A Dry And Thirsty Land

Psalm 63: 1

A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah

O God, Thou art my God; I shall seek Thee earnestly; my soul thirsts for Thee, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

While David was running from King Saul, he found himself in some pretty rugged terrain. So he wrote about it. 

And he wrote how this "dry and weary land where there is no water" was like how he felt in his relationship with God. As his body was thirsting for water, his soul was thirsting for intimacy with his Lord. 

Isn't that the "happiness" that we are all looking for in this World? Our souls also thirst for the cool water of useful knowledge to satisfy our intellectual and emotional longings, and the relationships that meet our deep soul needs. 

God designed Creation to run on the energy of His Love. That is the order we see in the Universe, and it is the way we are to order our World on this Earth.

He gave us the rules and regulations that express His Love for how to order our lives and raise our crops and administer the ecology of this Earth to produce all the wealth He put into it, for our benefit and His glory.

When we cooperate with how He made it all to work (obey His Law, Matthew 22:37-39), then we will experience the prosperity He wants for us all. But when we rebel against His authority and think we know better (disobey His Law), that's when things fall apart. 

That's when people are motivated by hatred instead of love, and we see the violence that destroys and maligns the innocent and the righteous. This is the program of our enemy, who only wants to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). 

So whatever is promoted in our Societies, we can recognize if it is of God or of our enemy by its outcome. 

If it results in discriminating against some other people group, or even in violence against innocents or godly people; or does not bring an increase of wealth, but only debt; then that would be of our enemy, deceiving us. It's not loving our neighbor.

If it produces bountiful, healthy crops and other riches, and good, loving relationships, then it's of God, and we are to give Him the credit.

But even if it produces wealth, but we experience with it discord in our relationships, or dis-ease in our bodies, then we're not giving God the glory, or we're doing something that is not in alignment with God's ways. 

Jesus told us that even if we gain the whole world, but miss out on the forever eternity He wants for us, then we haven't profited at all (Mark 8:36-37). Temporary results may not pan out in the long run, so we need to look at the big picture in our evaluations, to see if some immediate sacrifice may need to be made, or to have patience to wait out the final results of our enterprises. Instant gratification can result in a long-term loss. 

And we must always love God enough to always put Him first, pray only to Him, and seek after that intimate relationship with Him that He desires with us. To believe everything He has told us, and to trust Him to always do what He's said He would do. If it's a conditional promise--if you do, then I will--we need to make sure we're fulfilling our part of the bargain, not taking any shortcuts.

I don't want my pride to convince me that I can "have it all" without humbling myself before God. After all, He is God, I am not. And in my human flesh I can do nothing that can please Him, even the best, most compassionate things are polluted by the sin-nature I inherited from Adam (Isaiah 64:6). Only in the power of His Spirit living in my spirit can I do anything that He will accept and reward. 

This World is that "dry and thirsty land" that has no means to satisfy my deepest thirsts. Only through the Blood of Christ shed on Calvary as the Lamb of God, to wash my scarlet, crimson sin away and make me white as snow (Isaiah 1:18) can put me in the place of God's blessings, that bring no regret with them. That's the place of oneness with our Creator, that satisfies our every need and longing. That cannot happen if there is any barrier between us, any (missing the mark) sin. Only that perfect Blood can take away the sin that plagues us all. That's why Jesus came. That's how much He loves each one of us. 

O my Father, my dear, dear Father, Thank You so much for all Your Grace and Mercy to draw me to Yourself, teach me what I need to know, and show me the extent of Your great Love for me. Thank You for putting into my life Your Life, and thank You for showering upon me all the goodness and joy that You delight in lavishing on me. 

And I will enjoy praising You and worshiping You and sharing with everyone I can how wonderful You are and how much You love me, forever!

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Thy Likeness When I Awake

Psalm 17: 15

As for me, I shall behold Thy face in righteousness; I will be satisfied with Thy likeness when I awake.

This is amazing. King David, the Sweet Psalmist of Israel, knew that he would be resurrected. He realized that he would have the Lord's likeness, he would look like the Lord, when he awoke from death in Resurrection. 

I did not learn this until I read the New Testament. Thank You, Father, for having me live in this time, after Jesus has come, to have this New Covenant with You, and to have the stories and letters recorded for my learning. 

