perish.
God is Truth, and what He has said will prevail throughout all time, unchangeable and unalterable. Even though this Heaven and this Earth may perish (when He decides to destroy it), His Word will never pass away, through all eternity.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in Heaven. Thy faithfulness continues throughout all generations; Thou didst establish the Earth, and it stands. They stand this day according to Thine ordinances, for all things are Thy servants.
God is God, and we are not. God is sovereign over all Creation, for He made it all, and He rules it all. What He established in this Universe continues, because they all obey His ordinances, His rules for them, and they follow them. Only Angels and Man have the authority to disobey His rules; the Angels that sinned were created without the ability to die, so they cannot be redeemed. Man sinned also, but God made Mankind with the ability to live or die, so because we sinned, we can have a substitute to die in our place, so we can live. In the Old Testament, God allowed an animal to die for the sinner, and he can now be forgiven, because the death-price has been paid. When Jesus died, He was the Perfect Sacrifice, Who paid our human death in our place, so now there needs to be no more sacrifices, because what He paid was perfect and forever.
So now we have a truly free choice to obey, and love Him; or to rebel and refuse Him. We can live in His power, as His Spirit has come to live in us, and we are able to now obey His rules; or if we refuse Him, we will perish.
God is Truth, and what He has said will prevail throughout all time, unchangeable and unalterable. Even though this Heaven and this Earth may perish (when He decides to destroy it), His Word will never pass away, through all eternity.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)