Sabbath School - 2015 - CHURCH OF GOD FAITH FELLOWSHIP

2015

January
Sabbath, January 3, 2015 - Psalm 73:25 - Choices

Sabbath, January 10th, 2015 - Psalm 84:1 - How Lovely!

Sabbath, January 17th, 2015 - Psalm 101:3 - Where Do You Set Your Eyes?

Sabbath, January 24th, 2015 - Psalm 119:165 - Stubbed Toes or Great Peace

Sabbath, January 31st, 2015 - Psalm 131:1 - Too Great and Too Marvelous for Me

February

Sabbath, February 7th -   Proverbs 11:12 - Be Wise and Understanding

Sabbath, February 14th - Proverbs 25:2 - Hide and Seek

March
Sabbath, March 7th -    Ecclesiates 2:24 - From the Hand of God

Sabbath, March 14th - Ecclesiastes 12:13 - The End of the Matter

Sabbath, March 21st  - Song of Solomon 2:11 - Spring!

Sabbath, March 28th -   Song of Solomon 8:7 - Love!

April

Sabbath, April 4th - Isaiah 1:16 - Wash Your Hands

Sunday, April 5th - Isaiah 1:16 - Make Yourselves Clean

Sabbath, April 11th -  Isaiah 26:3 - Stayed Upon Jesus

Sabbath, April 18th - Isaiah 32:17 - To Be At Peace Forever

Sabbath, April 25th - Isaiah 40:31 - Wait for the LORD

May

Sabbath, May 9th -  Isaiah 53:6 - Every One to His Own Way

Sabbath, May 16th - Isaiah 64:8 - The Work of Your Hand

Sabbath, May 23rd -   Isaiah 1:6 - I Am Only a Youth

Sabbath, May 30th - Jeremiah 9:24 - Of What Do You Boast?

Pentecost, May 31st -  Jeremiah 9:24 - To Understand and to Know

June
Sabbath, June 6th -  Jeremiah 24:7 - 24.7.365

Sabbath, June 13th - Jeremiah 29:11 - What Are Your Plans?

Sabbath, June 20th -  Jeremiah 42:5 - Words

Sabbath, June 27th -  Lamentations 3:22-23 - Great is God's Faithfulness

July
Sabbath, July 4th - Ezekiel 5:9 - Abominations or Obedience

Sabbath, July 11th -  Ezekiel 18:32 - Turn, and Live

Sabbath, July 18th - Ezekiel 21:17 - When God Claps His Hands

Sabbath, July 25th -  Ezekiel 34:11 - Search and Seek

August
Sabbath, August 1st - Ezekiel 48:35 - The LORD is There

Sabbath, August 8th -  Daniel 1:17 - Gifts from God

Sabbath, August 15th - Daniel 3:17 - Mighty to Save

Sabbath, August 22nd - Daniel 6:22 - In the Lions' Den

Sabbath, August 29th -  Daniel 12:3 - Wise or Foolish

September
Sabbath, September 5th - Hosea 6:6 - Folly

Sabbath, September 12th - Joel 2:15 - Rend Your Hearts and Not Your Garments

Wednesday, September 16th - Amos 3:7 - Secrets

Sabbath, September 19th - Amos 5:21 - Celebrating God's Feasts

Friday, Sept 25th - Amos 5:24 - Justice and Righteousness

Sabbath, Sept 26th - Amos 5:24 - An Ever-Flowing Stream

October
Sabbath, Oct 10th -  Obadiah 21 - Pride and God's Government

Sabbath, October 17th -  Jonah 2:8 - What Will You Cling To?

Sabbath, October 24th -  Micah 6:8 - Required!

Sabbath, October 31st -  Nahum 1:7 - All the Time!

November
Sabbath, November 7th - Zechariah 10:12 - Strong in the LORD

Sabbath, November 14th - Matthew 1:1 - Born to Be . . .

Sabbath, November 21st - Matthew 12:36 - Every Careless Word

Sabbath, November 28th - Matthew 16:16 - The Center of Our Lives

December
Sabbath, December 5th -  Matthew 18:4 - Humility

Sabbath, December 12th -  Matthew 18:10 - Angels

Sabbath, December 19th -  Matthew 19:30 - Last and First

Sabbath, January 3rd
Choices
Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. Psalm 73:25

Let’s say someone offers you a choice: Pepsi or a creme soda. Which will you choose? How about pie: cherry or raisin? There are choices that you have to make every day. They can be minor; they can be monumental. Regardless, we walk through life making choices. As we make those choices, we explore our options. If two different things are presented before us and they both have their strong points, our first question is: Can I have both? If we can’t have both, and both are still desirable, we question if we can have one now and one later. Maybe the choice won’t limit me to just having one of the two. Maybe I can have my cake and eat it too. Eventually though, for many choices, we work our way down to the reality: one. One soda, one piece of pie, one path . . . less traveled or more traveled. Being one traveler, I can only travel one.

Sometimes the choice presented to us is not an equal choice. We have to choose what classes to take in school or college. We choose what hobbies to pursue. We choose what tasks to accomplish in the time we have. Since we can’t choose to do it all, we limit our choices with other criteria: Which one do I like? Which one is easier? Which one is more convenient? Which one will help me achieve my goal?

When we’re young, we often choose hastily based on what appeals to our senses. As we grow wiser (not necessarily older), we learn to consider the ramifications of our choices. We think about the consequences of the path we take.

So it is with worshipping God. God offers us a choice: He says, “Follow me.” Our first response is, “Can I have it all?” Can I serve God and still do this other thing too? We often see both choices as equal and desirable. Once we understand that we can only choose one, we wonder if we can do one now and one later. Can I do what I want now, and follow God later? Eventually reality hits that we’re at a fork in the road, that one path is going to take us far away from this point, that there’s no coming back and taking the other path. We must choose one.

So we consider our options. Which path appeals more? God is drawing us down one path - to follow Him. Our carnal nature, hostile to God and His ways, draws us down the other path. We look and consider which path looks more desirable. We think about which is easier or more convenient. Then, if we’re wise, we realize that only one way is going to help us to achieve our goal. We must become wholly devoted to God. We have to choose His path.

So we start down the path, following God. But a weird thing happens: we revert to our original thought. Can I follow God and do what my carnal nature wants to do too? So imagine in your mind a person who has one foot on one path and one foot on the other path. Perhaps the paths look like they are side-by-side to begin with, so he walks with one foot on each path. But soon, God’s way takes him in a direction that starts to diverge from the ways of the world. Still, he tries to stay on both. His legs spread out farther and farther. Soon he resorts to hopping back and forth. That’s what it looks like when he reads the Bible, prays, goes to church on Sabbath, but he’s watching inappropriate things on television, he’s reading ungodly books, he’s having conversations with others which don’t glorify God. Eventually, his hops from one path to another are jumps, then leaps. The effort to go back and forth means that he spends more time on one path than the other. If God’s path is harder, it’s more likely our jumper will stay on the easier path. But the time comes when we realize we can’t move forward down the path and still follow God. The two paths are too divergent.

It’s like the passage in John 6:66-68: After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life . . .

It’s what the psalmist states in Psalm 73:25: Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

That word desire means “to delight in, take pleasure in, desire, be pleased with.” There are several words which mean desire, but the most frequent one in the Old Testament means originally "to bend,” hence, "to incline to," "take pleasure in.” The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia states that desire contains “the element of joy, of delight in God and His law and will.”

That’s where we have to be. We eventually reach the point where we not only know that this path of following God will get us to the goal, but it is also the one we desire, the one we take joy in. Furthermore, we no longer want it all. The other choice is no longer a choice; it’s not desirable in the least. It’s the process of taking captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). It is, in a word, becoming wholly devoted to God, a living sacrifice - which is, after all, our reasonable service (Romans 12:1). God is our all in all. Nothing else in heaven or on earth draws us, attracts our attention, has any pull. He is our God; we are His people.

Sabbath, January 10th
How Lovely!
O lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts! Psalm 84:1

All I want is a room somewhere,
far away from the cold night air,
with one enormous chair -
ah, wouldn’t it be loverly?

Lots of chocolate for me to eat,
lots of coal making lots of heat.
Warm face, warm hands, warm feet -
ah, wouldn’t it be loverly?

Oh, so loverly sitting abso-blooming-lutely still.
I would never budge ’til spring crept up on me winder sill.

Someone’s head resting on my knee,
warm and tender as he can be,
who’ll take good care of me -
ah, wouldn’t it be loverly?

In My Fair Lady, Eliza Doolittle sings about a place to be warm and comfortable, yummy things to eat, a rest from her labors, and someone to love and take care of her. I couldn’t help thinking of this song as I read Psalm 84:1: O lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts! The psalmist longs for the temple, the place where God dwells. Why? Why does he use language like “my soul faints for the courts of the LORD” (Ps. 84:2), “my soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Ps. 63:1), or “As the deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (Ps. 42:1-2)?

There’s a concept that we all have a God-sized hole that only God can fill. (Some attribute its origin to Blaise Pascal, in his book Pensées; but no one really knows for sure where the quote originated.) But basically, there’s a dissatisfaction within each of us. We try to find happiness and contentment in our living arrangements, our food, our basic necessities, our vacation and rest time, even in other people. But when it’s all said and done, only God satisfies. He’s the One who provides every good thing for us (Ps. 84:11). Trying to find contentment outside of God is like watering an elephant with an eye dropper; we always want more.

We believe this - that our contentment is found in Jesus Christ - and yet, somehow, we allow contentment to slip away from us. If we trust in God, if we believe in the hope set before us, knowing that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him, then why are our feathers so easily ruffled? Why are we short-tempered with our family and closest friends at times? Why do we place such importance on accumulating more and more? Why do we take anxious thought about tomorrow?

I think sometimes I fail to act on the faith I confess, I act as if I don’t believe, because I’ve taken my eyes off my Savior. And as Peter did (as he was walking on the water) when he took his eyes off Jesus, I become overwhelmed by and fearful of the events in my life all around me.

So the psalmist gives us the answer - the way to find peace and rest: the long for the place where God is - because He’s the Someone, the only One, who truly, thoroughly, ultimately loves and cares for each of us. That’s why God’s dwelling place is so lovely, or to use Eliza’s word, so loverly.

And while Eliza sings about loverly, temporal, physical things, there is a myriad of Christian songs which focus on the lovely, eternal, spiritual things of God. I started singing “All I want is a room somewhere.” Now I am singing a song about a specific somewhere: “All I know is I’m not home yet. . . Take this world and give me Jesus. . . I want to be found in You.” (from “Where I Belong.”) That’s the most lovely place I can think of.

Sabbath, January 17th
Where Do You Set Your Eyes?
I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me. Psalm 101:3

Our two black labs, Velvet and Ebony are great examples of steadfast, undivided attention - when you are eating something yummy. They stare at the food. Why? They are paying close attention, just in case you might decide to share with them. They stare because your food is something they want.

Let’s think about this in relationship to Psalm 101? Why wouldn’t David want to set anything that is worthless before his eyes? Simply, whatever you set your eyes on is what you value. It has your attention, like the dogs wanting your food. It’s what you desire. And wherever you set your eyes, that’s where you’re likely to go.

When you want to go in a certain direction, where do you look? Straight towards the goal. Conversely, when you look in a certain direction, where do your feet take you? To wherever you’re looking. To phrase it another way, if you take your eyes off the goal, how effective are you at reaching that goal? How likely is it that you’ll go another direction? The rubber hits the road, literally, when you’re driving. That’s why texting and driving is such a bad idea. That’s why sight-seeing and driving is such a bad idea. For example, when we were on the way to the Feast of Tabernacles in 1996, we had flown to Portland, OR. Then we rented a car and drove down the coastline. We traded off who was driving so that we could both enjoy the scenery. Each time we stopped, the other person would drive. We stopped, I’m pretty sure, at every scenic parking lot; we only made it a half a mile or so between stops. Even so, when I spotted whales, it was hard to keep our eyes on the road.

Because we are so impacted through what we see, we need to be careful where we let our eyes linger, to be very careful of what we set before our eyes.

The ESV says to “not set before my eyes anything that is worthless.” But the KJV translates the word “worthless” as “wicked,” and the Hebrew here is #1100: bĕliya`al. It means “worthless, good for nothing, unprofitable, wicked.” There’s a big difference between just being worthless and being wicked. Think for a minute about something that you could set your eyes on, put before your eyes, make as your goal that is wicked. Wicked has the connotation of being against God and His ways. It’s sinful. It’s in rebellion against what is good. But it’s a different thing to say that something is worthless. Some of our pastimes could fit into that category. In the long run, they are not profitable; they are just a waste of time. But wait a minute! If they are a waste of time, if time is limited and is a gift from God, then perhaps, on a small scale, those time-wasters, those things that are not profitable for the kingdom, are wicked - because you are either for God or against God. There’s no middle ground. It’s something to think about as we allocate our time to different occupations.

Bĕliya`al can have another piece to its definition. It can also mean “ruin or destruction,” as in construct destruction. That definition helps us understand the rest of Psalm 101:3. David says, I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me. If the definition of the word “worthless” meant “to construct destruction,” then the work that David hates is that which is destructive. David’s talking about a person who falls away from worshipping God. That person has not set his eyes on following God, on doing what is good, and what that person is constructing will end up hurting himself and perhaps others. David says that he’s not going to go that direction. He’s not going to get involved with those kinds of activities. He doesn’t want to be associated with it; he doesn’t want it to cling to him. He’s not going to set his eyes on it and go in that direction.

Bĕliya`al is such a strong word for worthlessness, wickedness, or constructing ruin and destruction that this Old Testament word “in time, became a proper name (Belial) for Satan, the prince of evil (2 Corinthians 6:15, 2 Thessalonians 2:3)” (Zodhiates’ KJV study Bible lexicon).

We know the concept of a slippery slope. We understand that once we start down a path, the momentum can build in that direction. Anyone who has tried to drive uphill when the roads are icy understands how tenuous the grip is and how difficult it is to go against gravity. With that analogy in mind, we should consider our priorities, our hobbies, the things to which we allocate our time. Some of the stuff we do is productive for the kingdom. That’s a keeper. Some of it looks good, makes us feel good, but is it really producing anything? It could be a task from the Terrible Trivium (see The Phantom Tollbooth). Some could be detrimental to our physical and spiritual health. Some of our occupations could be very ungodly. It would behoove all of us to stop and consider what we do with our time and how God sees our allocation of the time He’s given us. We really don’t want to have anything to do with bĕliya`al.

Sabbath, January 24th
Stubbed Toes or Great Peace
Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble. Psalm 119:165

When I was a kid, I usually had bandages on my elbows and knees and on the end of my big toes. My older brother said I could trip over a crack in the sidewalk. Mom wondered, at different points, if she should put me in a strait-jacket until I was eighteen. I was always getting hurt. But it wasn’t usually because it was dark. A famous comedian once did a routine that went something like this: When we get up in the middle of the night, our brains think we can make our way around in the dark. Our brains are stupid. Our feet know we’re going to kick the coffee table and the couch on the way by. Turn on the light, stupid.

But whether we’re naturally clumsy or we are trying to stumble around in the dark, Psalm 119 gives us the solution. If I asked you what the theme of Psalm 119 is, you might tell me that it’s God’s law because the different Hebrew words for law are found in all but three of the 176 verses. But if we only look at the law from a distance and we don’t apply the law, living by its principles, then the law doesn’t benefit us. Psalm 119 is all about God’s law - as the perfect guide for life. Psalm 119:1-3 begins the chapter: Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways!

This is really not talking about children who stub their toes. We’re not talking about walking around a dark house in the middle of the night. We’re really talking about the way we live our lives. The idea of walking around in the dark is a metaphor found peppered throughout the Bible for those who are walking in rebellion to God’s ways in the choices they make in their lives. John 3:19 says, And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. We often quote Romans 1:21-23, which talks about the foolishness of people who reject God, who become futile in their thinking. They walk, not according to God’s ways, but according to their own desires. Claiming to be wise, they became fools . . . (Romans 1:22).

Following God’s law takes care of the stupid brain (as in the comedian’s skit) by turning on the light. Thanks to Amy Grant, we can all probably quote Psalm 119:105: Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. But that’s not the only time this idea of God’s law giving light is found in Psalm 119. In verse 130, we find, The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple. When you truly don’t know which way to go, God’s word tells you what to do. The first thing to do is to go to God and ask for direction, to ask for His blessing, to ask for his assistance. God’s word shines light in a darkened world, in your dark house when you don’t know which way to go to keep from stumbling.

But what about being naturally clumsy? Does God’s word help with that too? The word “stumble” is Psalm 119:165 is the word mikhshol (#4383). It means “stumbling block, literally or figuratively, obstacle, cause of falling or sinning, an enticement, an offense, or a defense of the heart as in 1 Samuel 25:31” (Zodhiates’ Word Study Bible lexicon). 1 Samuel 25:31 is the story of Nabal, Abigail, and David. When David had sent to Nabal asking for some provisions after having kept Nabal’s sheep shearers safe, Nabal refused. David was angry. He was so angry he was going to do harm to Nabal. But one of the servants told Abigail what was going on. She met David and his fighting men, swords strapped on, with bread, wine, sheep, grain, raisins, and figs. But it was when she was talking to David that we find this word mikhshol. In the ESV, it’s translated “pangs of conscience.” She was grateful that God had restrained David from bloodguilt and that when David became king over Israel, he would have no pangs of conscience over having shed blood without cause or for taking his own vengeance. I think we would translate this “pangs of conscience” as having deep regret and guilt over doing something hastily, something that we really probably shouldn’t have done.

This is the idea that, apart from God’s law, we can fall into sin (stumble, mikhshol). God’s law provides a defense for our heart. Psalm 119:133 puts it this way: Keep steady my steps according to your promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me. When we allow our carnal nature to direct our steps, we are likely going to stumble into sin. We are likely to leave our hearts vulnerable to attack where we would end up with pangs of conscience over having done the wrong thing and gone the wrong direction. Apart from God’s law, iniquity, or sin, could get dominion over us very easily!

God’s law, then, gives light to your way so that you don’t stumble. God’s law provides direction so that you don’t sin. It provides a defense for your heart. It gives you peace.

There’s an inescapable parallel between God’s word, the Bible, shining light in a darkened world (Psalm 119:103), and God’s Word, Jesus Christ being the Light to a darkened world (John 1:4-10). Similarly, there’s an inescapable parallel between loving God’s law and having peace and loving God who is our peace.

Are you looking for a cure to being naturally clumsy? Do you want to illuminate your way? Do you feel disturbed and uneasy? Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble (Psalm 119:165).

January 31, 2015
Too Great and Too Marvelous for Me
O LORD, my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. Psalm 131:1

When you are little, Mommy and Daddy can do anything. When Jonathan, Christopher, and Jennifer were small, they would bring things to me to fix. Sometimes I could fix them; sometimes I couldn’t. But they had such faith that I could make things better. Then they entered that “why” stage. Why does it rain? Why do some birds swoop and some birds soar? Why is the earth tilted on its axis? Why? A good mother’s job is to answer the questions she can and help find the answers to the questions with the child for the rest. Gradually, the child learns how to find the answers on their own. Soon they are coming to Mom with facts they’ve discovered. “Why?” turns into “Hey, Mom, did you know that an ostrich will eat about anything? One even drank a gallon of green paint one time!!” Eventually, the child is learning facts and formulas at an accelerated pace, and it becomes obvious that Mom doesn’t know or remember half of these things. (I take great comfort in Einstein’s statement that an education is what remains after you’ve forgotten everything you’ve learned in school.) The inevitable result is that the young person looks at their parents and thinks, “They’re not very smart at all. I know a lot more than they do.” This continues until the young person reaches adulthood and starts making his or her way through life. Suddenly, he realizes that his parents were actually pretty wise. This reverse trend usually starts about six months after he gets out on his own and continues for years. It’s amazing how wise his parents are by the time he reaches 40!!

I truly believe that God gives us the physical to help us understand spiritual concepts. To that end, I believe there’s a similarity between the education and intellectual development of a child and the education and spiritual development of a Christian. When we are first converted and drawn into a relationship with God, we are so grateful to our God. We are profoundly moved by God’s love, that He would give His Son to pay the penalty for our sins. We’ve been brought to repentance; we know what we are; we know we desperately need the Savior. Because God has become so important to us, we begin to read His Word, which is very good. It is an indication that God is creating a new creature. If we didn’t have a hunger for His word, there’d be something wrong.

So we get out the concordance and look up meanings of words. We find other places that the word is used. We get the meaning from the context. We dig and we study. Then we get into conversations with other people who are Christians, who have a relationship with God. They show us things they’ve learned; we share things we’ve learned. Sometimes it’s amicable. Sometimes it’s tense. Sometimes we walk away feeling invigorated. Sometimes we walk away disturbed that anyone could believe what that person believes. We’ve looked at the words. We’ve done the research. We’ve spent literally hours looking at a certain passage. And sometimes, a Christian starts to feel they have more knowledge and understanding than most of the people around them. And if we’re not careful, we can become proud, thinking that we’ve got it figured out.