Help me to understand accurately what You have taught Your children through the ages. You are such a Good, Good Father to us! You never leave us hanging for long, hungering after Your Truth. You satisfy our every longing. 

Thank You so much, Father, for teaching me so much of who You are, who I am, how You designed Your Creation to operate, and how to cooperate with You in all I do. 

Protect me and all of Your children from the attacks of the enemy and his minions, to recognize how he twists and mangles Your wonderful Truth into what is harmful and damaging, to destroy those You love. Give me Your words to express Your thoughts to those who are in danger of slipping into the enemy's trap, to rescue them from destruction and pull them out of the fire.

Then You will receive all the honor, all the glory, all the credit for what You have done. You planned it all out before time, and You have carried out all Your plans, using our choices to further Your purposes. And the culmination of all You have designed will be concluded soon. 

Your Son, our Lord God, will return as He promised, and will finish all Your will in this World, this Earth, this Universe.

Meantime, we will "occupy," doing those things that prepare for Your Kingdom. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Naaman's Leprosy

II Kings 5

This chapter tells us about Naaman, a commander in the army of the king of Aram. He had a skin rash that they called leprosy.

Naaman's wife had a captured Isralite girl as her servant who told her that Naaman could go to the prophet in Israel to heal his condition.

So Naaman asked the king if he could have a medical leave to take care of this, and the king sent a letter to his counterpart, the king in Israel. When the king of Israel read the letter, he misunderstood, thinking that he was being asked for healing (or maybe the king of Aram had the misunderstanding), and got upset. 

It was a serious thing for a king to tear his royal robe, and word spread rapidly throughout the region.

Then when Elisha heard, he sent him a message telling him to send the man to him for healing, as he was God's prophet.

So when Naaman came to Elisha, he expected a dramatic performance by this prophet, but all he did was send Gehazi out to tell him to wash seven times in the Jordan River, and Naaman felt disrespected. 

But his servants reminded him that this was a very simple thing, not hard to do, so he went and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, and he was healed! Then Naaman admitted that the Lord God in Israel was above all the other gods in all the other Nations (v. 15). This is God's purpose in choosing Israel, to show that God is God to the other Nations.

But Elisha wouldn't let him pay him for doing the Lord's work.

However, Gehazi saw all the riches Naaman was prepared to give away, so he chased him down, and lied to him to gain a profit for himself, and thought he could hide it from Elisha (even though God told him the secrets of kings and commanders!). 

Gehazi's greed blinded him to the realities he lived with, and caused him to lie to cover it up, knowing he was wrong. As the result, he ended up with the skin rash that had been on Naaman. 

O my Father, let me never try to gain a profit where I have no business dabbling. Please protect me from the greed that would tempt me to use any kind of "dirty money" to finance my life (and travels). 

I know that You have promised to always meet all my needs, and You have, You have even generously given me some of my wants. Help me to continue to look to You as the Provider of all I will need in my seeking to lift up Your Name among the Nations, and among my family and friends and acquaintances here where I am. 

May I always consider You, Your character and reputation, and trust You fully, as I seek to cooperate with You in how You designed this World to work. 

And You will get all the credit, all the glory, forever, for You have done it all. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Elijah And Elisha

II Kings 2: 9-10

Now it came about when they had crossed over, that Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you.” And Elisha said, “Please, let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.”

And he said, “You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so.”

A double inheritance was given to the first born in the family, and this is what Elisha is apparently asking for, but it was not Elijah’s to give. Only if the Lord allowed Elisha to see Elijah taken would he be given this “double portion.”

Vs. 11-13

Then it came about as they were going along and talking, that behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire which separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind to Heaven. 

And Elisha saw it and cried out, “My Father, my Father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And he saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.

He also took up the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and returned and stood by the bank of the Jordan.

So Elisha did see Elijah taken, and God granted him that “double portion.” I haven’t counted, but I’ve heard that Elisha performed twice as many miracles than Elijah had. 

Such a dramatic exit! I don’t think Hollywood will ever out-dramatize our God. 

O my Father, You are so magnificent! You do what no on else can ever do. You perform all Your will, and no one can say anything to you about it. You have all authority to do whatever You want, and what You want to do is always good, the best. 

Thank You so much for Who you are. You alone are God, no matter how many other gods men and angels choose to worship. You alone are worthy of all worship, all praise and honor and credit for everything You have made and accomplished. 

And You are Love. All You have done in Creation and in managing and ruling what You made comes from Love. Even when You must judge and extract vengeance, it all is because your Love is righteous and just. 

Thank You, Father, for chosing me, and allowing Your Son to take my place on that Altar of Atonement, the Cross at Calvary, to pay my sin-debt, and wash me as white as snow. And make me Your princess, to one Day rule with You on Your Throne in Your everlasting, eternal Kingdom.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

The Demise Of Ahab And Jezebel

I Kings 21 & 22

Chapter 21 tells us about King Ahab wanting to own a vineyard that was next door to his palace where he lived. This vineyard happened to belong to a man named Naboth, who lived there in Jezreel. So Ahab asked Naboth if he could buy his vineyard, since it was next to his house, as he wanted to make it into a garden. But Naboth knew that God had apportioned all the land to each family, and he wouldn't allow his allotment from God to be divided up or this plot to be separated from the rest of the land his family owned. 

So Ahab went to his room to sulk! He was a weak man, and wouldn't even try to think up any other way to get what he wanted. That's why he was dominated by his wife. 

So Jezebel took matters into her own hands, and just had Naboth killed, so he couldn't defend himself from her taking his field, and she gave it to Ahab. 

Then God sent Elijah to Ahab, to denounce him for murdering the man and stealing his land. He told him that, in the place that the dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick your blood, even yours (21:19). This was fulfilled in 22:38, when he died in battle and they washed his blood from his chariot and armor in the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood. We get an interesting peek here at the workings in the Spiritual realm that affect this physical plane where we live in 22:19-23. God sees to His Plan being worked out by our choices.

And Elijah also denounced Jezebel, predicting that, dogs would eat her by the wall of Jezreel (21:23); which came to pass in II Kings 9:35-37. It's grisly. It's exactly what God had said would happen to her. 

O my Father, some of Your stories are not pretty, because the evil of this World isn't pretty. It's ugly and disgusting and sickening. 

But one Day You will do away with all the evil and wrong, and Your beauty will shine out on all You have made. And we also will shine with Your glory, Father, and the last enemy, death, will be destroyed, to no more have dominion in all Your realms. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Elijah And Jezebel

I Kings 18 & 19

This passage records Elijah's challenge to the priests of Baal and his running from Jezebel.

18: 24

Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the Name of the Lord, and the God Who answers by fire, He is God.

And all the people answered and said [essentially], That's a good idea.

Baal was considered to be a god of fire, so this made sense to them. They thought, surely, this "god of fire" could answer with fire. Elijah said that they had been "hopping between two forks," "hesitating between two opinions" (18:21). So they tried all morning to get Baal's attention, to no avail.

Then Elijah made the offering to the Lord impossible to burn, drenching it thoroughly with water, and calmly called on the Lord. Who then answered with so much "fire" that not only was the animal consumed, but the very rocks of the altar were melted away, and all the water was sucked up.

So he had all 450 prophets of Baal executed on the spot for blasphemy and lying about God. 

When Jezebel heard how Elijah had killed all her prophets, she threatened to kill him, too. He was so exhausted from the emotional high of God's consuming Fire and running the 17 miles to Jezreel, "and he was afraid and arose and ran for his life" (19:3).

I need to pay attention to my own state. If I allow myself to be hungry or overly tired, that will make me vulnerable.

Then Elijah needed a nap!

19: 5-8

As he slept under a juniper tree, an Angel came with bread and water, and woke him up twice with this Heavenly fare, to strengthen him supernaturally, "because the journey is too great for you." He was to go to Horeb, the Mountain of God, another name for Sinai, in the South-West part of the Sinai Peninsula. There God spoke to Elijah.

He just wanted to give up and die, but God had more He wanted him to do. Here we learn that, "the Lord was not in the wind (storm), ... the Lord was not in the earthquake, ... and the Lord was not in the fire." 

His voice was in "a sound of a gentle blowing;" literally, "the sound of a gentle stillness." God's voice is a very quiet, gentle "knowing" deep in our spirit. 