Thankfully, God doesn’t leave us there. Like the kid who leaves home and finds out very quickly that his mom was a lot wiser than he realized, God puts us in situations where we realize we don’t know as much as we thought we did. We may know some facts. We may know the definition of some words. But do we understand how to apply them in our lives and in our relationships? God, in His mercy, grants to those who are truly seeking Him minor adjustments - He shows us His greatness and our smallness; He helps us replace our growing pride with a humility that comes from recognizing His awesomeness. Truly, if God brought us before Himself and questioned us like He did Job, what would we do? Do we truly think that we’d be able to answer His questions? We’d quickly see just how incomplete our knowledge and understanding and wisdom is! The more our relationship with God develops, the more we realize how great He is, how incredible is it that He cares for us, and how amazing the sacrifice of His Son is. As Phillip, Craig and Dean sings, “How great You are; how small I am!” Yes, we’ve learned a lot. We know a lot. But in the large scheme of things, compared with what God can yet teach us, we know very little.

The apostle Paul tells us that we don’t have it all figured out, that we see through a glass darkly (1 Corinthians 13:12). Yet, this inflated idea of our own importance and knowledge is endemic; there are too many scriptures which warn against pride!

In Psalm 131, David shares this same idea. “O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high.” He doesn’t think of himself more highly than he ought. He is not proud. David says, “I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.” There are things about God, about who He is, what He done and is doing, that are beyond us. I wonder if that’s part of why Jesus told His disciples, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3-4).

Yes, we should study our Bibles. We should strive to understand what it says. But it’s not about how much knowledge we can gain. It’s about the relationship we have with the One who inspired these words to be written. We would be wise to consider how little we truly know, coming before God with praise and in awe and humility.

Sabbath, February 7th
Be Wise and Understanding
Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense, but a man of understanding remains silent. Proverbs 11:12

When I was little, very little, I remember Grandad teasing me. It hurt my feelings, and I was in a snit. Mom took me aside and told me that Grandad was only playing with me; his teasing was a way of showing me how much he liked me. She said that if he didn’t like me he wouldn’t tease me. In many cases, that’s very true. If people don’t like you, they won’t tease you; in fact, they will have as little to do with you as possible.

But teasing is not really what this verse is talking about. The word “belittle” was actually coined by Thomas Jefferson in the late 18th century, according to the dictionary on my Mac. He used it to mean “to make something or someone smaller.” The KJV is much more direct. What the ESV translates as “belittles,” the KJV translates as “despiseth.” But looking at both versions, we get a more accurate picture of what Solomon intended. That is, you can express how much you despise someone in what you say. But you can also despise someone in your heart, but never say anything to him out loud. When you belittle someone however, you do that verbally. It’s this speaking badly of your neighbor that Solomon addressed. We know that because of the second phrase: but a man of understanding remains silent. Hebrew literature often employs a couplet to emphasize the meaning: they are either parallel phrases or stand as opposites. In this case, the belittling is opposite remaining silent.

There’s another comparison in this verse. The one who belittles his neighbor lacks sense. This is contrasted with the one who remains silent. He is a man of understanding. The KJV is more direct than just with the word “despise.” He that is void of wisdom despiseth his neighbour: but a man of understanding holdeth his peace. Where the ESV says “lacks sense,” the KJV says “void of wisdom.” That puts a very fine point on it!!

But why would “belittling your neighbor” be Solomon’s focus. Why didn’t he say that belittling anyone is stupid? Perhaps we should define “neighbor.” For most of us, neighbors are those people who live next door to us or down the street. They are the ones who are closest to our home. They are the ones who see what happens at our house when we’re gone. They’re the ones who can call the fire department if our house catches on fire in the middle of the night when we’re asleep. They are the ones who see our dog wandering past their house and call to let us know. Why would we want to make an enemy of that person?! It’s in our best interest not to belittle them, to say things that are “fighting words,” to despise them verbally! To use the KJV, you’d have to be completely void of wisdom to say negative, demeaning, despicable things to your neighbor!

But is that the full extent of the definition of the word “neighbor”? The sign for “neighbor” in ASL is literally “close person, someone who is next to you.” Furthermore, when the lawyer asked Jesus who his neighbor was (Luke 10:25-37), Jesus replied with the parable of the Good Samaritan. Jesus’ definition of “neighbor” was anyone with whom you come into contact. At this point, you may be tempted to think, “Why would it make any difference if I say unkind words to someone I meet in Wal-mart? I’ll never see them again.” Here’s where the wisdom or lack of wisdom becomes very apparent! You may never see that person again; that’s true. But what if you do? What if they turn out to be the person you have to get permission from to use the park pavilion for the next 4H picnic? What if they are the person who just happens to drive past your car that has a flat tire on the side of the road? What happens if they just happen to be the person who’s making your taco at Taco Bell the next time you stop? There’s still a chance you’ll run into that person again, somewhere, sometime.

But even if you don’t, you are an ambassador of Jesus Christ. Verbally tearing down a person is a terrible way to represent Jesus Christ. You don’t know the whole story. You don’t know why that person did that thing that caused you to react so hatefully. Belittling a person, whether you know them extremely well or not, is very foolish. As the ESV says, “Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense.” As the KJV says, “He that is void of wisdom despiseth his neighbor.”

So what about teasing? What Grandad was doing was good-natured and fun. And most of the time, the people around you will tease you because they like you. It’s enjoyable. It’s employing equivocation and plays on words. It’s a fun way to interact with your friends. But there is a teasing that crosses the line because it’s mean-spirited. It’s meant as an insult because you don’t really like that person or you feel resentful towards that person. Some people will make a joke about you, or tease you, and then say, “I was only joking” - like that’s supposed to make it all okay. It doesn’t take away the sting. In fact, it’s very manipulative. The person who does that expects you to take his insult and not say anything back because he just labeled his insult as a joke. You can answer him back, let him know that his “joke” wasn’t funny. But you both know it wasn’t intended to be funny. Most of the time, you just half-heartedly laugh and get away from him. According to Proverbs 11:12, in that case, who has more sense or wisdom? You do - because you remained silent.

Remaining silent is often equated with wisdom in Proverbs. It’s also trickled down into our sayings, like “It’s better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” I think of this saying a lot before I speak. If I don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s better to just be quiet. And if I’m upset at someone, for whatever reason, it’s a very good idea to think carefully about the consequences of opening my mouth, saying something very disagreeable, and removing all doubt to everyone around me as to the amount of wisdom I possess.

It’s a good reminder. Think very carefully about the words that you let pass your lips. Be wise and understanding!

Sabbath, February 14th
Hide and Seek
It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out. Proverbs 25:2

Kids love hide-n-seek, treasure hunts, exploring paths, mazes, and yes, sometimes even math problems. There is something very satisfying about finding something worthwhile. Sometimes it’s treasure at the end of the path; sometimes it’s the process of getting there that has the most value.

I suspect Solomon was not talking about treasure hunts in this verse: It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out (Proverbs 25:2). I suspect that he was talking about the knowledge, understanding, and wisdom required to govern well. I suspect that he was thinking about building projects and godly judgment in legal matters. It’s the knowledge of how to build the temple, or the pyramids, or Hezekiah’s water tunnel. That tunnel is still a remarkable engineering feat - to dig through solid rock from both ends and come together in precisely the right spot: amazing! Or should I say, blessed of God? Because that’s really what we’re talking about. There is a right way to do something. God has designed things to work in a certain way, and when you work to figure something out, you’re working to figure out what God has designed.

Therefore, in its application, this verse encompasses more than governing people as their king. It is a truth for all of life. There is a right way to do most things and when you seek to do it the right way, it works better. Baking cakes, felling trees, changing oil in the car, installing phone lines, playing the piano, washing clothes, playing Minecraft. All of these things work best on principles that God designed - because He’s the Creator. We just take what He’s created and we rearrange the pieces. But all of the underlying principles, all of the foundation pieces, are based on God’s creation. So if you keep digging, seeking, trying to understand how things work, you can often find treasures of information to make it all work better.

For instance, gardening. You can just throw some seeds into the ground and see what happens. But you might want to learn a little more and apply a little more wisdom if you want to make your effort worth your while. You might want to water your garden. And while you might understand that it’s important to water them every now and then, do you know how much is too much? What is so little that it does no good? What time of the day is the best time to water? Why? Then there’s the soil. What do I do with the soil before I plant? Should I till or should I disturb the ground as little as possible? Should I add anything to the soil, and if so, what? What time of the year should I plant? What if I plant too early and we get a frost? What can I do to save the plants? Which plants are hardy enough to withstand the cold? What happens if I plant too late? What is too late? What should I do about bugs? Then there’s the whole concept of what to plant next to what. Did you know that some plants don’t get along very well with their neighbors? If you want a garden to grow well, it’s important to take that into consideration when you’re setting out your plants or sowing your seeds. Then, once the garden is planted, what do you do about weeds? Do you hoe and till every week? Or should you mulch? Is it better to mulch with hay or with wood chips? Wow! So many things to investigate! But the reward for finding the right answer can be a bountiful harvest of wonderful things to eat. When you plant the garden, you are anticipating eating good things, but if you make wise choices, seeking out the best way to garden, you can find more treasures than you expected!

Truly, there’s a lot to know about almost anything that you choose to do. You can spend a lot of time investigating and learning. Or you can take an attitude of “I don’t really care. I just want to get it done.” It’s the “it’s good enough for government work” attitude. And that’s really sad. It’s really too bad, and extremely distressing, that our society has devolved to the point where doing a shoddy job is equated to working for the government. That’s not the kind of government that had the wisdom to build the pyramids or Hezekiah’s tunnel. That’s not the kind of government which demonstrates its reliance on God and His principles. That kind of government is not interested in searching out things to make sure they will work in the right way. That kind of government is seeking their own glory, but, in the end, they will find no glory at all.

It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out (Proverbs 25:2). There’s another proverb which fits very well with this one: The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps (Proverbs 19:9). You can make all kinds of plans. You can try to do all kinds of things. But if you are not seeking God, His ways, and His will, your plans will not amount to, in gardening terms, a hill of beans. If, however, you seek God and His ways and search things out, you can find more treasure and glory and joy than you ever expected.

It is the glory of God to conceal things. Shall we go see what we can find? I’m in.

Sabbath, March 7th
From the Hand of God
There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, Ecclesiastes 2:24

Charles Gabriel knew, from the time he was fifteen, that he wanted to write hymns. He would work on the farm all day, make up hymns in his head, and write them down at night. By the time he was in his twenties, he’d published his first hymnal, Gabriel’s Sabbath School Songs. He spent his entire life involved with hymns, working at one time with Billy Sunday’s evangelistic crusades and later as as editor of a publishing house. He is best known for the hymn “I Stand Amazed in the Presence,” but he also set the words to “His Eye is on the Sparrow” to music. Charles Gabriel was blessed to have a job his whole life that he thoroughly loved.

When I was fourteen, I had the delightful job (not!) of detasseling corn. It was hard work. When we started, it was early morning and cool. By the time midmorning came, it was hot. So we dressed in layers, so we could adapt. Additionally, I was allergic to the corn (and some of the weeds growing in some of the fields, i.e. velvetleaf). Not only did the corn cut my hands as I detasseled it, it also caused rashes from the fingertip of my little finger to my elbow. I also helped to alleviate the boredom of the work crew by sneezing my way down the row. It was miserable. There were numerous days when I wanted to quit.

On the other end of the work spectrum was a job I absolutely loved. I’d been working at York Steak House in the mall. During my breaks, I’d walk down to the piano store and work on the piece I was memorizing for an upcoming piano competition. When my manager learned where I was going, he made arrangements with the piano store to have a piano loaned to the steak house. On Wednesday evenings, when the steakhouse was notoriously slow, the manager would prop open the steakhouse door and pay me to play the piano. I played popular songs, movie themes, fun stuff. For three hours, I got to have fun! And I got paid for it! I couldn’t believe they were paying me for doing something I absolutely loved! And it was always fun to see the steakhouse suddenly clear out when I finished!

Having experienced both extremes, I understand Ecclesiastes 2:24. It is wonderful to have food and drink and a job that you enjoy doing. But they don’t just happen: they are from God. In fact, Ecclesiastes 3:13 and 5:19 specifically state that these are a gift from God!

How does that happen? How does the perfect job come as a gift from God? It’s an example of Proverbs 3:5-6 and Psalm 37:4-5 in action:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. Psalm 37:4-5

There’s the underlying premise that God can direct you in a certain path, but you can choose not to go that way. You can choose something else, something that will not be the best for you ultimately. Or you can choose to trust God with all of who you are and what you’d like to do, and He can bless you far more than you ever expected.

When I was small, I decided I wanted to be a teacher. But more specifically than that, I wanted to teach in a one-room schoolhouse. My one-room schoolhouse doesn’t look like what I imagined it would, but I have to tell you: I have the best job in the whole world. I get to teach my children - not just textbook stuff, but hands-on and Biblical truths too. I feel so incredibly blessed of God to be entrusted with a job that I totally love doing.

When you’re trusting God with your life, trust Him with your livelihood as well. Seek His ways, follow His leading, rely on His faithfulness to give you the desires of your heart. God can give you the desires of your heart - including a job that you want to do. Having a job you love is a blessing, a gift, from the hand of God.

Sabbath, March 14th
The End of the Matter
The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. Ecclesiastes 12:13

The end of the matter; all has been heard. It sounds like a judge presiding over a trial. He’s examined all of the evidence; he’s heard all of the testimony. He’s ready to pronounce his judgment in the matter.

Solomon wrote the book of Ecclesiastes almost like a judge’s brief. In it, he explains all of the exploration and research he did in this particular case: what is valuable and worthwhile in life? What makes life work? What is man’s purpose for being here? What should man spend his time doing?

Life is very much like a woven tapestry. There are so many pieces that are woven together. It’s as if Solomon wanted to figure out how life was woven together. So he studied, or as Solomon described it, “applied my heart to understand,” wisdom (Eccles. 1:12-18). Then he explored self-indulgence, pleasure, laughter, acquiring possessions - all for self (Eccles. 2:1-11). Next he examined living wisely (Eccles. 2:12-17). Then he looked at work (Eccles. 2:18-26). He discovered that there’s a right time for everything (Eccles. 3:1-8), that God has directed everything that will happen (Eccles. 3:9-15), and that men start as dust and return to dust (Eccles. 3:16-21). He examined evil (Eccles. 4:1-16). He found that God is sovereign and we must be careful what we say before Him (Eccles. 5:1-7). He also discovered that wealth and honor for yourself is not the goal (Eccles. 5:8 - 6:12). His research led him back to comparing wisdom with folly (Eccles. 7:129), and found that it’s wise to keep the king’s commands (Eccles. 8:1-9) and to reverence God (Eccles. 8:10-13). Man cannot know God’s ways (Eccles 8:14-17) and, since death comes to all (Eccles. 9:7-10), wisdom is better than folly (Eccles. 9:11 - 10:20). Solomon concluded that we should consider the consequences of our actions (Eccles. 11:1-10) and seek God all of our lives (Eccles. 12:1-8). Then he sums up all of his explorations (Eccles. 12:9-14) by telling the reader: The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man (Eccles. 12:13).

We’ve heard Solomon’s conclusion: fear God and keep his commandments. We understand the second part of that sentence. We comprehend what it means to keep God’s commandments. We don’t always want to; we don’t keep them perfectly; we might try to find excuses for doing what we know is right, but we do understand what it means to keep God’s commandments.

But what does it mean to fear God? Should we be afraid of God? I think C.S. Lewis did a fantastic job in the Chronicles of Narnia of portraying Aslan as analogous to Jesus Christ. There’s a wonderful exchange between the children and the beavers as the beavers are explaining Aslan. The children ask if he’s safe. The beavers respond that he’s not safe; he’s a lion after all. But he is good. That analogy helps us understand the kind of attitude we should have towards our God. Our great God is good and trustworthy, but he is also to be reverenced. He is all powerful. He will not tolerate pride or sin or disrespect.

It wouldn’t have worked at all for C.S. Lewis to have used a snake or a spider. I fear them because of what they can do to me, but I don’t reverence them. I despise them, even as I try to stay as far away from them as possible. But a lion commands respect and honor. A lion is majestic and commanding. And yet, a lion doesn’t quite convey a true picture of our God either. Jesus Christ, of course, is called the Lion of Judah, but that analogy doesn’t apply to the Father.

So God gives us parents. If you’ve been blessed with godly parents, you have a better heart knowledge of the kind of fear God deserves and requires. Think about it. Your parents love you. They work hard to make sure you have a good life, you are safe, and you are content. But they don’t tolerate disrespect, breaking their rules, or an arrogant attitude. When you’re little, you certainly fear a spanking (a whoopin’, Ken would say) if you do the wrong thing, but, at the same time, you think Daddy can do anything. He’s the greatest. That’s a pretty good description of what our attitude should be towards our Heavenly Father. He can spank us, discipline us, but He’s the greatest and He can do anything.

So we look again at Solomon’s conclusion: The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man (Eccles. 12:13). Having explored everything in life, Solomon concludes that we must reverence God and do what He says. This is our purpose in life. This is why we are here. We’re not here to see how much money we can make; Solomon tried that. We’re not here to eat and drink and have as much fun as we can; Solomon tried that. We’re not here to be as wicked as possible; Solomon observed the consequences of taking that avenue as well. We are not here to spend all of our time working or acquiring wisdom and knowledge - although those things have a value and are a blessing from God. Our purpose for existing, the thing we should spend our lives working for, is honoring God with who we are and what we’re doing. Everything you think, say, and do should be pleasing to Him. Everything.

If our life is woven into a tapestry of thoughts and words and actions which glorify our God then we will have something beautiful and worthwhile to present to the One who gave us life, who created and owns everything, and who is worthy of nothing less than our all. And that’s the end of the matter.

Sabbath, March 21st
Spring!
for behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. Song of Solomon 2:11

Sometimes the most simple pleasures give the greatest joys.

I remember as a kid walking out the front door of our home in Casper, WY. Mom said, “It smells like spring!” After a long, cold, snowy, windy winter, the smell of spring is indeed delightful - so delightful, in fact, that I have a mental video taped memory of not only walking out the door, but I can almost even smell the smell.

My children like to tease [read: hassle] me about Wyoming, but living in Wyoming gave me a deep appreciation for the turning of the season, the coming of spring, and a deep appreciation for rain. I can remember Mom quipping that we’d gotten a six-inch rain, the rain drops were six inches apart. It doesn’t rain much in Casper - snow, yes; rain, not so much. I think that’s why this verse in Song of Solomon impacted me as a child - that, and the way the King James Version continues: for behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone; the voice of the turtle is heard in the land. To a six or seven year-old, the idea of a turtle’s voice is a curiosity to say the least. More modern translations say, “the voice of the turtledove is heard in the land,” and that makes more sense. In the winter, many of the birds leave (especially in Wyoming). This spring, in our family, we’re eagerly anticipating being able to hear the voice of some birds again soon - like hummingbirds. The winter is past; spring is here.

Other than the warmer temperatures and the return of the birds, what delights you about spring? I love seeing the new growth. The trees are budding, the crocuses are popping their heads up, and we’ve seen some daffodils already. I noticed the Forsythia is almost out. I love the spring flowers. Think of the mantle of white on the Bradford pear trees. I love the pink of the crabapple and the redbuds, the perfume of the honeysuckles, and the smell of the earth as it warms up. It’s a return to visible life by these trees and flowers who have been dormant all winter.

Driving down the road, you see other evidence that spring is here. New little lambs and calves dot the pastures. Foals and crias (baby alpacas) frisk by their mothers. Puppies, ducklings, baby birds, and kittens. It’s a time of new life - all over the place. What a delight to see the baby animals! Such a simple pleasure that gives such joy!

I think the return to visible life impacts us on a spiritual level too. After all, it is in the spring that Jesus Christ was crucified and died, and then was resurrected to life. We memorialize that event every year at Passover. We, as 1 Corinthians 11 says, proclaim His death until He comes. And yet, it’s not just Jesus’ death that we proclaim, because if the Father had not raised Jesus from the dead, there would be no resurrection for any of us. There’d be no hope of eternal life. None of us would be new creatures in Christ. We would all be dead in our sins.

Praise God! Jesus Christ did rise from the dead! Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we are bought by His blood from slavery to sin and given new life as new creatures in Christ, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

So we eagerly look forward to spring. All through the winter, we mentally mark off the time - waiting for spring. Spring came yesterday, astronomically. Tomorrow is the New Year. Passover is two weeks away. God’s spring holy days, the Days of Unleavened Bread, are finally almost here. We’ve had a long, hard, cold winter since the last holy days (the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day); we can hardly wait for the celebration and worship of God with our whole church family during these days!

For behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone.

You know, perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps simple pleasures don’t give the greatest joy. Perhaps these are really, truly, the most profound and wonderful pleasures - and most of the world just doesn’t recognize them for the blessing, for the gift, they truly are! They just don’t know what they are missing. But these profound and wonderful pleasures give us the most profound and wonderful joy - joy unspeakable!

Sabbath, March 28th
Love
Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised. Song of Solomon 8:7

How much water do you need to drink to quench your thirst? How many buckets of water do you need to put out a blazing fire? I’m always amazed at how much water is required to put out a fire. Every time we have a bonfire, we have the hose nearby - just in case. But even after the fire has died down, after the main bulk of the fuel has been consumed, it takes a lot of water to put out the remaining embers. And, even when you think it’s out, many times there’s still enough heat left to smolder and perhaps begin burning again later. I remember that happening a couple of different times over the years - burning a pile of leaves, weeds, branches, thinking it had been quenched, and then smelling smoke and, perhaps, even seeing some flame spring back up again hours later. It’s what makes a forest fire so difficult to extinguish.

This is the analogy, the image, that Solomon uses for love. There is a love that is so strong that lots of water, even a flood of water, cannot put it out.

That’s an amazing thing! That’s the kind of love that we all want. We want to have the kind of relationship with another person that the love we share is not easily extinguished. It’s the kind of love that endures through hard times and trials of live, through our mistakes and failings, through time and distance. 1 Corinthians 13 describes the kind of love we want!

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.

It is the kind of love which would be willing to die for the other person.

Where do you get this kind of love? Solomon says, “If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised.” You can’t buy it. It’s not Love Potion Number 9. You can’t trade anything you have for it. As the song says, “I don’t care too much for money. Money can’t buy me love.” This kind of love grows and blossoms over time as it is tended and nourished. But truly, if you have this kind of love towards another person, it really is a gift from God.

God, who is Love, is really the source of the kind of love which cannot be extinguished, the most desirable kind of love for which we’d be willing to give almost anything - even all the wealth of our house. Why? Because we’ve seen God’s love, we’ve experienced God’s love in our lives. His love, the love described in 1 Corinthians 13, is so great that He, Jesus Christ, was willing to give His life that we would be reconciled to the Father and that we would have eternal life. And the Father’s love for us is so great that He was willing to give His Son, His only begotten Son whom He loves, as a sacrifice for us while we were still sinners. And as Jesus was making that ultimate sacrifice for us, dying on the cross even though He was innocent of any sin, He was utterly despised by the religious establishment, the government, the carnal human beings gathered around to watch.

Solomon’s description of the kind of love that is possible between a man and a woman, in marriage, deeply foreshadows the kind of love that Jesus had, and has, for His Bride, the Church. Despite the reviling and persecution and scorn He suffered, Jesus’ love for each of us was strong and deep enough to endure torture and death. And that’s what we memorialize during the Passover service, the Days of Unleavened Bread, and the Wave Sheaf offering. We celebrate a love so strong that it could not be quenched nor drowned. It could not be bought with all the money in the known universe. But it was freely given to you and to me.

Sabbath, April 4th
Wash Your Hands
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil. Isaiah 1:16

When do you wash your hands? How many times a day do you wash your hands? You’re supposed to wash your hands after using the bathroom, after playing with pets, after blowing your nose, before handling food, before eating a meal. I’ll tell you: with having a wood-burning stove in the house and two black labs, I find myself washing my hands all the time. But it wasn’t always that way. I remember Mom telling us kids to go wash our hands for supper. Now I don’t know why we decided that was too much work. But we did. So we just grabbed the bar of soap, wiped the excess off on the towel, and headed back to see Mom for supper. She wasn’t fooled in the least, as her “Let me see those hands” quickly intimated! It didn’t matter that our hands smelled like we’d washed them, she knew. Perhaps it was the dirt all over our hands. Perhaps it was the lack of hearing water running. Perhaps it was the speed at which we returned to the kitchen. The funny thing is: it’s not just kids who don’t wash their hands. Studies have been done (They have to spend our tax dollars on something!) to determine how many people wash their hands after using the bathroom in a public place. You’d be shocked at how few do!! They’ve done studies on the most germ-laden places. The gas handles on the gas pumps came in pretty high for germs! Even in your own home, where would you guess you’d find the most germs. Nope. It’s not the toilet. Mom’s aware of that one, so she scrubs it with germ killers. The germiest (if I can coin a word) place is the telephone! Think about it. You’ve just been playing with the dog, or you’ve just blown your nose, and the phone rings. Do you go wash your hands before you answer? Not usually. You just grab it. And then, if you do have any germs that you’re carrying around, you breathe them all over the phone as you’re talking. Ewwww.

Health-wise, it’s really a good idea to wash your hands. But this verse in Isaiah 1:16 isn’t just talking about physical washing.

Wash yourselves;
make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
cease to do evil.

Many times a Hebrew writer would use a couplet to help emphasize the meaning of the verse. Here there’s a double couplet. First, and this is God speaking to His people, He says, “Wash yourselves. Make yourselves clean.” Here’s the first couplet. He’s telling the people that they aren’t clean - and they need to do something about it. Then the second couplet in the verse clarifies: this is not dirt which is making them unclean. It is their behavior. They are doing bad, evil, sinful things. If you read the rest of the chapter, it sounds as if the people are keeping God’s Holy Days and sabbaths. They are going through the motions of serving Him, but their hearts are far from Him. They are observing the rituals - like the Passover ceremony - but they are not bringing justice to the orphans or helping the widows. They are not acting very godly. They are not conducting themselves like people who really, truly love God would.

The two couplets together are a statement that God expects the people to do something about their behavior. The story I told you about us kids rubbing soap on our hands is a very good analogy of what they, God’s people, were doing. It might have appeared that they were upright and godly, but God knew how clean they truly were. The amazing thing to us, reading these words all these years later (2800 years or so) is that Isaiah prophesied during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. With the exception of Ahaz, who wasn’t a good king, these were good kings. These were good years in Judah - or so we thought. We would have expected God to say these kinds of things if it were said during the reigns of Manasseh or Ahab, but to Uzziah or Hezekiah?

The reality is: we live in a fallen world. We are fallen, carnal human beings. God said to Noah in Genesis 8:21 “the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” We are unclean. We are sinful. We have a lot of cleaning to do - and God expects us to do it. We make good choices. And when the choices we make don’t turn out well, we pick ourselves up and try again. We wash our hands, and then, after we sneeze, we go wash them again.

The hands are a symbol of what you do. Are your hands clean? Are you doing the right thing? Have you used soap and really scrubbed? Are you just going through the motions, but there’s really a layer of dirt underneath?

One final thought: are you tired of washing your hands all the time? Do you just skip it because it seems like that’s all you do during the day? How tired are you of making right choices, choices that are pleasing to God?

Maybe we’d better go back and wash our hands again. Or perhaps we need a better solution.

Sunday, April 5th - First Day of Unleavened Bread
Make Yourselves Clean
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my face; cease to do evil. Isaiah 1:16

Have your hands ever been so dirty, you didn’t think you’d ever get them clean?

Sometimes when I come in from pulling weeds in the garden, the dirt under my fingernails is almost impossible to clean out. I wash. I scrub. And, if that doesn’t do it, I find the fingernail clippers.

Sometimes when Ron has been working on the cars, he comes in with his hands covered with the blackest, grimiest hands. He asks for Goop, but sometimes that doesn’t even take it all off.

When Christopher broke his jaw and I held him on my lap until we got to the hospital, the shirt that I was wearing was covered with blood. It was one of my favorite shirts, but there was no way to get all that blood out. I ended up throwing it away.

Dirt. Stains. Blemishes. One of the good things about the Passover is the thorough house cleaning that I do. But one of the bad things about the Passover is the thorough house cleaning that I do. It’s good because the house is thoroughly cleaned. But as I’m thoroughly cleaning, I get a close up view of the stains that won’t come out, the nicks in the hardwood floor, the chips out of the paint on some of the corners of the walls. There are blemishes that cannot be scrubbed away. Additionally, it takes me awhile to clean the whole house, and once I’m completely done and I walk back into the first room that was done, there is dust on the shelves again, there are Japanese lady beetles crawling in the window, and the floor has to be swept all over again. When you’re talking about cleaning house, there’s never a time when you are done. Even when you think you are done, just wait five minutes. The dog will walk across the floor; someone will drop crumbs from their food onto the counter and then inadvertently knock them onto the floor; life happens. It’s a great object lesson from the Passover: we can’t get our house completely clean - and if we can’t clean up our house, how in the world are we possibly going to clean up our lives? How can we completely accomplish what Isaiah says?

Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my face; cease to do evil. Isaiah 1:16

This inability to completely clean ourselves up is Biblical.

In Genesis 8:21, God says, “ . . . the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.”

Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick;”

Paul says, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out” (Romans 7:18)

Paul goes on in Romans 8:7-8 to say, “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

The Bible is very clear: we are sinful, carnal human beings. We are evil, the intention of our desperately sick and deceitful heart tends towards evil. There’s nothing good that dwells in us and we are hostile to God, unable to please Him. We cannot clean ourselves up. In fact, the carnal mind doesn’t even want to! It doesn’t matter how many times we wash our hands, so to speak; they are never going to be clean. We need a different solution.

Paul recognized the human condition: “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25a)

Even though everyone has sinned, everyone has fallen short of the glory of God, Jesus Christ has paid the penalty for those sins (Romans 3:23-25). But more than paying for individual sins, Jesus bought us from the slavery to sin (Romans 6:6). We no longer have to serve our carnal nature; when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, we can choose to serve God (Romans 6:16-19). But what Jesus Christ did was even more than that! He not only paid the penalty for our sins, He not only freed us from slavery to sin, He has reconciled us to God the Father (Romans 5:10-11).

The Passover celebration is huge. It is the memorial of Jesus’ suffering and death in our place. But that’s not where it stops. He died so that we can live, reconciled to God - we live in newness of life, even while we still feel the pull of the carnal nature, the desires of the sinful nature. Even though there’s a battle between the flesh and the new creature in God, we live to please our God because we were bought with a price (1 Corinthians 7:23), the price of the Son of God, our Savior Jesus Christ. What commandment from God will we refuse to obey considering all that God the Father and God the Son have done on our behalf?!

What was previously impossible for carnal man to do, God has now made a way for us to do through the blood of Jesus Christ and the power of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit:

Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my face; cease to do evil. Isaiah 1:16

You have all week to enjoy another object lesson. The Passover is past: you’ve been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb. Now, every day, for seven days (the number of completeness) you get to take in the unleavened bread - a symbol of our sinless Jesus Christ. Don’t just avoid leavening (and sin) for these seven days; eat the unleavened bread. Fill yourselves full of Jesus Christ. Spend some extra time praying, reading His word, seeking Him. And then, when the seven days are over, don’t stop seeking Him with all of your heart. He gave His very life so that you can live. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my face; cease to do evil.

Sabbath, April 11th
Stayed upon Jesus
You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Isaiah 26:3

I have three questions for you today: Are you at peace? Upon what have you stayed your mind? In what or in whom do you really trust?

Are you at peace? What does it mean to be at peace? Are you a peaceful person? Do you know anyone who is at peace? Peaceful people tend to attract others because they have a calming influence. They are restful and soothing. They are all too rare in today’s society. So many people today are the opposite of peaceful. They are agitated and angry. They are restless and searching. They can’t sit still. They have to be doing something and going somewhere all the time.

Upon what have you stayed your mind? We are not used to this phrasing. We don’t talk about “staying our mind” in the normal course of conversation. But this Hebrew word (#5564) camak means “to place or to rest upon something, or to lean upon something for support.” This same word is used a lot in phrases like “he shall lay his hands on the head of the lamb.” So if we phrased this in more modern terms, we might ask, “Where does your mind rest? When you’re not thinking about something actively, what’s the foundation of your subconscious? Where do your thoughts rest?” A person who is restless or agitated defaults to a much different place than someone who is peaceful.

In whom do you trust? Psalm 20:7 says, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses . . .” Isaiah 31:1 cites trusting in Egypt, horses, chariots, and horsemen. Some trust in themselves (Luke 18:9). Some trust in money (or more specifically, what money can buy), in spite of money having an inscription on it which tells us to trust in God!! So in what do you trust? When things get bad, where do you go for help? What do you rely on?

Isaiah 26:4 says, “Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.” What does an everlasting rock look like? It’s unmovable. It’s unshakable. It’s unstoppable. It’s unchangeable. An unmovable rock is solid. It’s not going anywhere. It can’t be budged. An unshakable rock cannot be unsettled or thrown off balance. There’s nothing that takes it by surprise or moves it off course. An unstoppable rock cannot have its path changed. Once it’s going in a certain direction, you can’t slow it down. You can’t speed it up. An unchangeable rock means that it doesn’t vary. It doesn’t become reshaped. It’s doesn’t transform into something else when pressure or heat is added. It doesn’t erode into smaller particles. It is the same yesterday, today and forever. We don’t have rocks like this in our physical world. But our rocks are enough like this that we can conceive of what one might look like. And it’s this image of a rock that becomes an analogy of Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 10:1)

Over and over the psalmist also talks about God being his rock, his fortress, his strong tower, his place of refuge (Ps 18:2, Ps 61:2, Ps 95:1). And perhaps the psalmist wasn’t just thinking in a physical sense. Perhaps the psalmist also meant that God is his rock, his security when he was in distress. Maybe he meant that his mind was stayed on God because he knew God was his place of refuge. God told His people that “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength” (Isaiah 30:15), but they refused to listen to Him.

Jesus brought the same message to the people in Matthew 11:28-30: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

In John 14:27, Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.”

And again in John 16:33, Jesus says, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

Are you lacking peace? Are you restless? You need the Prince of Peace. You need to have your mind stayed on the Prince of Peace. But your mind won’t stay on Jesus Christ if you don’t trust Him.

So how do you come to trust God? The Psalmist says, “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we’re told to taste and see - and that the first of God’s holy days carries with it the commandment to eat unleavened bread. It’s the very start. Take God into your life and follow Him. See how He blesses you! See how incredibly good He is! And revel in the peace you find, the perfect peace.

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

Sabbath, April 18th
To Be At Peace Forever
“And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.” Isaiah 32:17

Several weeks ago Kael told the kids he had twelve rules. By the time they told me the story, they could remember the first four:

Don’t trick people.
Don’t lie.
Don’t eat rotten berries.
Don’t walk into fire.

Why did Kael have rules? (Or perhaps, more accurately, why was he making up rules on the spot?) Perhaps he’d run afoul of his mom’s rules that morning. Perhaps his older sister had run afoul of the rules and he’d been the beneficiary that day. Regardless, even a little guy like Kael knows that there are rules. The first question is: who gets to make the rules? The simple answer is that the person who is in authority gets to make the rules. Children on the playground make rules for the games they’re playing. As long as the rules are fair, usually everyone will agree to the rules. As soon as someone tries to insert an unfair rule, the game usually falls apart as one leader among the kids announces, “Well, then I’m not playing. I’ll take my marbles and go home.”

Jennifer noticed on the Stanford tests this week a question about rules. “Who makes the laws in the United States?” She thought perhaps it’s an old test booklet because, as she told me later, judges sometimes legislate from the bench, the Congress passes laws, the President rules by executive order - they are all sometimes making the laws in the United States, even though that authority was supposed to have been given to the Congress.

The person, who has been given the power to make the rules, gets to make the rules. But, why do we need rules in the first place? On the playground, there are rules so that all of the kids will know how to play the game, so that everyone will know who the winner is. It’s not so different for adults. We have rules, called laws, so that we’ll know how to play the game called interacting with your neighbor. The laws are supposed to help regulate society so that sometimes there are clear winners, usually there are not unfair losers, and mostly so there is not complete disorder!

So, are rules and laws good? We could talk about that all day. A more accurate answer would be to say that rules and laws are necessary - and the less thoughtful, the less humble, the less considerate, the less moral people are, the more laws we need. To say it another way, the more evil, the more selfish, the less godly a people are, the more laws (and consequences) are needed to provide guidelines for living, a curb on lawless behavior, and restraint against encroachment on others’ rights.

Many people mourn the myriad of rules and laws that are enacted by our governments. We see that avalanche of laws as eroding the freedom and liberty we have had in this country. And it’s true. We are very much less free than we were 25 years ago! Our Founding Fathers from 250 years ago would be appalled at the loss of freedom from their day - the freedoms for which they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor!

Nevertheless, as John Adams said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” When people are no longer moral, when people no longer follow Jesus Christ, the government has to make more rules to control them. People, who no longer control themselves out of reverence for God, have to be controlled by an external force, i.e. the government.

It’s a vicious cycle. We take God out of the schools. We tell teachers they can’t post the Ten Commandments on the walls of their classrooms. The students grow up believing there is no God and that each person gets to decide for themselves what is right and what is wrong. They start to act in unacceptable ways in society. So the government passes more laws to keep them under control. But these kids grow up to become part of the government. So now the laws that are being passed are not always based on what is right, what is fair, what is good for people; the laws which are passed often benefit who has the most power. And, to make matters worse, those who have the power sometimes don’t follow the rules they make for everyone else.

But there’s good news. “Behold, a king will reign in righteousness . . .” Isaiah 32:1 says. There is coming a day when Jesus Christ will return to this earth. He will put an end to evil and wrong and sin and unjust governments. The laws which Jesus Christ will enact and enforce will be righteous and good because He is righteous and good. And the result?

“And the effect of righteousness will be peace,
and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.” Isaiah 32:17

We will live in a world where the laws and rules will be just and righteous. And there will be peace. It will be quiet - without tumult of war and discord. The ESV translates the last noun “trust or security.” The KJV says “assurance.” The NIV says “confidence.” These words all give a picture of lack of strife, a lack of contention. They give a picture of total peace.

We hear new rules all the time. “Don’t trick people. Don’t lie. Don’t eat rotten berries. Don’t walk into fire.” Some new rules make a lot of sense. But some new rules are unjust and contentious and are a stark reminder of just how far we, as a society, are from God. Nevertheless, there is a day coming when Jesus will rule in righteousness. We will quietly trust in Him and be at peace forever.

Sabbath, April 25th
Wait for the LORD
but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31

Are you ever tired? Are there days when you just reach the end of your strength, your reserves of energy, and you’re done? Of course. Unless you are a total couch potato, you’ve experienced tiredness and exhaustion.

Yesterday our 4H club planned a 3.5-mile hike at the Shaw Nature Reserve. We were not leisurely strolling to look at some beautiful, wild spring flowers; we were walking with a time limit. In addition, we weren’t just meandering around the cultivated gardens; we were picking our way over rocky descents to the river valley and then climbing back up the winding trail to the lookout points. It was a good walk, but a couple of the boys weren’t interested in walking. They were interested in expending energy - which they did in competitive sprints back and forth along the trail and off the trail on side branches. If that wasn’t enough, on the heels of hiking for a couple of hours, we had two hours of volleyball practice afterwards. Granted, the volleyball was not nearly as strenuous, but it did require numerous short bursts of energy to try to save the ball from going into the creek - which, of course, acted like a ball magnet. By the time we got home, we were all tired.

How appropriate, then, to be talking about Isaiah 40:31 today.

but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Because we were walking and running yesterday and were tired at the end of the day, does that mean that we don’t wait for the LORD? I don’t think that’s Isaiah’s message here.

The 40th chapter of Isaiah begins “Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned:” The chapter begins by comforting and encouraging the people. Yes, they have sinned. Yes, they have experienced judgment because of those sins. But God will save them and He will feed His flock like a shepherd (vs. 11). The rest of the chapter describes God’s incomparable power and majesty. There is none like Him. All of the idols are nothing; they cannot save. They have to be fixed so they won’t totter; they can’t move (vs. 20). It is our God who gives strength to do what needs to be done, even when those who are normally strong have expended all of their energy (vs. 30); God can renew the strength of His people! Our God never faints or is weary!

I do believe that God can give physical strength to His people to continue - a physical miracle almost like Samson or the Israelites’ shoes not wearing out for 40 years. But in addition to this physical strength, I think that they who wait for the LORD are given a strength of mind, of conviction, of determination, to accomplish the task, to attain the goal. I think that’s part of the message to the seven churches of Asia in Revelation. “To him who overcomes” encompasses more than just physical strength; it is reliance on God and on the strength God provides to those who do rely on Him.