Have you ever heard His voice? I know I need to be in a quiet place to hear Him, so He won't get drowned out by all the noise the World puts around us constantly. 

19: 15-17 

God had Elijah begin to destroy Baal worship in Israel, and now He wanted him to anoint some people: Hazael as king of Aram (Syria), Jehu as king over Israel (the Northern Kingdom); and Elisha, to mentor him to take his own place as Prophet! V. 17 says, It shall come to pass that he who escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall slay; and whoever escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall slay. Possibly, to wipe out Baal worship in the Land. 

God does everything to destroy lies, deception, and cruelty. But Mankind will always go back to these atrocities. That explains the persecution of Christians today. 

O my Father, You are God, You can do whatever You want! You can destroy all the lies and deception and cruelty in the World--but to do that, You would have to take away the "free will" that You have given us, and make us robots. You don't want robots or puppets, You want us to freely choose to love You, because You have loved us first. 

I don't know why anyone would not want to get to know You, Father, You are so good and compassionate and wise. But our enemy is still telling people the same idea he deceived Eve with: that we're smart & can make our own decisions, so we don't need God, we can be our own god. We know better. 

Then we wonder why life doesn't go the way we want it to, and we experience disappointments and pain and sorrow. And even when we do know You, and You consider us worthy to go through disappointment and pain and sorrow, and still trust You in it and through it; that is how we grow in Your grace and mercy. 

Help us to learn the lessons You were teaching these ancient peoples. Every generation is made up of new people, who need to be taught Who You are and what You have already done for us. Many generations have come and gone since these people who lived in these olden times, but we are all still human beings, with the same make-up and proclivities of all of Mankind in every age. 

I pray for those people I know, who I love, who are my family, my friends, my acquaintances; and also those who are strangers to me who are reading this blog every day. Please, Father, may my words tell Your Truth accurately, and that they all would understand how wonderful You are in doing everything possible (and even impossible) to show us Who You are, and how righteous your Love is in this Universe, in this Earth, this World, and to every person who lives.

You are not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to repentance and accept Your provision of the Sacrificial Lamb to take our place in the death each of us deserves; so You can wash away the stain of every sin, making us pure and capable of being with You where You are. This is why You sent Your own Son, our Lord Jesus. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Faithful To Do

I Kings 16: 34

In [Ahab's] days, Heil the Bethelite built Jericho; he laid its foundations with the loss of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son Segub, according to the Word of the Lord, which He spoke by Joshua the son of Nun. 

Joshua 6:26 

At that time [when the walls came a-tumblin' down] Joshua, pronounced this solemn oath: Cursed before the Lord is the man who undertakes to rebuild this city Jericho: At the cost of his firstborn son will he lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest will he set up its gates. 

This happened exactly as Joshua said it would. God is always faithful to carry out what He said would happen. This man Heil defied the Lord in rebuilding this city. And he paid with the deaths of his sons to do it. He must not have believed that God really meant what He said. 

This gives me confidence in God doing everything He said He would do, even the things that haven't happened yet. 

This is a detail that reinforces the truth of God's Word. It was a tragic sorrow for this man Heil to accomplish this. We're not told why he wanted to rebuild this city, just that he did. And God fulfilled His Word spoken by Joshua.

He will always do whatever He has said He would do. Many of these "promises" are conditional on, if we do this, then He will do that. If the consequences are negative, then we need to know what not to do. But if the results are positive, then that's what we need to know how to do.

I want to pay attention to everything God has told us. Every book, every chapter of every book, in the whole Bible, has value. God has given us every word in His Word to teach us who He is, who we are, and how to live here where He's put us with the people He has put with us. And how to relate to Him.

People who don't want to know Him, He will not force Himself on. But everyone who seeks Him will find Him, if we seek Him seriously, with our whole heart (Jeremiah 29:13). This is His promise. It's our choice. 

God is not willing that anybody would lose out on Life, but wants for everyone to come to repentance, turn around, and admit they deserve death, and let Jesus take their place on the Cross (II Peter 3:9). Then He will forgive their sin, grant His own Holy Spirit to live in their human spirit, and be alive spiritually, as His child. His prince or princess, to grow up when He glorifies us, to reign with Him on His Throne in His Kingdom. That is God's goal for us (John 17:24). 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!