I think this strength is based on two things (at least two things): faith in God and Godly hope. That is, the strength that God gives to us comes because first, we have faith in Him. We believe that He is God, He’s a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him, He has our best interest at heart. Because of that faith, we make decisions in our lives that seek to please Him because the relationship with God is so precious to us. That faith, then, leads to hope. Godly hope is not the wishy-washy hope of the world - the kind which says, “I hope it doesn’t rain on our picnic.” Godly hope is confident assurance that what God says He will do, He will do. As the song sings, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.” That’s a pretty sure foundation for basing our assurance of God’s trustworthiness and faithfulness to His people!

So then, I think this verse in Isaiah 40:31 (but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. ) is talking about being able to persevere because of the faith and hope that we have that God is mighty to save, He is able to deliver us - even in the face of overwhelming odds, humanly speaking.

So what does this mean to you? It means that if you seek God first, if you seek to do His will in your life, if you truly make Him your God - submitting to Him in all things, then He can give you the strength to keep fighting the good fight. If you rely on Him who cannot fail, you will have the assurance that you’ll be victorious in the end. You know the end of the story. God will be victorious over all of His enemies. If you are on God’s side, you’ll likewise be victorious over everything that sets itself up against God.

The next time you are very tired, you’re extremely weary, remember this verse. Remember that God never grows tired. When things get tough, rely on the hope that you have in Christ. Isaiah 40:31 is a good verse to memorize to remind you of that hope.

but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Sabbath, May 9th
Every One To His Own Way
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned - every one - to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6

George Frideric Handel was a German-born, British Baroque composer who spent the bulk of his career in London, becoming well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. But probably, he is best known for his oratorio, The Messiah. In that work is probably his most famous piece, “The Hallelujah Chorus.” The Messiah was written in 28 days,

beginning with Isaiah’s prophecy of the coming of Jesus Christ in Isaiah 40: “Comfort Ye, Comfort Ye, My People”,
working through his birth - “For Unto Us a Child is Born,”
his crucifixion - “Surely He Hath Born Our Griefs,”
his resurrection “But Thou Didst Not Leave His Soul in Hell,”
Jesus’ second coming - “He Shall Break Them in Pieces” and “The Hallelujah Chorus,”
and the establishment of His kingdom - “Worthy is the Lamb That Was Slain.”
Handel caps the oratorio with more than six pages of “Amen.”

In the middle of this oratorio, in describing Jesus’ death for us, the chorus sings, “All We Like Sheep.” It’s eight pages of sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses weaving around each other as they sing, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned - every one - to his own way.” Handel paints the picture, through his music, of sheep who are wandering just where they want to go, each motivated by their own desires.

It’s such a good picture of human nature - or carnal puppy nature. This morning I took the puppy for a half-mile walk to wear off some of his energy. Then when I came inside to work, I was constantly getting up to see where he was. I found him on the couch! So I told him he had to get down, gave him a chew toy, and he followed me back to my desk. He chewed for two minutes, then ran back into the living room and hopped up on the couch. I went back to see where he was, scolded him, and put him down on the floor. He followed me back to my desk, lay down to chew for two seconds, and then was off again. I found him on the couch again! I couldn’t help but think of the irony of writing about this verse - all we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned - every one - to his own way. Whether it’s puppies or it’s human, we all want to do what we want to do.

But there comes a point in your life - if God is calling you - that you realize all of those sins, all of those desires to go your own way, all of that doing what you want, has a consequence. There are minor consequences along the way - built in consequences like if the puppy decides to jump off the porch, he’ll likely break a leg. These are the natural consequences of trying to defy God’s laws. If the puppy continues to misbehave and is more trouble than he’s worth, I put him in the kennel. That’s kind of like the impairment of our relationship with God. God is not going to have a close relationship with people who are constantly disobeying Him, seeking their own way, redefining God’s laws to suit their own needs. But the ultimate consequence of sin, of defying God, of going our own way, is death.

And yet, God loves us so much that He made a way out. Our Heavenly Father gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, for our sins, while we were yet sinners. God made it possible for our sin debt to be forgiven. More even than that, Jesus’ death and resurrection restores the relationship with God and makes it possible for us to have eternal life. God did this for each of us. “And the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Handel depicts this reality very powerfully. Sheep are wandering all over, turning every one however they want to go - for eight pages. Then they all come back together. In unison, in powerful emphatic half notes, the chorus sings: “We have turned everyone to his own way.” Then suddenly, the tone changes from skipping and scattered, to slow and somber as the chorus sings “And the Lord hath laid on him.” They get louder as they again emphasize “hath laid on him.” Then suddenly, softly, in unison they sing, “the iniquity of us all.”

For the Christian, this reality is heart-wrenching. I want my own way so much that I defy God. I go and do whatever I want, out of weakness, out of ignorance, perhaps because I find all kinds of excuses for disobedience. But, in the end, if I want a relationship with God, if I want eternal life in His kingdom forever, Jesus takes my punishment. He bears the stripes that I earned. He dies a horrible death in my place. God lays on Him my iniquity.

The next time you’re tempted to do something that you know would not be pleasing to God, think about sheep wandering wherever they want to go, turning everyone to their own way. And think about God laying on Jesus Christ the iniquity of us all.

Sabbath, May 16th
The Work of Your Hand
But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. Isaiah 64:8

I had a weird dream last night. I was in a court of law as a spectator, watching the prosecution of a popular man. Everyone thought he was a really good guy, doing good things for a lot of people, well-liked by everyone. But I had inside knowledge. I knew, as the prosecutor knew, that he really was guilty of the crime for which he was being tried. And it wasn’t just a little thing. It was a horrific crime, that, if everyone knew what he’d really done, they would turn on him like a Gilbert and Sullivan chorus.

That could be any of us - the guy on trial for a crime - especially before we came to Christ, accepting Him as our Savior. We were lost in our sins, guilty before God of transgressing His laws - no matter how well-liked we were, no matter how many friends we had.

That’s where God’s people found themselves in Isaiah 64. Isaiah confesses that Judah has sinned and that they deserve the punishment God is giving to them. Jeremiah says that Israel was faithless, but Judah was treacherous. Israel served false gods, but Judah served false gods while appearing to serve the One True God (Jeremiah 3). God accused them of outward loyalty, while inwardly, their hearts were far from Him.

But in Isaiah’s prayer in Isaiah 64, he confesses that God is Sovereign and that he is willing to submit to His will. But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand (Isaiah 64:8). Because God is Sovereign, the Potter, He has the right to form the clay in any way He wants to. The end result is completely up to God: we are all the work of your hand.

Isaiah acknowledges that not only is God Sovereign, he also states that God has a special relationship with His people. But now, O LORD, you are our Father. This implies the trust that God is working in their lives for their good.

That’s where we all are when we come to see our need for Jesus Christ, drawn by our Father to His gift, His Son, as our Savior. Charlotte Elliott says it so well in her well-known hymn:

Just as I am, without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me.
And that Thou bids me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God, I come! I come!

In the timeline of God’s holy days, this is what is pictured by Passover. The Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, is crucified on the cross for my sins. I’ve confessed my sins, my complete reliance on God for salvation, and the Sovereignty of God. The Days of Unleavened Bread picture a new creature in Christ, without sin (no leavening), who is subsisting on Jesus. We walk in newness of life, in Christ. Then we start the countdown to Pentecost. This is harvest season, seven weeks of harvest season culminating in the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Firstfruits, Pentecost. What is being harvested? Is it good fruit, profitable for the kingdom? Or is it somehow less than desirable?

You see, once we accept Jesus as our Savior and we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we still have choices to make. We can make good choices in serving God, doing and saying the things which glorify Him. Or we can make choices which are less than honoring to the One who saved us. And our choices don’t just happen in our actions, we also find them in our thoughts. At the point of our baptism, we confessed that God is Sovereign. He is the only One who can save. He has complete authority over my life. But then, I hurt my shoulder and it just doesn’t get well. I know God can heal it, but it isn’t getting well. Maybe I start to grumble inside. On the outside, I’m asking my friends for prayers that I’ll get well, but inside I’m thinking that I don’t deserve a sore shoulder.

But wait a minute! I confessed that God is Sovereign. He is the Potter. I’m the clay. He has the right to do anything in my life that He wants. If the path He leads me down involves pain or persecution, I’m still in covenant with Him to stay on that path. That’s not an easy thing to wrap our minds around. We’d like to believe that because we serve God only good things will happen to us. We’d like to believe that because God is able to heal us, to keep us safe from all harm, to make our lives smooth and easy, that He will lead us down that comfortable path. But that is rarely the case. There are few Christians, if any, who never experience any difficulties, pain and problems.

But we do have another promise from God. Isaiah 64:8 starts out, “But now, O LORD, you are our Father.” We are not only in covenant relationship with the Supreme, Sovereign God of the Universe, we are part of His family and He cares for us. When we suffer, He knows. When we hurt, He understands. But He is planning for our future. He knows what we need now to make us perfect for His kingdom. We might need a broken jaw. We might need an aggravating older brother. Because He’s God, and because we’ve acknowledged Him as our God, we have to stop complaining about the things in our lives that He’s placed there. We have to learn to praise God in the storm - because He’s forming us into usable servants, even priests, for His kingdom.

The next time something crosses your path that you’re tempted to complain about, to start grumbling over, remember that your life is in God’s hands. You placed it there when you said He is your God. He’s in charge of what crosses your path, and He’s put it there for a purpose - to complete the job of forming you in His image. Instead of being grouchy because of the situation, you might consider praying this as part of your prayer, to remind yourself that God is your God: But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. Isaiah 64:8

Sabbath, May 23rd
I am Only a Youth
Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” Jeremiah 1:6

Do you believe that God is all powerful? Do you believe He is Sovereign? Do you believe He can do anything He wants to do? Then why do you sometimes doubt that He can use whomever He wishes to accomplish His work? Why did Jeremiah think that he couldn’t speak because he wasn’t old enough? Throughout the Bible we are given verses which completely contradict this idea that God can’t use you because you’re too young or too old or too . . . whatever.

Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger. Psalm 8:2

The ESV footnote says, “The Greek translation of the Septuagint (See Matt. 21:16) rightly interprets strength as ‘strength attributed to God in song,’ or ‘praise.’ ” This praise from children stills, or silences, the enemy! This is the Psalm Jesus quoted during His triumphal entry into Jerusalem when the children were calling, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” The chief priests and the scribes were indignant and asked Jesus if He heard what they were saying. Jesus’ response was, “Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?” (Matthew 21:15-16)

Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 1 Timothy 4:12

In this verse, Paul tells Timothy that he isn’t to let people look down on him because he’s young. His actions are to be godly - and in verse 14, Paul reminds Timothy not to neglect the gift he was given by the laying on of hands by the council of elders. If God has given you a gift, and it’s publicly recognized, stand firm in that knowledge. Do the job God has given you to do regardless of how someone might want to dismiss you, to think you are too young to do the task.

But why would God use someone young when there are lots of older people around? I think God makes it very clear that He’s the One who is doing the work. Notice 1 Corinthians 1:26-29:

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

I find this passage very comforting! If I start to think that I’m something special, that God’s using me because I’m so great, this verse reminds me that, if I’m truly being used by God, it’s His work and His power, and He chose to work through me because I was and am nothing special. On the flip side, if I start to doubt that God is really using me because I know who I am, I know that I’m not gifted, I know I’m nobody, nothing special of myself, He reminds me that He can use me because of who I am to do great things.

Paul was given a thorn in the flesh and pleaded three times that God would take it away. God told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Cor. 12:9

God uses a humble person, a person who knows how weak he (or she) is, and who knows how great God is. Why? God is great! He’s Sovereign! He’s the King of the Universe! He’s the Creator, the Originator of everything! And He says, “My glory I will not give to another” (Isaiah 48:11; Isaiah 42:8; Psalm 46:10).

Just in case you’re still not convinced that God can use whomever He wishes to accomplish His purposes, take a look at Numbers 22:22-35 and the story of Balaam. Here’s a man who was going to curse God’s people. God wasn’t going to let him. To make it completely clear to Balaam how very much God was opposed to him because his way was perverse (vs. 32), God opened the mouth of a donkey to speak to Balaam. A donkey!

When God gives you a task to do, do it. Don’t worry that you’re too young. But the key is being close enough to God that you know, without a doubt, that God has truly given you the task. You need to read your Bible every day. You need to pray every day - talking with God and sharing your heart. You need to make choices that are pleasing to God. And you need to recognize how great God is and how weak you are. Then He can use you to accomplish His purposes - even if you are only a youth.

Sabbath, May 30th
Of What Do You Boast?
but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD. Jeremiah 9:24

What are you proud of? Have you done something, had a great accomplishment that you want to tell others about? Maybe you scored very high on a test. Maybe you created a beautiful piece of artwork. Maybe you ran a half marathon in record time. Maybe you broke the state record for consecutive push-ups. Maybe you set a new Guinness World Record.According to the Guinness Website, Steven J. Backman set a huge record.

The San Francisco-based toothpick artist holds the Guinness World Records title for world’s smallest toothpick sculpture, a seemingly incredible 19.86-mm-tall (0.782-in) replica of the Empire State Building made from a single toothpick. (http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2015/5/video-steven-j-backman-and-the-worlds-smallest-toothpick-sculpture-379197)

And there are amazing things which people do which happen around us all of the time! But God says, in Jeremiah 9:23, “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches.” God says that no matter how wise you think you are, how powerful you think you are, or how wealthy you think you are, God isn’t impressed.

Think about that for a minute! Seriously! We tend to think that someone who is wise, or powerful, or wealthy is pretty impressive. We value these things - especially when we compare them to the opposite end of the spectrum. Poverty, weakness, and stupidity are not usually goals people set for themselves - at least, not intentionally.

So, should we practice steadfast love, justice, and righteousness? God says in these things I delight. What is steadfast love? The KJV usually translates it loving kindness. Other translations render it kindness or faithful love. This is a great characteristic of God, a good one to emulate. What is justice? The dictionary says it’s the quality of being fair and reasonable. This is also a great characteristic of God. What is righteousness? The dictionary defines righteousness as the quality of being morally right or justifiable. It is doing what is right according to God’s definition. These are all good things. They are all things we should practice. But are these things we can boast about?

Not hardly.

The loving kindness, justice, or righteousness that we can exhibit is a pale shadow of the great loving kindness, justice, and righteousness that is our God. We fall so short of His magnificence in every area. There’s no comparison! It would be like my puny efforts at toothpick sculpture compared with Mr. Backman.

So of what do we boast? We, as God’s people, boast that we understand and know God, that He is the One who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. Because God delights in them, these are the character traits that we should desire to emulate, but when we practice them, our goal is not to obtain glory for ourselves. Our goal is to honor God, to give Him the glory. If we achieve anything worthwhile, it is because He’s working in us . . . but that’s a topic to explore tomorrow.

Pentecost, Sunday, May 31st
To Understand and To Know
but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD. Jeremiah 9:24

What is boasting? The dictionary defines it: to talk with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one’s achievements, possessions, or abilities. We already talked about God not being impressed with man’s wisdom, power, and wealth. Neither can our steadfast love, justice, or righteousness compare with our great God who practices these things. So we’re back to the question we didn’t exactly answer yesterday: about what should we, or can we, boast?

Jeremiah 9:24 says that the person who boasts should boast that he understands and knows God. Let’s think about this for a minute. Count up all the people you know. That might take awhile. I suspect that you know a lot of people. I know a lot of people . . . or actually my list of acquaintances is quite long. There’s a huge difference between being acquainted with, knowing, and understanding - especially how these words are used in this verse.

“Understand” is the Hebrew word sakhal (Strong’s number 7919) and means basically “an intellectual comprehension or an intelligent knowledge of the reason for something.” The other word “know” is the Hebrew word yada Strong’s number 3045) and means “understanding or knowledge by experience or by the senses” and has the conotation of “desiring to be in the presence of.”

So look at your list of acquaintances again. How many of these people do you understand? For which of them do you have an intellectual comprehension? That is, can you pick out their favorite hobbies, clothes, places, foods, music, etc? O.K. For some of the people you have on your list, you might be able to do that. But can you guess how they are going to act in any given situation? That narrows down your list considerably! Do you understand why they make the choices they make? I suspect that your list is now quite short or, perhaps, empty. To understand why someone would choose to act in a certain way requires a very close relationship. Think about it. Let’s say you wanted to get to know someone famous. You could look up all kinds of facts about them: their birthday, their favorites foods, their favorite activities, etc. But you wouldn’t really know them; you’d only have a knowledge of a lot of facts about them. You could study someone for many years and if you knocked on their front door, they wouldn’t let you in. They don’t know you from Adam!

That’s where this Hebrew word for “to know” - yada - is so cool! In order to know someone in this sense, you have to experience them. You know what ripe strawberries taste like because you’ve tasted them. You know what the beach sand feels like under your feet because you’ve gone barefoot on the beach. You know how much water there is in Wyoming because you’ve traveled from one side of the state to other; you’ve lived there; you’ve experienced walking along the shores of Yellowstone Lake and Lake Jenny. Oh. You’ve never picked a ripe strawberry straight out of the garden and popped it into your mouth? You’ve never built a sand castle on the sugar white sands of Destin, Florida? You’ve never been to Yellowstone or lived in Wyoming? Then maybe you don’t really know, in the Hebrew sense, these things. You haven’t experienced them. You don’t know what you’re talking about.

It’s the very same thing with God. There are a lot of people who have a knowledge about God. They can quote scripture. They can recite Biblical history. But they don’t pray to God. They don’t talk about Him with others. They don’t have a desire to be in His presence. They really don’t know God. But they can fool you because they look like they know Him - they know so much about Him. But like that famous person you studied, if you knocked on God’s front door, would He know them from Adam - in a figurative sense? To understand God means to have an intellectual comprehension of Him. Do you comprehend why God does what He does? To know God means to have experienced Him because you’ve desired to be with in His presence. How are you doing with knowing God?

This is what God says we can boast about - that we understand and know Him!

How are you doing on having something to boast about?

Here’s where the incredible blessing of Pentecost comes in! It was on the day of Pentecost almost two millennia ago that God poured out His Holy Spirit on His people who were gathered that day in Jerusalem (Acts 2:1-4). It is the Holy Spirit which leads us into all truth (John 16:13). It is by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that our spirits can testify with His Spirit that we are the sons (and daughters) of God (Romans 8:16). It is by the Holy Spirit that we are being changed from the inside out to have that desire for God and His ways (2 Corinthians 5:17-18; John 6:63; Gal 5:22). We want to know God. We want to be like Him. We want to understand His ways. And, we greatly desire to be in His presence.

But do we understand and know God? We’re learning about Him. We coming to understand and to know Him more and more every day - but we’ve barely scratched the surface of what there is to know about our great God.

So of what can we truly boast? Nothing.

Here’s where another scripture complements Jeremiah 9:24 so well. Micah 6:8 says, He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? When it all comes down to it, we have nothing about which we can boast. And if that’s the case, then our reasonable attitude is humility! We must walk humbly with our God. And through the gift of Jesus Christ who reconciled us to the Father and through the gift of the Holy Spirit, given on Pentecost, we have been given that great blessing - to be allowed to walk with our God. As we come to understand and to know God more, to taste and see that He is good, we cannot help but walk in humility. Oh that we all would come to truly understand and to know God!

Sabbath, June 6th
24.7.365
I will give them a heart to know that I am the LORD, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart. Jeremiah 24:7

Have you ever cut out a heart to put on a card to give to someone? Why did you do that? What does it mean? Usually it means that you love them. Why does putting a heart on a card mean that? It’s the idea that you love them with your whole being, with everything you are.

But does doing something with your whole heart always mean loving them? You can put all of your heart into playing a piano piece. Your mom might tell you to do your chores - and put some heart into it. You certainly don’t love doing your chores. So what does that mean? Putting your heart into someone means that you are doing it with everything that you are; you are giving your very best; you are trying your hardest. I remember my grandfather saying that a horse really had heart. That meant that horse would work hard all day long for him.

So when God says that he’s going to give His people a heart to know that He is the LORD, it’s another way to say that God is going to give His people the desire to come to know who God is. And this word “know” is the Hebrew word yada’ which carries to connotation of knowledge by experience. It’s the Psalm 34:8 idea of tasting and seeing that the LORD is good.

Do you see what God is telling the people through Jeremiah? Once God has given them the heart, the desire, to come to know Him, to spend time in His presence, they will return to Him with their whole heart. That is, they will come back to Him with everything they are.

It’s the definition of God being God to you personally. If God is your God, then you recognize that He is Sovereign. He’s in charge. He makes the rules. He gets to decide what is right and wrong. He has your life in His hands. He plans your path.

But most of us don’t like letting God be our God all the time. We want to make some decisions. We think that as long as we are good most of the time, that’s good enough. Is it good enough to give someone half of a heart on a card? It’s like saying that I love you when it’s convenient or when I feel like it, but I don’t really feel like loving you all the time. That might mean that I have to do something that I don’t want to do because you want me to do it.

Or think of it like this: we are called to make our lives an offering to God (Romans 12:1). If He’s our God, that’s our reasonable worship. So it’s like making a pan of brownies. You work hard to use the best ingredients, but then you put a tablespoon of dog poop into the brownies. You wouldn’t give the brownies as a gift to anyone, well, maybe to your worst enemy. Yuck! But you certainly wouldn’t give them to someone you like or to someone that you say you love. So if your life is to be an offering to God and you’re walking worthy of the calling you’ve received (Ephesians 4:1), but then you decide you’re going to do something that is displeasing to God, that goes against what He says is right and wrong, then it’s like putting a tablespoon of dog poop into your life and offering it to God as if it would be acceptable to Him!

You can’t go through the motions of serving God just when someone is watching or when it’s easy. If God is truly your God, if you tell people that He is your God, then you are held to a higher standard. You submit to His authority. You show others through your words and deeds what it truly means to be a Christian. You bring honor and glory to Him through what you do. You follow God with your whole heart.

I will give them a heart to know that I am the LORD, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart. Jeremiah 24:7

This covenant with God that He will be your God and you will be his people is something you do all the time if you’re truly a Christian. And I think it’s really fun that the scripture reminds of us that in a very contemporary way. Did you notice that this is Jeremiah 24:7? Kind of a fun coincidence - because this is how we’re supposed to live 24.7.365.

Sabbath, June 13th
What Are Your Plans?
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

Do you have any plans this summer? We plan to go to Six Flags. We plan to go to Little Indian Creek numerous times. I plan to get the pool set up soon. We are planning to have my niece and nephew come to visit us. And some good friends from Texas plan to come for several days in July.

But, what are plans? Are they set in stone? Are they tentative? Do you mean that you intend to do something? Or do you mean that I can count on it?

The word “plan,” as a noun, actually means the intention or decision to do something. It can also mean a detailed design or drawing. This definition has inherent problems. Think about it. What if someone means that they intend to do something, but you take it that they have decided to do it. For instance, if I tell the kids I plan to take them to Little Indian Creek on Monday, it can taken two different ways. They want to go to the creek and they heard me say that I’m planning to do it. So they understand that I am working out all the details so we can go to the creek. They tell their friends that we’re going to the creek. They make plans, detailed arrangements. On the other hand, I have told the kids that I’m planning to take them to the creek, so if it is raining or something else comes up, we won’t go. When something else comes up and we can’t go, they are incredibly disappointed because their definition of the word “plan” didn’t match my definition.

It’s the same with building plans. When the builder has the plans in front of him, he has the detailed instructions for putting the house together. But sometimes as he’s building, it becomes obvious that building a certain way is not going to work. When I sketched the plans for the upstairs and sent them to the architect, I’d forgotten one important thing. The upstairs bedrooms don’t have eight-foot ceilings all the way across the room. We have a steeply slanted roof. The ceiling may start out at eight feet, but about halfway across the room, the ceiling slants because it’s the other side of the roof. This is a problem for the closets I planned. In one room, they’d have been great! In the other room, the closet would have been in that slanted area and would have been a terrible closet in which to hang clothes. It is a good lesson for us that even when the plans are written down in ink, sometimes reality necessitates changing those plans.

So then we read Jeremiah 29:11. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. We have experienced changing plans. What kind of plans are these? Is God making something happen or is this changeable? Sometimes it’s helpful to read the verse in other translations.

The KJV says: For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

Young’s Literal Translation says: For I have known the thoughts that I am thinking towards you -- an affirmation of Jehovah; thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give to you posterity and hope.

The NIV says: For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

The lexicon shows that this word can be translated “plan, device, thought, intention, purpose.” So that’s not exactly helpful in determining the definition. So, as in many cases in the Hebrew, we have to look at the context. The KJV has a wonderful phrase at the end of the verse “to give you an expected end.” This lends credence to the idea that God’s plans are dependable. Young’s Literal Translation has a great rendering: “an affirmation of Jehovah.” Sometimes we forget that when God says something, it’s an affirmation. It’s dependable. When God says something, it is definite. It’s a promise because God cannot lie. He’s Sovereign. He works all things to the good for those who love Him and who are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).

But there’s one other part of the definition of the word “plan.” It’s in the future. When I tell the kids that I plan to take them to the creek, they might think I mean tomorrow. I might mean when it works in my schedule. Similarly, just because you have house plans doesn’t mean the building will go according to plan. You might plan to have it all done in three months. It rarely goes that smoothly. Something usually interrupts those plans.

So when God told the exiles in Babylon that He had plans for their good, to give them a future and a hope, they had to realize that God would work out His plan in His time. It wasn’t going to be any time soon. He told them earlier in chapter 29 to settle down, to build houses, to plant vineyards, to marry off their children and have more children - and to pray for the prosperity of the land where they’d been taken captive.

It’s a good lesson for us. First, we have to remember that God’s plans for us, if we belong to Him, will ultimately be for our good. But you can’t use Jeremiah 29:11 to encourage someone that things are going to be good immediately. There were seventy years before the exiles returned from Babylon. Some of them died in captivity. Yet, even for those who died, when Jesus returns, they will experience that promised future. Secondly, when we are planning something, we have to be careful about stating our plans as an absolute. “We are definitely going to do this or that.” The reality is that we don’t have much control over the future. That’s under God’s control. James 4:13-15 says, Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” Our lives are completely in God’s hands - and that includes all of our plans.

Sabbath, June 20th
Words
Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to all the word with which the LORD your God sends you to us. Jeremiah 42:5

They say the first thing you should teach a puppy is to “sit.” I can understand the logic behind that! Think about it: if you can get a puppy to sit still for 5 seconds, you might have the chance to get him to listen to whatever you want him to do!

For children, it’s a little different. I think the first thing most parents teach their children, at least verbally, is “no.” That little two-letter word has a wealth of implications behind it. It carries with it the idea that the child is to stop and desist immediately, whether he knows why or not. The child learns that disobeying the “no” means swift intervention from his parents. He learns, in that little word, that he must obey if he wants things to be pleasant.

This is true in the language of the Ten Commandments, specifically (and ironically) in the 5th commandment: “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” Obedience to this commandment carried with it the promise of things being pleasant; that is, that his days would be long in the land.

God’s people knew that obedience to God’s word carried blessings. Disobedience carried curses. When they first entered the Promised Land, half of the tribes stood on Mt. Ebal and half stood on Mt. Gerizim (Deuteronomy 11:29). They heard the blessings and cursing. They heard the consequences of obedience and disobedience.

The remnant of the people, those left after Nebuchadnezzar had taken the rest of Judah captive to Babylon, knew this history. It was these people who came to Jeremiah and asked him to go to God on their behalf. They were scared. They wanted to know what to do. Should they stay in the land? Should they go to Egypt for protection? Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to all the word with which the LORD your God sends you to us (Jeremiah 42:5). This is amazing! They said that God Himself would be their witness. God would hold them accountable if they didn’t do whatever Jeremiah told them after he went to God for direction. But that’s not all. They continued, “Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God to whom we are sending you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God” (Jeremiah 42:6) Regardless of whether they liked what Jeremiah told them from God, they were going to do it. This sounds good. They went to God for direction and expressed their desire to follow His leading.

The rest of the story is not so rosy. Ten days later, Jeremiah came back with the word from the LORD. He told them to stay in the land, not to go to Egypt. The people immediately responded that Jeremiah is lying to them and they’re going to Egypt.

It’s mind-boggling that they could even respond this way! After they’d told Jeremiah they’d do whatever he said, that God was the witness against them, that whether it was good or bad - they would do it, it’s absolutely amazing that this is their response!

And yet, it’s human nature. When we’re faced with a frightening situation, we promise God all sorts of things. Then, when we come face to face with our part of the bargain, we try to weasel out of our promises. We rationalize that God wouldn’t really want us to do THAT. Jephthah comes to mind (Judges 11). You’re probably right. God would not have thought to ask you to do that particular thing. But once you’ve promised to do something, God expects you to fulfill that vow. In Numbers 30:1-2, we find this: Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes of the people of Israel, saying, “This is what the Lord has commanded. If a man vows a vow to the Lord, or an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.”

Jesus told his disciples that they should not take an oath. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil (Matthew 5:37).

God takes what you say very seriously. When you say you’re going to do something, you need to do exactly what you say. Psalm 15 starts, “O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill?” Then there’s a whole list of honorable characteristics. Embedded in this list, in the middle of verse 4, is this: who swears to his own hurt and does not change. Whatever you’ve said you’re going to do, even if it turns out bad for you, you are expected to keep your word - if you want to dwell with God.

Obedience matters to God. Doing what He says matters. And what you say you will do matters as well. Consider carefully your words. In the words of a song, “Words can build you up; words can break you down.”

Sabbath, June 27th

Great is God’s Faithfulness
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23

We don’t use the word cease a lot. We sometimes hear it in phrases like, “Cease and desist,” or “The wind ceased,” or “He never ceases to amaze me.” Cease simply means “to come to an end, to stop.” We can think of lots of stuff which will come to an end: someday we will all cease to breathe; the annual blueberry crop will cease; the spring rains will cease. But there are fewer things which will never cease: eternity, infinity, and the steadfast love of the LORD.

The author of Lamentations, likely Jeremiah, pairs the next phrase as a couplet to the first. Not only will the steadfast love of the LORD never cease, His mercies will never come to an end. That’s incredibly comforting to think about. God’s steadfast love and His mercy never stops! The author goes on to say that God’s love and mercy are new every morning, that God is so incredibly faithful.

Think about where this verse is found. It’s found in the middle of the book of Lamentations. It’s found in the middle of the book which is mourning the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of the people of Judah. It’s a book of deep sadness over the consequences of turning away from God and God’s subsequent wrath and judgment upon the people who have turned away.

And yet, in the middle of the book, here’s this verse.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23

God, in His great mercy, gives us a taste of what this is like. This is like making your mom and dad so angry because of what you have chosen to do, but the next morning, they still tell you they love you. They might still be angry and there will still be consequences to your actions, but you are still their kid and they still love you.

The author hints at the great wrath of God in verse 23. In stating that “they are new every morning,” there’s an implication that God’s love and mercy has been sorely tested, so He’s bringing punishment upon His people. It’s a result of turning away from God. It’s God’s judgment, but the calamity is also designed to bring the people to repentance. The affliction and suffering has a purpose. If they will repent, God - in His steadfast love and mercy - is willing to restore them and bring them back into a relationship with Him.

The reality is this: God’s punishment, the suffering and affliction that are inflicted upon the people, the realization of the curses - this is discipline, corrective and loving discipline. If the people turn back to God and seek Him with their whole heart, then they will be restored eventually.

It’s much like training the puppy. He has to be taught not to chew on things, not to aggravate the other dogs, not to bite, and to stay down. If he learns, the relationship improves with his master. If he will not learn, he is punished. Rolled up newspapers and banishment to the kennel work wonders in changing the mindset of a puppy. But if he persists in biting, he cannot live with us. We cannot have a dog who could inflict pain on the family or on visitors. We will get rid of him. So we give him time. Is he going to learn? Is he getting better? Is it enough?

There is a limit to God’s willingness to allow people to reject Him. Their sinfulness is not good for them and it’s not good for the people around them. God will deal with rebellion and sin. But God is patient and merciful. The KJV states Lamentations 3:22 this way: It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. Because God is so long suffering, we are not destroyed immediately. When we sin, there isn’t an immediate thunderbolt which strikes us dead on the spot - usually.

It’s a message of hope. But it’s also a message of warning. We cannot continue to disregard God and His laws and hope to live blessed lives. God’s our Creator. He’s the Potter. He makes the rules. He gets to tell us what pleases Him and how to live so that life works right. He’s the One who made it - He should know. But He also has the right to destroy us if we refuse to live according to His way.

Take the message to heart. Turn to God and repent of your sins. Seek Him with your whole heart. Sometimes I think we humans are as stubborn and stupid as our five month-old puppy. The jury is still out on whether he’s going to be a good dog or not. What about you?

Sabbath, July 4th
Abominations or Obedience
And because of all your abominations I will do with you what I have never yet done, and the like of which I will never do again. Ezekiel 5:9

Recently a friend sent me a child-rearing idea. You start with a bag of candy, the kids, and the time in the car. Every time they misbehave, you throw a piece of candy out of the car. It’s an interesting idea, but it’s only one in a long list of ideas generated to get kids to behave.

My second grade teacher liked to put a small circle in chalk on the chalkboard. When you misbehaved in class, you had to put your nose in that circle. The circle was small enough that you really couldn’t move, but worst of all, your back was to the class, so you really didn’t know who was watching you and making fun of your punishment.

My older brother’s fifth grade teacher had a box of ABC gum. If you were caught chewing gum in his class, you had to put your piece into the box and choose another piece to chew. Somehow things were a little different 41 years ago.

Child-rearing ideas, disciplinary actions, usually share a trait: the parent (or teacher) will tell the child what the punishment for their bad behavior will be. God does the same thing. God tells His people what their consequences will be if they continue to sin. Think about the major and minor prophets in the Bible. Do you know who was the most ancient of these prophets to Judah? It was Joel! And he prophesied during Joash’s reign! Joash’s reign was before Uzziah, Hezekiah, and Josiah! Joel prophesied during the 9th century. Judah was taken into captivity to Babylon in the 6th century! Think about Joel. Some of his prophesies apply not just to the fall of Jerusalem, but are fulfilled in a larger sense at the Day of the Lord, what we today call the end times.

Deuteronomy 28 tells the blessings for obedience (vs. 1-14) and the curses for disobedience (vs. 15-68). The curses talk about things not going well, diseases, pestilence, wild animal attacks, blight, mildew, drought, insanity, oppression, and famine. In verse 52, God warns that they will be besieged by the enemy and the resulting famine will be so severe that eventually mothers and fathers will eat their own children. That’s unthinkable! We don’t want to think about things getting so bad that we’d eat pork or other unclean meats. That’s against God’s dietary laws after all. But to think that things would get so bad that we’d even consider eating our own children is so terrible, we don’t even let our minds consider it for a moment. And yet, it’s recorded in Deuteronomy 28 as one of the curses for disobedience. And it’s recorded again in Ezekiel 5:9-10: And because of all your abominations I will do with you what I have never yet done, and the like of which I will never do again. Therefore fathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers. And I will execute judgments on you, and any of you who survive I will scatter to all the winds.

When you stop to consider God’s warning for disobedience, what the consequences are going to be, they are heart-wrenching. You’ll lose your country. You’ll lose all of your possession. You’ll lose your freedom. You’ll lose your family. And things will get so bad, you may even eat your own family members.

This is bad.

Still, think about why it’s recorded for us to read. Think about why Mr. Deal told his fifth graders what would happen if they chewed gum in his class. Think about why Mrs. Douglas warned the class about putting their nose in the circle on the chalkboard. Think about why a parent would throw a piece of candy out the car window. You’re told ahead of time so that you will change your behavior. You won’t do the thing that will cause the consequence. Mr. Deal never forced someone to chew gum out of his ABC box who hadn’t broken his gum rule. Mrs. Douglas never put someone’s nose into the circle on the chalkboard who wasn’t misbehaving. Parents don’t just throw candy out the window for the animals along the road to eat.

Similarly, God’s consequences happen because of your sins, your iniquity, your abominations. You can choose not to go that direction, to do those things that are displeasing to God, to break His laws.

Perhaps you are concerned that you’re not going to make the right choices. That’s likely God working in your life, calling you to a deeper relationship with Him. If you haven’t accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, then perhaps it’s God calling you to repentance, acceptance of Jesus, and baptism. If you already have made that commitment, then perhaps it’s a call to a deeper relationship with God, one in which you are letting the Holy Spirit lead you into better choices. Because, make no mistake, God does not make idle threats. God punishes those who transgress His laws. God will not look the other way, accept all your excuses, give you a “bye.” God will, because He is righteous and just, He will punish all evil doers.

Don’t you think it’s time to consider your ways, to ask God for His help in changing your life around, to walk worthy of the calling you have receive? I know I want to be counted worthy to escape the tribulation that will come upon the whole world (Luke 21:36). What about you?

Sabbath, July 11th
Turn, and Live

For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live.” Ezekiel 18:32

There’s an old joke: Three men were standing with signs alongside a busy road. The pastor’s sign read, “Repent! The end is near.” The priest’s sign read, “Turn around before it’s too late.” The rabbi’s sign read, “Turn, and live.” As the first car drove by, the driver leaned out his window and yelled, “Leave us alone, you religious nuts.” As he sped around the corner, the three men heard a squeal of tires and a splash. The pastor looked at the other two and said, “Maybe we should have just told him the bridge was out.”

What makes the joke so ironic is that, if the three men had held signs which talked specifically about the bridge, the motorist probably would have chosen another route. But because people expect religious leaders to warn them about their lifestyle choices, that God’s wrath is coming because of those choices, and because they don’t want to be told they are in danger of judgment and serious repercussions, they ignore the warning. People will stop if told the bridge is out, but won’t stop if told God’s wrath will hit them in exactly the same place.

God sent His prophets to warn His people for centuries! And those warnings have been preserved for our benefit today. But someone will say that they don’t apply to us, that they are Old Testament. Their reasoning is that today we are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, so we don’t have to obey God’s laws anymore. Really?! So God felt that His laws were so important that He sent Israel into exile and Judah into captivity, and He sent His Son to die because the people were transgressing them, but now we don’t have to live by them anymore? So murder was wrong in the Old Testament, but we can kill people today and the blood of Christ will cover that? I don’t think so.

So someone might say that we just have to do the best we can and God understands when we fall short. Okay, so if I have a problem with taking things that aren’t mine - something that other people would call theft - it’s okay if I slip a necklace worth hundreds of dollars into my pocket. Well, no. The jewelry store owner wouldn’t agree that I’d done the best I could and so he’d just let me keep the necklace without paying for it. That’s ludicrous.

What about cleaning your room? Your mom tells you to go do it. You go upstairs and get distracted by a toy that you find under your bed that you haven’t seen for months. When she calls you down for supper, she asks if you’ve cleaned your room. You look at her with guilty eyes and say that you forgot. How well is that going to fly? Does she just pat you on the head and say, “Well, I know you tried. So we’ll just consider it done”? Of course not! Not only is the room not clean, you disobeyed her. That’s not acceptable!

The reality is that God is very patient with us. He takes no pleasure in the death of anyone. He very much wants people who will seek Him with all of their hearts. So He did send His Son that we would no longer be slaves to sin, caught by our carnal nature so that we could not please Him. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to choose the godly choice. But we still have to choose it.

1 Peter 4:17 says, “For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”

In Revelation 2 and 3, John recorded what Jesus told him to write to the angels of the churches. In each case, He said, “I know your deeds.” To those who were disobedient, he told them to repent, to turn, to change their behavior, to overcome.

It matters a great deal what you do. God really does care whether you obey Him, follow His commandments, seek His ways for your life! If you’re having trouble doing that in a certain area, pray and ask for help. Ask first for forgiveness for disobeying Him. Then ask Him to provide the strength and conviction to do what is right. Then make the tough choices. There’s a reckoning coming just ahead - and it’s more than just the bridge being out.

Sabbath, July 18th
When God Claps His Hands
I also will clap my hands, and I will satisfy my fury; I the LORD have spoken. Ezekiel 21:17

Why do you clap your hands? Sometimes it’s to show appreciation for a performance. Sometimes it’s an expression of great joy! Sometimes it’s to get someone’s attention.

Isaiah 55:12 talks about the trees clapping their hands. But trees don’t have hands. This is an analogy of God’s people expressing great joy!

In Psalm 47:1, the people are told to clap their hands, to shout to God with the voice of triumph. The word that is translated “clap” in this verse is translated “blow” when it’s talking about sounding the trumpet, as in Numbers 10. So this kind of clap is to make a sound.

In Numbers 24:10, Balak is so disgusted at Balaam for not cursing the Israelites that he strikes his hands together. This kind of clapping happens as an expression of derision or indignation or punishment.

But none of these is why God claps his hands in Ezekiel 21:17. Here the word “clap” is translated “smite” in the KJV. It means “to strike, smite, hit, beat, slay, or kill.” This is not clapping you hands when you’re playing around; this is clapping your hands with the intent of hurting someone.

I also will clap my hands, and I will satisfy my fury; I the LORD have spoken. Ezekiel 21:17

Earlier in the same chapter, God tells Ezekiel, “As for you, son of man, prophesy. Clap your hands and let the sword come down twice, yes, three times, the sword for those to be slain. It is the sword for the great slaughter, which surrounds them . . .” (Ezekiel 21:14). What Ezekiel is doing is warning the people with the clapping of his hands. He’s letting them know that serious judgment is coming. He claps his hands and brings the sword down three times. It is a call for judgment to begin. Then God says that He also will clap His hands.

I also will clap my hands, and I will satisfy my fury; I the LORD have spoken. Ezekiel 21:17

The definition of the word “clap” and the context of the word both indicate that a time came for Jerusalem when God had had enough of their rebellion, their idolatry, their violence, and their perverseness. He sent Babylon to slaughter and take captives. And yet, as you read through Ezekiel, you get the sense that God isn’t just talking to Jerusalem. He is talking to us, to those of us living in the last days before the return of Jesus Christ. He has almost had enough of our rebellion, our idolatry, our violence, and our perverseness. He’s going to clap His hands. It will be the sound of the start of His judgment on the earth. He’s going to open up the bowls of wrath. He’s going to bring the sword on that great and terrible Day of the Lord.

And his fury will be satisfied. There will be no more rebellion, no more sin, no more violence, and no more pain.

The time is just before us. As we watch world events unfold, as we see the terrible decisions that are made by our governmental leaders, we wonder if our iniquity is full yet - if God had had enough.

Now is the time to seek Him. Now is the time to make sure that you have a relationship with the great God of the universe. Now is the time to repent and turn from doing your own thing. God will clap His hands. But afterwards, the trees of the field, God’s people, will clap their hands for joy because sin and every evil thing is gone.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I’ll ever think about clapping my hands the same way again.

Sabbath, July 25th
Search and Seek
For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. Ezekiel 34:11

Kids love to play hide and seek. My dogs love searching to see what they can find. Jennifer loves seeking for rocks with holes in them. But looking for a potential treasure is different from searching for something that you’ve misplaced. If you’ve ever lost something important, you know how desperately you search, almost panic-stricken, to find it. I did that with a set of keys once. I searched all through my apartment, looking in places I knew they couldn’t possibly be, but I looked anyway because I’d looked everywhere else.

Ezekiel 34:11 talks about a time when God searches for His sheep. For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out (Ezekiel 34:11). The word “Lord” is the Hebrew “Adonai.” GOD is the masculine, proper noun form of Jehovah.

We’re familiar with the idea of God being a shepherd. The most familiar of the Psalms begins with “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1). In John 10:14, Jesus states, “I am the good shepherd,” and in verse 27, He says, “My sheep hear my voice.” In Isaiah 40:11, we find: “He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.”

There’s a wonderful picture here of God taking care of His people. That’s how the NIV renders Ezekiel 34:11: For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them.

In verse 16, God describes how He will care for the sheep that He gathers. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.

But why does God have to search for His sheep and seek them out? They are lost. Why are they lost? Because the shepherd who were given the job of caring for the sheep have not done a good job. They’ve taken advantage of the sheep. They’ve used the sheep for their own benefit, not for the good of the sheep. But we’re not really taking about sheep, are we? We’re talking about the religious leaders who know what is right, but they take advantage of their leadership role to get power or prestige or riches - and the people suffer. They are not exhorted and encouraged to follow God. They are not led in a Godly way.

We know that the Pharisees were so bad, they did such a poor job of being good shepherds for God’s people, that Jesus called them a “brood of vipers” (Matthew 23:33) and hypocrites (Matthew 23:13, 23, 25, 27, 29). Even today, if someone calls you a Pharisee, it’s not a compliment.

So there’s a lesson here for us. We need to be careful about who we listen to. We may like what a Bible teacher says, but we need to check it out to make sure they are accurate. We have a distinct advantage today because we all have our own copy of the Bible. We can read the verses for ourselves. But we still have to listen with careful ears. Think about what is being said. Don’t just believe it because someone you like said it. Don’t disregard it just because you don’t particularly like the way they said it. Listen carefully. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21, KJV).

And really, the best option is to keep in mind that Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd. We are not really looking to a person to lead us; people are fallible and make mistakes. We need to keep our eyes on Jesus Christ, to listen to His voice. Reading your Bible daily and praying every day helps you to keep your eyes on Him.

Every day I take my three dogs for a walk. My two black labs wander and search for things all over the place, often out of my sight. My puppy vigorously searches too, but he stays so close that I when I’m ready to go inside, I don’t have to seek for him; he’s right there. That’s where we need to be - so close to Jesus Christ that He doesn’t need to go searching for us at the end of the day.

Sabbath, August 1st
The LORD is There
The circumference of the city shall be 18,000 cubits. And the name of the city from that time on shall be, The LORD Is There.” Ezekiel 48:35

Kids get homesick. It doesn’t matter whether it’s summer camp or visiting relatives. It doesn’t matter whether they’re eighteen months or eighteen years. There’s something built within us that wants to be home. We want to be where we belong.

But it’s really more than just being in a certain place. It’s being with the family you love. From the time that babies are aware enough to realize that they’re separate from mom, they start feeling anxiety if mom isn’t in sight. Even when we’re older, if mom isn’t in the house, we feel very acutely that something is missing. My family laughs about it, but the reality is that our new puppy follows me around. He wants to be where I am. If I’m folding clothes upstairs, he’s under the bed with just his head poking out to watch me. If I’m doing dishes, he’s in the kitchen. If I’m in the living room, he’s lying behind my chair. He just wants to be where I am.

I wonder how long it will be before Pepper grows out of this phase. Perhaps he’ll gradually decide that I’m not really doing anything that interesting and quit following me around. After all, that’s kind of what happens with kids. They get older and get less and less dependent upon mom.

And yet . . . there’s still something about being home, about being where you belong, that resonates with all of us. We go on vacation. It could be the most beautiful place on earth. We could spend lots of time and money getting there, and yet, we don’t really belong there. It’s still beautiful, but we’re left feeling like something is missing. We can visit, but it’s not home.

This feeling of searching for something, of not being satisfied, has been around for a very long time. Since the place is not sufficient to satisfy what we want, we try different activities. Some people try to satisfy themselves with every pleasure imaginable: chocolate, television, reading, sky diving, walking, gardening, Mine Craft - whatever it is that you do that gives you pleasure. But it’s never enough. It doesn’t satisfy the longing for very long for something, or someone. Real Christians believe that God is the answer to the longing that we feel.

Augustine, who lived in the later half of the fourth century, said: “You have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.” Pascal (1623-1662) put it this way, “There is a godshaped vacuum in the heart of every man, and only God can fill it.” Here’s the idea: God has made us to want Him and we are not satisfied until we find Him. It makes me think of Matthew 11:28-30: Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” When we find Christ, we find rest; we are settled and satisfied.

So with all of that in mind, here’s Ezekiel 48:35: The circumference of the city shall be 18,000 cubits. And the name of the city from that time on shall be, The LORD Is There.” This is the only place in the Bible this name is found - Jehovah Shammah - the LORD is There. I don’t know if this is meant to be an actual, physical city, or if this is a spiritual concept. But the result is the same: there will be a place where God is. This city will be in the midst of the inheritance of His people. I believe this is the place where God’s people will want to be. We will want to be there because that’s where God is. That’s where we’ll finally feel like we’re home.

Sabbath, August 8th
Gifts From God
As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. Daniel 1:17

Have you ever thought about the gift(s) that God has given you? I know a little girl who is a natural with horses. I know a young lady who has a great eye for color and the ability to make incredibly even crochet stitches. I know a young man who has been a kid magnet since he was little. I know another young man who has a knack for figuring out how things work.

When I was little, I wanted very much to learn to play the piano. I wanted, someday, to play for hymns at the Feast of Tabernacles. Later, when I was in high school and working at a steak house, they hired me to play the piano during the evening one day a week to bring in more patrons. As for me, I couldn’t believe they were actually paying me to play the piano. It just doesn’t get any better than that!! Because I felt that way, many people asked why I didn’t get my teaching degree in music. But I didn’t want my music to be my job. I wanted to be able to use music to praise God, to be my way of relaxing and getting my priorities straight again.

Francis Havergal had an incredible gift from God: a fantastic voice, and, coming from a wealthy family, she had a lot of options open to her. She decided, rather, to sing only for the glory of God. We sing her hymn today, “Take My Life and Let It Be Consecrated to Thee.” Not only did she use her vocal talents for the glory of God in traveling revivals, she also gave away most of her wealth to help the less fortunate. She used her God-given gifts for the glory of God.

I couldn’t help thinking of Francis Havergal when I read Daniel 1:17: As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. God blessed Hananiah, Azariah, Mishael, and Daniel with learning and skill in all literature and wisdom. We know that Hananiah, Azariah, and Meshael demonstrated that wisdom in not bowing down to Nebuchadnezzar’s idol regardless of the consequences, but we don’t know how they used the learning and skill in all literature. We are, however, told that they rose to promient positions of authority in Babylon. Similarly, we know Daniel used his understanding of dreams and visions to interpret dreams for both Nebucadnezzar and Belshazzar.

These four youths used their gifts in glory to God, and I believe Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael are commended for their faith in Hebrews 11 in the phrases - “quenched the power of the fire” and Daniel in “stopped the mouths of lions.”

These young men used their God-given gifts, in faith, to glorify God - regardless of the situation in which they found themselves. They didn’t bow to the pressure of living in captivity in Babylon. They didn’t despair and give up because Jerusalem had fallen. They didn’t quit serving God because life was so different. In fact, they continued to seek God, to worship only Him, even when it was against the law to do so.

It wasn’t easy for these four youths to persevere. They were seriously tested in their faith. But they stood firm and they were rewarded. That’s why the results of their faithfulness are recorded in Hebrews 11:32-35a: Because of their faith in God, they “through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection”.

But there were other faithful, who remained faithful, even when the outcome wasn’t so rosy in this life. The rest of the list in Hebrews 11 isn’t as easy to embrace: “Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect” (Hebrews 11:35b-40).

There are a couple of lessons here for us. First, God gave you a gift, a talent, to use. Do you know what your gift is? Secondly, are you using it for God? Even when it’s hard to do the right thing, are you glorifying God with your life, with your talent? Do you seek to please God only when it’s easy and convenient? Or do you seek to please Him with your heart, soul, mind, and spirit? Are you willing to remain faithful even if you don’t see the reward in this life?

God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6), seek to serve Him with all of who they are and what they have - even when it’s very hard, even if it means you have to suffer. Here’s the challenge: Resolve to serve God with all of who your are and all of what you have. Like Francis Havergal, like Hananiah, Azariah, Mishael, and Daniel, live your life totally dedicated to serving the One who gave you life. That’s wisdom and understanding. And that’s your reasonable worship of the One who gave you your gift in the first place.

Sabbath, August 15th
Mighty To Save
If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. Daniel 3:17

When I was a kid, we lived in Casper, Wyoming. In those days, Casper didn’t use salt on the city streets. They’d plow, but oftentimes the streets would be snow- and ice-packed most of the winter. So many people would put chains on the tires of their cars. As the main thoroughfares were more traveled, sometimes the asphalt would start to peek through. When that happened, Mom would take the side streets to work because otherwise she’d have to take the chains off the car. There was no sense in doing that: winter wasn’t over; she was going to need them again soon. One day, she was driving to work on the side streets. As she came down the hill, she saw a pick-up coming on a cross street. She knew there was no way she would avoid being hit. She couldn’t stop on the slick streets. He couldn’t stop. So she closed her eyes . . . and when she opened them again, both of them were on the other side of the intersection. Somehow, there hadn’t been a collision.

I love that story, but it’s just one story that I could share with you about how something unexplainable happened. Mom believes it was God. Could she prove it? No. But she believes it nonetheless.

I could tell you about Ken and Dan and a serpentine engine belt. I could tell you about a close encounter with a train coming home from work late one night. I could tell you about Buster stumbling and how I suddenly found myself looking up at a 2000-lb. gelding - who wondered why I was on the ground with his front hooves against my side.

There is no doubt in my mind that our God is mighty to save. This particular story about Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael is one of my favorites. King Nebuchadnezzar had constructed a golden idol. He was requiring everyone to bow down and worship the idol when they heard the music playing. Certain Chaldeans brought it to Nebuchadnezzar’s attention that Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael were not obeying his decree. When the king brought them before him, he told them to obey or he would throw them into the furnace. Their response demonstrates so much faith in our great God! “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up” (Daniel 3:16-18).

These three young men were determined to obey God. It didn’t matter if they faced death. They had resolved to obey God no matter what.

It’s a great example for us. We are faced with choices every day. Should we tell a little lie so someone doesn’t get mad at us? Should I yell at my brother because he’s bothering me? Should I be disrespectful to my mom because she just doesn’t understand that I have things to do and I’ll do what she wants later? It’s not just kids who find excuses for disobeying God, for not following His ways. People take God’s name in vain - both when they misuse God’s name and when they claim to be a Christian but don’t act as a Christian should. People break the fourth commandment - they work on the Sabbath because they feel like they have to make enough money to live. People break the sixth commandment when they are so angry at someone else that they feel like they hate that person; they want something really bad to happen to them.

It’s easy to talk about keeping God’s commandments. It’s a lot harder to actually do it - and to bring every thought into submission to Jesus Christ. And we have lots of excuses to explain why we do what we do. But these three young men didn’t waver. In the face of death, they steadfastly refused to break God’s commandments. The part that I especially love is that they proclaimed God’s ability to save them - but their obedience didn’t depend upon whether God saved them or not. They chose to obey God at all costs.

Are we like these three young men? Are we willing to do the hard things, to take the heat (so to speak) for our decisions, to resolve to obey God no matter what? It’s not a matter of not knowing that God can save us. We have experienced His mighty hand. It’s a matter of whether we will do the right thing whether He demonstrates His might or not. Are we willing to serve Him, to glorify Him, to honor Him with our very lives? Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael did.

Sabbath, August 22nd
In The Lions’ Den
My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm. Daniel 6:22

What kind of man was Daniel?

He was a man of integrity, doing what was right regardless of who was watching (Daniel 1:8; 6:10). Daniel refused to eat the king’s delicacies. Daniel also continued to pray to God, as had been his habit, despite the law of the land to the contrary.

He was a man of compassion (Daniel 2:12; 2:24). When Nebuchadnezzar sought to kill the wise men, magicians, and enchanters, Daniel didn’t ask that just he and his friends be spared, he asked that none of the wise men be killed.

He was a man of humility, not taking honor and glory when it wasn’t his (Daniel 2:27-30). When Nebuchadnezzar wanted his dream revealed and interpreted, Daniel made it very clear that it was God who revealed the mystery and made it known to Daniel.

Daniel wasn’t interested in what he could get short-term; he was interested in serving God first. When Belshazzar wanted Daniel to interpret the handwriting on the wall and offered to give Daniel wealth and make him the third co-ruler in the kingdom, Daniel refused (Daniel 5:17). He said, “Let your gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to another. Nevertheless, I will read the writing to the king and make known to him the interpretation.”

Daniel was greatly beloved by God (Daniel 9:23).

In our human reasoning, we think about who Daniel was, what his character was like, and we assume that we “get it,” we understand why God sent the angel to shut the lions’ mouths. And maybe God did shut the lions’ mouths because Daniel was blameless before Him.

But then we’d be making the same mistake Job’s three friends made. We’d be guilty of thinking that the righteous are always rescued: good things happen to the godly; and the wicked are always punished: bad things happen to you if you don’t follow God’s laws. In a sense, this is true. There is coming a day when we will all stand before the judgment seat of God and give an account of our lives to Him - all our deeds and every idle word (Matthew 12:36, 1 Peter 4:17, Revelation 20:12). Yes, it is only through the blood of Jesus Christ that we will be given salvation and eternal life. But we demonstrate that we have been saved by what we do (Romans 6:15; James 1-22-25; James 2:18-19; Hebrews 4:11; Matthew 12:33).

Nevertheless, in this life, the godly don’t always prosper, and the wicked don’t always fail to prosper. God doesn’t, at this time, always punish the wicked and bless His servants as we might expect (Psalm 73; Matthew 5:45).

Think again about the kind of man Daniel was: humble, compassionate, a man of honor and integrity, wise and gentle, a man greatly beloved by God.

There was another man who was greatly beloved by God - Jesus, the Son of God (Matthew 3:17). He was humble and compassionate, a man of honor and integrity, wise and gentle. And yet, God the Father didn’t rescue Him from the cross, from the excruciating pain or the shame. There was a purpose being fulfilled which involved suffering and death.

Somehow we have to get our minds wrapped around the fact that this life is not the goal. This life is a training ground for what is to come. What a sad thing to focus on being blessed in this life and then miss out on God’s kingdom! We can’t live our lives thinking that if something good happens to us then God must be pleased with us. Similarly, we can’t live our lives thinking that if something bad happens, we must not be in God’s will. God’s given us the Bible. We know what pleases Him. We have been given His laws to live by - not because keeping God’s laws will save us. No! We keep God’s laws because we love Him (1 John 5:3), because we trust Him, because we believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior. Because we believe that Jesus’ blood has bought us (1 Corinthians 7:23), that we belong to Him, we live to obey His commandments because we are His. It’s our reasonable act of worship (Romans 12:1)!

Living a godly life, according to God’s laws, means that regardless of what happens, we do what is right. We keep God’s commandments as they are written in the Bible - because that’s what God’s people do - regardless of whether or not God rescues us from the lions’ den.

Sabbath, August 29th
Wise or Foolish
And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. Daniel 12:3

Ron has a saying taped to his study wall, something like this: Age and wisdom don’t necessary go together; sometimes age shows up all by itself. We laugh, but, in reality, we humans do some incredibly foolish things. Why, just today, I thought it’d be a good idea to grind up the Burning Bush Habaneros that I’d finished dehydrating without protective goggles and a face mask. I was okay until I started sneezing and I decided to blow my nose. The force of blowing my nose caused a particle or two to waft into my eye. I’m here to tell you that burning bush habaneros are hot and do not produce a good result when they come into contact with eyes. It was one of my more recent foolish actions, but alas, not my only one. I’m fairly good at doing things which are foolish.

I could have said stupid, unwise, or short-sighted, but I chose “foolish” as the antonym for “wise” because that’s how Jesus phrased these opposites on more than one occasion. There are the 10 virgins of Matthew 25 - five were foolish and five were wise. Then there’s the wise man of Matthew 7 who built his house on the rock compared to the foolish man who built his house on the sand.

Proverbs and Ecclesiastes are likewise full of the contrast between wise and foolish.

A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back (Proverbs 29:11).

The words of a wise man's mouth win him favor, but the lips of a fool consume him (Eccles. 10:12).

And then there are those who think they are wise. Proverbs 26:12 says, “Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.” Romans 1:21-22 states there are those who knew God, but “they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools.”

This foolishness is not the stupid, careless, short-sighted, thoughtless foolishness that afflicts us all at times. This foolishness is the arrogant, prideful, self-seeking and self-serving foolishness which says that the person knows better than God. This foolish person does not give God the glory and honor and thanks that is God’s due. It is God who made this world and everything in it. It is foolish to pat yourself on the back for being so wise. The wisdom that we may have is a gift from God and falls far short of His wisdom.

It is foolish to talk too much. It is foolish to be out of control, to not have control of your emotions. And while it might be short-sighted to build your house on the sand, Jesus was actually using that illustration to show how foolish it is to hear God’s word and to ignore it - to know what God’s word says and do what you want to do anyway. Similarly, it is foolish not to prepare for Jesus’ coming. And yes, it is foolish to be so arrogant that you think you can fool around with burning bush habaneros without some sort of protective gear.

I don’t want to be foolish. I want to seek God and live according to His ways. His ways work - and they should because God is the One who designed this world. He’s the Master Building. Don’t you think His instruction manual is the one we should follow?

Part of His instruction manual, the Bible, tells us that we need to be a light to those around us (Matthew 5:14-16) that they may see our good deeds and give glory to the Father. We need to be ready to give an account for why we believe to anyone who would ask (1 Peter 3:15). We must live such godly lives that even if people around us revile us, they will give God the glory when Jesus returns (1 Peter 2:12).

Living a godly life shows wisdom because it shows your fear of the Lord (Psalm 111:10, Proverbs 9:10). But living a godly life also can be used by God to impact the people around you (Isaiah 52:7, Romans 10:15). Living for Jesus, being an ambassador for God, that’s worth living for!! And Daniel says, “And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.” Daniel 12:3

Let’s be wise. Let’s live our lives in service to the One who made us and has given us all things. Let’s be done with foolishness!

Sabbath, September 5th
Folly
For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. Hosea 6:6

My good college friends, Tom and Tina, bought a sheltie, an intelligent, lady-like dog that they had a lot of fun training. They named her “Folly” - because they weren’t so sure having a dog was a good idea. But Folly was easy to train. She did the normal “sit,” “lay,” “beg,” “stay.” But she also did a “play dead.” Their version of that was that she would lie in what my kids call the “road kill position.” Tom and Tina also trained Folly to go sit with her nose in the corner whenever she’d done something bad. One of my favorite stories about Folly’s intelligence is the time Tom told her to “play dead.” She “played dead” so long that she fell asleep. When she awoke, she got up . . . and then remembered that she’d been told to “play dead.” She put herself in the corner because she’d misbehaved.

As the owner of a terrier-mix puppy, I smile at the thought of Pepper putting himself into the corner when he misbehaves. He’d never leave the corner. I was talking to a kennel owner today. She said that she boards terriers. She said they’re bossy, that they’d just as soon argue with you as play with you. That just about sums up Pepper’s personality.

Because I believe God gives us the physical to help us understand the spiritual, I was thinking about Folly and Pepper today. I think these two dogs typify a lot of humans. Some are very obedient and are willing to make restitution when they run afoul of the laws. The rest of us tend to be independent, head-strong, and bossy. We want to do things our way and we’d just as soon argue about our way as to get along with anyone around us, including our God. Really! Think about it. How many scriptures can you cite off the top of your head in which God called His people stubborn, rebellious, and stiff-necked?! Romans 8:7 says the carnal mind is enmity against God. In our fallen, sinful state, we are enemies of God! We don’t want to do things His way. We want to do them our way.

So, thankfully, God has made a way for us to be reconciled to Himself through the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But in the Old Testament days, prior to Jesus’ first coming, the cross wasn’t part of their vocabulary. But sacrifice was. God instituted the sacrificial law, not to pay for their sins, but to point to the One who would - Jesus Christ. The blood of the bulls, goats, and lambs was a type, a symbol, looking forward to the day when God paid the sin debt in the person of His Son Jesus Christ (Hebrews 10:4).

And yet, we stubborn, independent people, we figured out how to work the sacrificial law to our advantage too. We decided that we’d do whatever we wanted to and then offer a sacrifice to make it all o.k. - as if the sacrifice could make up for the evilness of our hearts, as if it didn’t matter what things were on the inside as long as the outside looked good. The sacrifice became the focus of worshiping God instead of the relationship with God being the focus. But then, that would mean that anyone could make a sacrifice for anyone else, just so a sacrifice was made for a sin.

That reminds me of another story about Folly. After a couple of years, Tom and Tina acquired another dog. It was not nearly so obedient nor intelligent. They had a really hard time getting that dog to obey even the most basic rules. One day when the dog had done something really “bad” and Tom was yelling at him, he looked up to see Folly heading for the corner. If the new dog wouldn’t go to the corner for being bad, Folly would go for him. It kind of misses the point, doesn’t it? Sitting in the corner is supposed to teach you not to misbehave. If you sit in the corner for someone else, what are they learning?

Similarly if you are going to offer a sacrifice just because you’ve done something wrong, then you’ve missed the point. But if you offer a sacrifice because you want to show repentance and to be reconciled with God, to restore the damaged relationship, then your sacrifice means something. It truly points to Jesus Christ.

I know you’re sitting there thinking that we don’t offer sacrifices today. That’s totally Old Testament. And that’s true, to some extent, because Jesus Christ was crucified. But we do other things, and think that those behaviors make everything okay with God. We keep the Sabbath. We celebrate the Holy Days. We stay away from unclean foods. We tithe. But are we doing those things in place of building our relationship with God? We can come to church and act nice to the people here, but are we praying to God, are we reading His word, are we meditating on His ways, are we being a light to the people around us in the world?

We are commanded to keep God’s law, but just going through the motions on the outside isn’t what God wants. He wants our hearts totally turned to Him so that our actions flow naturally from our heart.

Hosea 6:6 says, “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” This doesn’t mean that our actions aren’t important to God, it just means that God values our actions which flow from our hearts. The steadfast love and knowledge of God are evident in all of our behaviors, in our obedience to His ways.

Sabbath, September 12th
Rend Your Hearts and Not Your Garments
Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly. Joel 2:15

What do you think of, Biblically speaking, when you hear “blow the trumpet”? Numbers 10 talks about all of the ways the trumpet was used to signal the Israelites in their wanderings in the wilderness: call to assembly, to follow God, to acknowledge God and the need for His deliverance in time of war, and at the new moon and feast days. There is one holy day that is both a new moon and a feast day, and perhaps that’s why we associate it most with the blowing of trumpets. Or perhaps it’s because Leviticus 23:24 says that the Feast of Trumpets is to be commemorated with the blowing of trumpets. And then, because of other verses, like 1 Corinthians 15:52, 1 Thes. 4:16, and Joel 2:1, we have come to associate the Feast of Trumpets with the return of Jesus, with the Day of the Lord. Leviticus 23:24 calls it a day of solemn rest. We are not commanded to rejoice, as we are commanded to rejoice during the Feast of Tabernacles.

Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly. Joel 2:15

Next Joel tells the people to consecrate a fast. What is the only day that was a required day of fasting in the Old Testament? The Day of Atonement was, as Leviticus 23:27 states, a day to afflict your soul. Deuteronomy 9:9, Psalm 35:13, Ezra 8:21, and Isaiah 58:3 all speak about fasting or about afflicting your soul with fasting, as a way to humble yourself before God.

Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly. Joel 2:15

If the first command refers to the Feast of Trumpets, and the second refers to the Day of Atonement, what do you think the third command might refer to? I wondered where else I would find the exact Hebrew word for “solemn assembly.” Once it refers to a commanded assembly to worship Baal, when Jehu killed all of them (2 Chronicles 10:20). Once it refers to the last day of the Days of Unleavened Bread (Deuteronomy 16:8). The only other four times that it is found, this word in Hebrew refers to the Last Great Day, just after the Feast of Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:36, Numbers 29: 35, 2 Chronicles 7:9, and Nehemiah 8:18).

I think that it’s fascinating that this set of three commands is repeated twice in the short book of Joel (Joel 1:14 and Joel 2:15). Just before the second, Joel 2:12-14 says, “Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD your God?

Joel 2 starts with the Day of the LORD, blowing the trumpet, sounding an alarm on God’s holy mountain. It’s a day of terror for those people who are in rebellion against God. The first 11 verses detail the coming army, the fire, the earthquakes, the sun and moon darkened. Then it says, “For the day of the LORD is great and very awesome; who can endure it?”

I think Joel is reminding the people to worship God as He has commanded them to, keeping the fall holy days with all of their hearts and not just going through the outward motions (rend your hearts and not your garments). I think Joel is reminding the people how God’s fall holy days picture God’s plan for the future: the return of Jesus Christ, the acceptance of those who have a relationship with Him, and judgment. It’s interesting that Joel would exhort the people to return to God, to repent from their sins, using the same characterization of God that God Himself used on Mt. Sinai to Moses when the people had made the golden calf (Exodus 34:6). It was the Levites who came to Moses and rejected the actions of the rebellious people. Similarly, it is those of us who are called to be a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9) who should be rallying to God at this time, before the return of Jesus. We should be the ones who are rejecting the wickedness of the society around us. We should be the ones who are worshipping God as He decreed. We will all soon stand before God to give an account for even the words we’ve spoken, not to mention all of our deeds (Matt 12:36, 1 Peter 4:17, Romans 14:10)! How could we possibly stand before our God, our Savior, and make excuses about how everyone else was worshipping that way, or how it was more convenient to do it our way, or how we just knew that God would understand how hard it is to eschew evil. All of our flimsy excuses are just an indication of the degree of rebellion we harbor towards our God. That’s not where I want to be.

I plan to heed Joel’s admonition this year as I never have before. I plan to prepare my heart for the Feast of Trumpets, which is just a few days away. I plan to listen for the trumpet blast which calls me to assemble before my God, to acknowledge Him as my Savior and my Deliverer, to follow Him where He leads me, and to recognize His holy day as a day He has ordained as a day to meet with Him and to worship Him. I plan to prepare my heart for the Day of Atonement, to humble myself before Him, knowing that much too often I fail. I allow my carnal nature to have preeminence instead of God. I need to be cleansed, to have all my sins dealt with once and for all, by the sacrifice and intercession of Jesus Christ, my Lord. And I plan to prepare my heart for the Last Great Day. Even though we will be rejoicing, as commanded, during the Feast of Tabernacles, I will make a special effort to recognize the holiness of the Last Great Day. It isn’t a throw-away day. It isn’t a travel day because the Feast is over. It’s a solemn assembly. And perhaps, just perhaps, it’s a solemn assembly because it pictures the end. All of the evidence has now been gathered. Those names which will be written in the Book of Life have been written. God’s decision has been made; He knows who will be his treasured possession, who will be spared because they are righteous and they serve Him (Malachi 3:16-18).

Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly. Joel 2:15

There are a few days left before the fall holy days begin. Are you prepared for the coming days?

Trumpets, September 16th
Secrets
For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. Amos 3:7

Who do you tell your secrets to? You tell secrets to those who are closest to you. Why would you even consider telling your secrets to anyone else. That’s the connotation of the word “secret” in Amos 3:7 too. The Hebrew word can mean “assembly, counsel, or secret.” God reveals His plan, what He’s doing, to those who are close to Him, to those who have a relationship with Him, to those who will listen to the secret. Let me give you a couple of examples.

Noah was told that God was going to destroy the world by water with enough warning that Noah and his family had time to construct the ark (Genesis 6:11-7:16).

Moses was told that God was going to use him to bring the Israelites out of Egypt, that Pharaoh would be unwilling to let them go unless “compelled by a mighty hand.” God told Moses that He would “strike Egypt with all the wonders” and then Pharaoh would let the people go (Exodus 3:10, 19-20).

Joshua was told how the Israelites would take the city of Jericho (Joshua 6). It’s not a battle plan that most people use! The people marched around the city once a day for six days. On the seventh day, they marched around it seven times and then the priests blew the trumpets. At the sound of the trumpets, the people gave a great shout and the wall of the city fell down flat!

These were all prophecies. These were all things that God told His servants (Noah, Moses, and Joshua) ahead of time. They knew what God was going to do because He told them!

The incredibly cool thing is that all three of these events (and there are hundreds of them in the Bible) have application to us. 1 Peter 3:20-21 tells us that the story of Noah and the ark corresponds to our baptism, that just as these eight people were saved out of a corrupt world, we, through baptism, are saved from a corrupt world. God bringing His people out of Egypt has long been understood to typify bringing us out of sin. Similarly, the taking of Jericho - a seemingly impenetrable city - was accomplished by God. It was the sound of the trumpets and the shout of the people which demonstrated the Israelites’ faith that God was going to do what He said. It’s too much of a coincidence to think that as we assemble here on the Feast of Trumpets, on the Day of Shouting, that we are not likewise confessing our faith that God will do what He says: He will return to this earth with the trumpet call of God, with a loud shout, and the seemingly impenetrable culture around us will fall flat!

There are other prophesies which I love, those which give us courage to fight the good fight and stay the course until that day when Jesus Christ does return and evil is conquered.

I love Isaiah 11:1-10: “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb . . . the lion shall eat straw like the ox. . . They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples - of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.”

I love the prophecy, the promise, that animals will no longer harm people or one another.

I love Malachi 3:16-18: Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name. They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

I love the prophecy, the promise, that those who serve God faithfully are going to be His treasured possession - the KJV says “jewels.”

God, in His mercy and loving kindness to us, has told us what He will do. He has told us from the beginning that He would send His Son to save us from sin, to restore us to Himself. He has told us that we need to persevere, to endure to the end, and that we will receive a crown of life.

This doesn’t seem like much of a secret to us, but then, we love God, and we demonstrate that love by obeying Him - like celebrating the Feast of Trumpets. One of the natural consequences of obeying God and keeping His holy days is that we understand more of God’s plan. We gain courage and strength because we understand what God is doing, and that, in the end, He wins - no matter how much those who don’t love God ridicule Him and us and our beliefs. Rest assured, they are the ones who will be surprised! God does not lie. What He says He will do, He does. Read the Book.

For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. Amos 3:7

Sabbath, September 19th
Celebrating God’s Feasts
I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Amos 5:21

Babies have a very one-sided relationship with their parents. Babies are very self-centered. They want their needs meet and their wants satisfied right now, or actually, ten minutes ago. Young children’s relationship with their parents is also pretty one-sided. They want what they want and Mom and Dad are supposed to give it to them. But as children get older and mature in their thinking, they realize that Mom and Dad have feelings and needs and desires. They realize that they are in a relationship with their parents. That relationship, to them, is one of “I do what Mom and Dad say and I don’t get spanked” or it’s “I do what Mom and Dad say and I get 10 extra minutes of reading before shutting off the light at night.” Children often define their relationship with Mom and Dad in terms of obedience and consequence, both good and bad.

But the goal of parents is to get their child to the place where they are more mature than that. Obedience so that you won’t get punished or so that you can get a reward is still very juvenile. Parents want their children to obey them because they want to please them. That is, the child needs to think, “There’s no way I would do that! I don’t want Mom to be mad at me.” That’s a great motivator for the child. It demonstrates a development in the relationship that is very positive. But it’s not the goal. Parents don’t want their kids to stop at this point! Parents want their children to grow to the point where they don’t even have to stop and think what it is that should be done. They know. The rules of the family have become so much a part of the child, he just does them without a second thought.

Unfortunately, in our world today, there are too many people who never get past the young child stage. They think a relationship means “You give me what I want and I’ll be happy.” Mentally they stay very young, immature children. They don’t even think about acting in a way that pleases the other person.

Even more unfortunately, many people stay very immature in their thinking about God too. To them, God is there to provide for their needs and give them what they want. Their prayers are full of “Please heal my friend” and “please give me . . .” It’s all about that person; they are very self-centered. Some people make it to the point in their relationship with God where they obey because of the consequences. They think “If I obey God, He’ll bless me” or “If I disobeyed God, He won’t bless me.” This is thinking of God in terms of obedience and consequence. The danger here is that people think they can manipulate God. “If I do what He wants, He’ll give me what I want.” It is true that if you obey God, many times you will be blessed. But part of that is because it’s built in naturally. There’s a way that works in life and following God’s law often makes things work well. But sometimes when you obey God, it takes a while to see that it’s beneficial to do so. In fact, Hebrews 11 says that some of those people died in the faith not having received the promise. So you could work for the blessing all of your life and have to wait for the kingdom to get the real blessing that you’re looking for.

But God’s not really looking for people to obey Him just because of the consequences. He’s looking for people who want to please Him in the way they live. They value the relationship with God so much that the idea of displeasing Him causes them to re-evaluate their own desires and choices. Then, eventually, God wants people who love Him so much that, having turned their lives over to Him and received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, they are changed from the inside out. These people obey God because it has become their nature to do so. They obey God without thinking about it. It’s who they are.

I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Amos 5:21

Why would God hate and despise the people’s feasts and take no delight in their solemn assemblies? God is talking about the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Last Great Day. Why would He hate and despise them? Because the people were keeping those days on the outside, but in their hearts, they were doing all kinds of evil things. They were oppressing the poor. They were involved in contentions with one another. They were not living their lives in obedience to God’s ways.

It’s a good reminder to us. We can’t just come to Sabbath and keep God’s holy days and expect Him to be pleased. We have to live our lives in obedience to Him in all of our thoughts and words and deeds. And we have to live in obedience because we want to please Him. Then, eventually, as the Holy Spirit changes us from the inside out, we live as true children of the King - naturally and completely.

Think about it. Why do you keep the Feasts of the Eternal?

Atonement, September 25th
Justice and Righteousness
But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Amos 5:24

I walk my dogs every morning. I have an understanding with them that I’ll bring treats. That way they’ll come when I call. I have an understanding with Ron that I’ll take my cell phone with me. That way, if something should happen, I can get some help quickly. One morning when I was walking, I called Ron. I had fallen. It was no big deal and I wasn’t hurt, but something quite unexpected had happened, and I wanted to tell him about it. As soon as I hit the ground, Velvet and Pepper came running. It wasn’t that they were worried I was hurt. Rather, they were delighted that I was on the ground. They both proceeded to wash my face and climb all over me. They saw my fall as a delightful treat. Their perspective of what had happened was totally different from mine.

In a similar way, my perspective of justice and righteousness is very different from what I see portrayed around me in our world today. What God defines as wrong and right is totally turned on its head. Our society says it’s okay to murder babies; it’s okay for two men or two women to get married; it’s okay for people to do whatever they want to do as long as it doesn’t bother anyone else. Our court systems are a travesty of justice. If you are Christian, law-abiding, and of modest means, your chances of getting a just verdict are increasingly remote. If you are anti-God, have had several brushes with the law, and are wealthy, you’re likely to be acquitted. There is little justice and little righteousness in our society today - at least, that’s my perspective, my observation of what I see. Things are not right. Things are not just. Things are not fair.

So as I was sitting on the ground with the dogs licking my face, I thought about perspective. What about God’s perspective? If I think that there is a lack of right and just behavior in this world, what is God’s perspective? When God looks at people He sees sinful, rebellious hearts. Or does He?

Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” What Jesus Christ did for us, in dying in our place on the cross, has released us from the penalty of sin. What the Day of Atonement pictures (as described in Leviticus 16) is the High Priest - Jesus is our High Priest - taking the blood of the lamb to make atonement for the tabernacle. Jesus’ blood makes atonement, pays the penalty for our sins and reconciles us to the Father, for us. We, as vessels of the Holy Spirit, are the tabernacle of God. Then the High Priest laid his hands on the head of the goat and confessed all of the sins and all of the iniquities of the Israelites on the head of the second goat and sent that goat away. That second goat represents Jesus carrying all of our sins away from us - as Psalm 103:12 says - as far as the east is from the west. Hebrews 7:25 says that Jesus “is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.”

The picture of Atonement is our Just and Righteous Father God Almighty providing a way through His Son, our High Priest, the Lamb of God to make us wholly clean and holy so that we can be reconciled to Him and have fellowship with Him. Our Father made the way for justice to roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. It is in the Person of Jesus Christ. We have nothing to do with it! And in reality, that’s part of the picture of Atonement: The people watched the High Priest act on their behalf just as we affirm that Jesus acts on our behalf. Their responsibility was to afflict themselves, to come humbly before God. Our responsibility is to afflict ourselves and to come humbly before our God. What an incredible picture of love and mercy, justice and righteousness!

You know, God’s holy days are such a blessing! They give us an incredibly precious glimpse into God’s plan, helping us see things from His perspective. I couldn’t help thinking about all these things as I was sitting on the ground having my face washed by two happy dogs.

Sabbath, September 26th
An Ever-Flowing Stream
But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Amos 5:24

I grew up in Wyoming where water is scarce. Here in Missouri, we don’t think about being mad at Iowa because too little water is coming down the Mississippi or the Missouri. We don’t think about taking Illinois to court because they’re not letting enough water come down the Illinois River. But that’s part of life in Wyoming, especially because they have five reservoirs on the Platte River, water that Nebraska wants. When we visited Pathfinder and Alcova Reservoirs in the fall of 2014, I couldn’t believe how low the reservoirs were and how low the Platte River was coming out of Alcova above Casper. Living in a state which gets, in its most arid locations, 5-8 inches of rain annually, I have a great appreciation for water and its importance in sustaining life. When I was a kid, Mom would joke that we’d gotten a 6-inch rain: the raindrops were 6 inches apart. Sometimes that’s all that would fall even if the clouds did look promising.

(I must point out that we drove the kids through the most arid parts of Wyoming, which only adds fuel to their assertion that Wyoming has no water. But other areas get 8-10 inches of rain, and some even get 20 inches of rain annually. These inches, however, mostly come as snowfall in the higher elevations, which can be as much as 200 inches.)

So when I read, But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream, I have pictures in my mind of a sparkling clear, rushing stream which - as Julie Andrews sings - “laughs like a brook as it trips and falls over stones on its way.” I think of the precious water which means life. For Amos to have equated justice and righteousness with life-giving water is no accident. One of the pictures of Atonement is justice and righteousness reigning supreme over sin and death because of the reconciliation made possible by Jesus’ death and resurrection (2 Corinthians 5:17-21). The Old Testament description of removing sin and iniquities pointed to a time yet in the future, after Jesus returns. When all rebellion is dealt with at Jesus’ return and when we will be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, we will no longer be subject to sin. Our carnal nature will have been removed, dealt with, forever. This will be an exciting time as Jesus Christ sets up His kingdom and He reigns as King of kings and Lord of lords. Under His headship, justice will roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Then we will see the fulfillment of scriptures in Isaiah which talk of the desert blooming.

Isaiah 35:6-7 . . . “For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water . . .”

Isaiah 35:1-2 - “The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing . . .”

Isaiah 32:15-18 - “until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is deemed a forest. Then justice will dwell in the wilderness and righteousness abide in the fruitful field. And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever. My people will abide in peaceful habitation . . .”

After the return of Jesus (pictured by Trumpets), after the triumphing of justice and righteous over sin (pictured by the Day of Atonement), there will usher in a time when God’s people will dwell in peaceful habitation. The effect of justice and righteousness replacing sin and rebellion will be life. Like water causing the desert to rejoice and bloom, like a wilderness becoming a fruitful field, and the fruitful field having enough water to sustain a forest, under the kingship of Jesus Christ, this world will blossom and flourish! The Source of Life, the One who is the Living Water, will be in charge.

But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

As we celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles this coming week, think about the inauguration of justice and righteousness as the prevailing culture. Think about its life-giving influence. Think about how the land, and much more, God’s people, will bloom and flourish under the headship and government of the King.

I don’t think it was an accident that Wyoming received, statewide, so much rain this spring. Mom said it was green! I think it was a glimpse, for those who had eyes to see, what the future holds. I think it was an encouragement to persevere, to stay the course, to finish strong in service to the King. There is a day coming when the desert will bloom and the wilderness will become a fruitful field. I want to be there to see it and rejoice!

Sabbath, October 10th
Pride and God’s Government
Saviors shall go up to Mount Zion to rule Mount Esau, and the kingdom shall be the LORD’s. Obadiah 21

“ . . . and the kingdom shall be the LORD’s.” I love that phrase. I associate it with other phrases, like “ . . . at the name of Jesus every knee should bow . . . and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord . . .” (Phil. 2:10). Or “ . . . Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! . . . “ (Romans 7:24-25) Or “ . . . The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, . . . the lion shall eat straw like the ox . . . They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:6-9).

I love these verses. I love the promises God gives to His people in them. But has this all happened yet? No. This is what we were just celebrating in the Feast of Tabernacles. This is the time after the return of Jesus Christ, when He sets up His government. What joy there will be when “the kingdom shall be the LORD’s.”

But what’s the rest of Obadiah 21 talking about? Who and where is Mount Esau? Is Mount Zion different from Jerusalem? And what does it mean “saviors,” plural?

Mount Zion refers to the government set up in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus’ return. Zion is one of the mountains upon which Jerusalem is built. That’s why there are so many references to Zion in the Bible and why the term seems to be used interchangeably between Zion and Jerusalem.

Mount Esau is talking about the government of the people of Edom. They were descendants of Esau, Jacob’s older twin brother. The descendants of Jacob were called the people of Israel, or Israelites. There was a lot of conflict between these two nations, but then Israel was in conflict with everyone around them at one time or another.

This verse seems to indicate that when Jesus comes back, the people and the government of Edom will be taken over by God’s people who will rule from Zion, or Jerusalem. But why?

There are several charges, indictments, things that Edom did that made God angry. First of all and most importantly, they were in rebellion to God. God says to Edom (Ezekiel 35:13), “And you magnified yourselves against me with your mouth, and multiplied your words against me; I heard it.” Any nation that stands in rebellion to God will not stand for long.

Secondly, the people of Edom thought they were secure because of their mountains. It was difficult for enemies to get to them. Many of their mountains are over 5000 feet in height. Obadiah 3 (as does Jeremiah 49:16) talks about their arrogance and pride of heart because of this feeling of invincibility.

The people of Edom had also acquired a great deal of wealth. They were on a major north-south trade route known as the “King’s Highway,” as well as having iron and copper mines. Obadiah 6 alludes to the fact that the Edomites had safeguarded their treasures in vaults in the rock - and felt themselves prosperous and secure.

Also, the Edomites thought they were wise. The men of Teman were especially known for their wisdom (Obadiah 8-9). In fact, one of Job’s friends, Eliphaz, was a Temanite.

But the thing that Edom did which greatly displeased God was their actions and attitude against Judah when it fell in 586 B.C. Psalm 137: 7 records Edom’s attitude. “Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem, how they said, ‘Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations!’ ”

Joel 3:19 talks about the violence Edom did to the people of Judah. Ezekiel 25:12-14 says that “Edom acted revengefully against the house of Judah and has grievously offense in taking vengeance on them.” Ezekiel 35:5 says, “. . . you cherished perpetual enmity and gave over the people of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, at the time of their final punishment.” Obadiah condemns Edom for gloating over the fall of Judah, for casting lots for Jerusalem, for looting when Jerusalem fell, for handing over survivors and keeping the fugitives from escaping. Edom took great joy in Jerusalem’s fall and actually profited from Jerusalem’s destruction.

Saviors shall go up to Mount Zion to rule Mount Esau, and the kingdom shall be the LORD’s. Obadiah 21

The word “saviors” can also be translated “deliverers” (Zodiates’ study Bible commentary). So the picture here is, at the return of Jesus, God’s people will to up to Jerusalem to rule over the people of Edom - and it will be a good thing; it will be seen as saving them.

But there’s also a very important lesson for us today. It’s seen in two different proverbs.

Proverbs 17:5: Whoever mocks the poor insults his Maker; he who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished.

Proverbs 24:17-18: Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles, lest the LORD see it and be displeased, and turn away his anger from him.”

Do not be happy when your enemy falls, when he gets what he deserves. God is quite able to take vengeance for the evil people have done - including you. When you (or I) rejoice that someone is being punished, God just might decide that we, in our arrogance, need some punishment and discipline as well.

And you know what, God gives us families to learn this lesson at a very young age. Let me tell you a secret that you may not already know: parents tend to react swiftly when one child rejoices that the other has been spanked for misbehaving. If we, as physical parents can feel that indignation, imagine how God, the One who does not sin, cannot sin, must feel.

There’s a wealth of things to talk about in this one little verse, but hold on to two things: watch out for pride; it’ll get you (and me) in big trouble. And secondly, the kingdom of God is coming when all things will be right. I want to be there, and I want to be part of the government of God, serving Him with all of my heart.

Sabbath, October 17th
What Will You Cling To?
Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. Jonah 2:8 (ESV)

Jonah 2:8 is an interesting verse. But when you first read it, you might wonder what in the world Jonah’s saying. Let’s look at a couple of other translations to see if they can make it more clear.

They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. Jonah 2:8 (KJV)

Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their true loyalty. Jonah 2:8 (RSV)

Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. Jonah 2:8 (NIV)

Those who regard vain idols [literally empty vanities] forsake their faithfulness, Jonah 2:8 (NASB)

Let’s look at “pay regard” first. The KJV says “observe,” the NIV says “cling to,” the other three say “pay regard” or “regard.” This phrase in the Hebrew means to pay attention to something or someone; to hold in esteem, affection or admiration; to guard, protect, keep safe. You “pay regard” to someone or something that you value. The NIV translation of “cling” fosters a mental image of treasuring something.

What is it that “they” pay regard to? vain idols, lying vanities, worthless idols. The NASB’s footnote says the Hebrew phrase is literally “empty vanities.” Over and over in the prophets, we are warned about making and worshipping idols. They’re the works of our own hands! How can they do anything for us? They are not God. They cannot move. They are nothing. They are empty. They are worthless.

So, what happens if “they” cling to a worthless idol? The last phrase is translated in these ways:
They forsake their hope of steadfast love.
They forsake their own mercy.
They forsake their true loyalty.
They forfeit the grace that could be theirs.
They forsake their faithfulness.

The verb is “forsake” or “forfeit.” They have turned away from. They’ve lost their chance to have. They’re at a crossroads where they must choose one or the other; they can’t have both. If they cling to the worthless idol, if they pay regards to vain idols, they lose the opportunity to have these things: hope of steadfast love, mercy, loyalty, grace, faithfulness.

Mercy from whom? Whose loyalty? Grace from whom? Whose faithfulness? Whose steadfast love? God’s!

Most people “get” this. They understand that if you have a choice between serving and worshipping God and serving and worshipping anything else, you should choose God! Hands down. What they don’t get is that you have to worship only God. You can’t serve God and something that opposes God or takes first place in your life in front of God. You can’t decide, intentionally, to do what God says only when it’s convenient and then do what you want to the rest of the time. You can’t decide, intentionally, that it’s okay to worship God the way He says to and try to worship Him with pagan practices. You can’t decide to change how He says He wants to be worshipped - and think that will be okay with God.

The covenant we make with God saying that He is our God means that He is God, He is Sovereign, He is our King. He gets to make the rules. They’re called commands because He expects them to be obeyed. If we intentionally decide not to follow those rules, His laws, then we’re rejecting Him as our God. And we are forfeiting our hope of steadfast love, of mercy, of God’s loyalty, of His faithfulness, and the grace that could have been ours. Make no mistake: God is a jealous God, and, in fact, He says His name is Jealous (Exodus 34:14). He told Moses and the Israelites this just after the incident with the golden calf. God made it very clear: You must follow God’s laws. You can’t make up your own laws and call them His. And if you’re going to worship other gods, He is not your God.

Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love (Jonah 2:8, ESV).

Jonah, a prophet of God, had just experienced what this felt like. He had decided he didn’t want to preach to Ninevah and was going to flee from the presence of the LORD. That didn’t work out too well for him. He was thrown into the midst of a raging sea in the middle of a violent storm and subsequently swallowed by the fish. Being there for three days and three nights, he had some time to recognize the absolute stupidity of making anything else your god, especially your own wants and desires. In the very next verse, Jonah tells God he will do what he’s supposed to do. Then he says, “Salvation belongs to the LORD.”

You can worship other gods. You can serve yourself. Or you can turn yourself over completely, wholly, to the one true God, our God, who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness (Exodus 34:6).

Think about it. To what will you cling?

Sabbath, October 24th
Required!
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8

When we got our two black labs, I told the boys that they had to take care of the puppies. They had to make sure the labs had water and food. They had to pick up the dog poop. There were certain requirements that the boys had to be willing to meet before we would even consider taking those two soft, cute puppies home. But really, those weren’t all of the requirements. If you’re going to take a puppy into your home and it really be a good home, you have to do more than care for its physical needs. You have to lovingly discipline it and train it. You have to be patient with its misdeeds, because puppies have a way of perpetrating a few misdeeds. And, you have to spend time with the puppy. I remember Mom telling us kids that you can have a good outside dog, but it’ll always just be a dog. If you want a member of the family, you have to bring it inside.

I was thinking about our two black labs (and the newest edition) as a way to illustrate Micah 6:8. What did I require of the boys? I asked them to do justice: to do what was necessary and right and responsible, to act justly, to care for the dogs. They also needed to be patient, showing kindness, steadfast love, and mercy to the dogs. And they had to spend time with the dogs. The end result would be dogs who have a wonderful home and who are part of the family.

It’s a good object lesson. God requires three things of us, if we want to know what is truly good in our lives. We have to do justice. That is, we have to do what is right and necessary and responsible - according to God’s standards. We have to follow God’s laws. That’s the first requirement.

The second requirement is to love kindness. This word is also translated steadfast love or mercy. We should have an attitude of being kind to the world around us: the people, the animals, the plants, the environment. We are to nurture, not to tear down. We should be willing to forgive. We should be easy to be entreated. We should be ready to give people around us a second chance, or third chance, even when they don’t deserve it. Why? Because this is how God acts towards us! He forgives our sins. He doesn’t give up on us as we continue to make mistakes. He lovingly disciplines and trains us. How can we not have the same attitude of steadfast love towards those around us?

The third requirement is to walk humbly with our God. You can’t walk with anyone unless you agree with them (Amos 3:3). God is not going to do the changing (Malachi 3:6). He doesn’t need to change; He’s perfect. We’re the ones who need to be changed by God. And because He is the great God of the universe, if we’re going to walk with God, we’d better recognize His Sovereignty; we’d better be humble.

Isn’t it interesting what Mom used to say about the dogs? If you just wanted a dog, you can keep it outside. But if you want a member of the family, you bring the dog inside and let it live with you.

When we walk with God, we have to change. We have to become like God, through the changing power of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, so that we can walk with Him. As we spend more time with God, the more we become like Him, thinking like Him, acting like Him. As we become more like Him, the more we become true children of the King, part of the family.

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8

Sabbath, October 31st
All the Time
The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him. Nahum 1:7

If you didn’t now better, you might think this verse is plucked out of the middle of the psalms. There are psalms that sound like this.

Psalm 100:5: For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

Psalm 46:1: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

But this verse is plucked out of the middle of Nahum, a book written about the impending fall of Ninevah, a major city of the terrible Assyrians. As you start thinking about it, you start to wonder why: why is Nahum (a prophecy against Ninevah) in the Bible, and why is this verse in the middle of it?

Nahum 1:3 states, “The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty.” Our God is very patient, giving people plenty of opportunity to realize their sinfulness and turn away from it. Sinfulness and wickedness and all of the things wrong with our world don’t exist because God can’t do anything about them. Nothing could be farther from the truth!! God is great in power; there is nothing our God can not do. But He is also extremely patient. He waits and continues to work with people. Eventually though, there comes a time when God has had enough. There is a day of reckoning, a day of judgment, for all people. Sometimes that day of judgment comes for just you and sometimes that day of judgment comes on the whole nation altogether.

The day of judgment had come for Ninevah. They would be destroyed. But, do you think there might have been anyone who believed in Jehovah in Ninevah? Do you think there might have been a person or two who believed that God is good and trusted in Him? The prophecy by Nahum against Ninevah was given after the ten northern tribes had been taken into captivity and disbursed among the nations. Guess who took them into captivity: the Assyrians. It’s just possible that there were some Israelites in Ninevah, some Israelites who still trusted God. What an encouragement to them, by Nahum, that though trouble was coming, God is good and He had not forgotten them!

This encouragement resonants down through the years to us. Whether you are experiencing trouble (because everyone struggles with something) or whether you are sighing and crying because of the abominations done in this nation and around the world, you can take hope. Our God is good. He is a stronghold in the day of trouble. He knows those who take refuge in Him.

That word for “know” is #3045 yada. It means “to know, to perceive, to be aware of, to acknowledge, to know by experience.” Our God knows thoroughly and completely those who take refuge in Him.

Have you ever been teasing your older brother and when you go a little too far, you decide to hide behind Mom or Dad for protection? God’s protection is better than that. Imagine walking through the woods and seeing a bear. You run to the nearest tree and quickly climb it. God’s protection is more sure than that. Remember the Bible stories of David and Goliath, of Noah’s rescue from the Great Flood, of Daniel in the lions’ den, or of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the fiery furnace. God rescued His people from trouble because they trusted in Him.

But God didn’t prevent them from having trouble in the first place. David faced Goliath. Daniel was thrown into a lions’ den. Noah had to build an ark and float with that zoo for over a year. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had to stand firm that they would not do the wrong thing; they would not worship Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image. Their attitude was right! They refused to do the wrong thing regardless of what God did. They believed God could save them, but they also realized that God might have a different plan for their lives. In some cases, it was not God’s will to rescue them. Hebrews 11 lists those who remained faithful, even though they died.

So when we experience trouble, and we will experience trouble, we stay close to God, knowing that there is no better refuge than Him! He is our fortress, our stronghold, our refuge when things are good and when things are bad. Even if we suffer in this life and even if it means we lose our life, we stay close to Him, knowing that His view is eternity and what it’s going to take in our lives to get us to His kingdom. We might never know (Job wasn’t told.) why we have to go through something: perhaps it’s for our own growth; perhaps it’s for a witness to someone else. Our job is to stay close to our refuge, our stronghold, our God and to trust Him.

And we can trust Him because God is good . . . all the time.

Sabbath, November 7th
Strong in the LORD
I will make them strong in the LORD, and they shall walk in his name,” declares the LORD. Zechariah 10:12

Some of the most powerful scenes, to me, in The Empire Strikes Back, are the ones where Luke is working with Yoda, using his mind to raise his plane out of the swamp. The plane rises just a little, but then sinks again when R2-D2 starts beeping and Luke is distracted. Yoda chides Luke, and Luke frustratedly replies, “I’m trying.” Yoda says something like, “No. There is no ‘try’. There is either ‘do’, or ‘do not’. But no ‘try’.”

That scene makes me think of Christians and the gift they have within them, the Holy Spirit. When they allow the Holy Spirit to guide them and teach them, God is evident in their lives. But too often, I see Christians who are failing to follow God’s laws and they say something to the effect, “I’m trying.” Like Luke, they make excuses for why they aren’t able to keep God’s law. I wonder if God sees those excuses much like Yoda did. I wonder if God sees a lack of perseverance, commitment, and focus which leads to our failure. After all, Christians have the Holy Spirit living inside them, empowering them to make good choices.

I will make them strong in the LORD . . .

I think George Lucas did a great job of showing how the Force would be strong in the Jedi warriors. In The Return of the Jedi, Luke’s training progressed to the point where the Force was strong in him. He had his emotions and his mind under control. It’s another interesting parallel to Christians, how some Christians conduct themselves today, and how all Christians will be when Jesus Christ returns and sets up His kingdom! We will be strong in the LORD.

What does that mean to you? To me, that means that I will walk unwaveringly in His ways. I will exemplify a true child of the King, loving, serving, and obeying Him with all of my heart. I won’t be timid or weak in my faith, but I will walk boldly, proclaiming that God is the Almighty Sovereign God, the great Creator of the Universe and Redeemer of mankind. I won’t have to say anything; it will be obvious from the way I live my life.

. . . and they shall walk in his name, declares the LORD.

To walk in someone’s name means to be an ambassador for them. If you come in the name of the IRS, people suspect you want their money. If you come in the name of the police, people know you’re looking for bad guys. If you come in the name of the Cardinal baseball team, people know you’re looking for another good pitcher or hitter. If you come in the name of the LORD, people will know that you are representing God. You are the representative of God. You are completely accurate in how you explain His laws, His character, His plan for mankind.

But in order to do this, you have to know God intimately. You have to know God’s laws, His character, His plan for your life. You have to have a good comprehension of God so that you can represent Him to others. That implies one other thing: you have to agree with God. He’s right. It’s not that you’re going to change even one tiny detail of what He has said. It’s not that you’re going to try to improve upon anything that He’s commanded. His ways are perfect.

If you think that you need to change any of God’s laws (to make them easier, to make them relevant for today, to make them fit with your definition of the New Covenant, or for any other reason you can conceive), then the presence of the Holy Spirit is not strong within you and you’re not walking in His name. Seriously! Think about it! Could a representative of the IRS come to you and tell you that the government is collecting too many taxes from you, it’s too tough for you, and you don’t have to pay taxes anymore, and that the government will understand? Could a representative of the police come looking for a bad guy, find one and then say that they know they’ve murdered people, but the laws are too tough against murder so they’re just going to let them go, and they can murder all they want to? Could a representative of the Cardinals sign up Joe Schmoe off the street to pitch for millions of dollars, when he’s a total couch potato - and say that it’s okay that Joe can’t throw ten strikes in a row over the plate because the Cardinals are way too strict about that sort of thing anyway? We can see how an ambassador in our world has to accurately represent their organization. It’s the same with God! He wants people who are strong in their faith, believing in Him and willing to do what He says no matter what. He wants ambassadors who will accurately represent Him to all of the people around them.

Be strong in the Lord. And, not “may the Force be with you,” but may God be with you.

Sabbath, November 14th
Born to Be . . .
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Matthew 1:1

Ancestry matters. Think about Secretariat. In the movie, the owner, Penny, talks about Secretariat being sired by Bold Ruler out of Somethingroyal, by Princequillo. It was important. From one of the parents, the horse got speed. From the other, he got endurance. Penny was betting that the combination was going to give her a winning horse.

That’s part of the reason I keep asking people what they think Pepper is. I asked the vet his opinion. I asked the U-Fli trainer her opinion. Obviously, they’re not going to know Pepper’s parents, but every breed of dog has distinguishable characteristics - both physical and temperamental. Blue heelers are fiercely loyal to the family and are natural herd dogs, even herding children, when necessary. Great Pyrenees are easy-going, gentle giants. Dalmatians are known to be high-strung. Terriers would rather argue with you than play with you. It’s not going to matter, in the end, what Pepper is; I’m just curious about his tendencies.

And really, they are just tendencies. Think about labrador retrievers. They’re supposed to retrieve. Velvet retrieves very well. Ebony could care less. But not only are they both black labs, they were both from the same litters. So just because they’re labs, doesn’t necessarily mean they’re both going to be good retrievers.

So even if you had a great-great-great uncle who owned a cattle ranch which stretched for two days (riding on horseback in any direction), that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to have a good head for business, own a cattle ranch, or even like cows. But you might. Likely though, you’ll inherit physical features which are more easily seen, like blond hair or blue eyes.

So it’s interesting that Matthew begins his gospel with
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Matthew 1:1

Jesus Christ was the legal descendant of David, through Joseph, and the physical descendant of David, through Mary. Jesus was, and is, the heir to the throne of his father David. He inherited the right to the throne because He was a descendant of King David. Jesus was born to be King.

The last part of Matthew 1:1 says, “son of Abraham.” That’s a little more difficult to define. What does it mean to be the son of Abraham? Perhaps it means that Jesus is in that lineage of the faithful. Perhaps it means that just as Isaac was the son of promise, Jesus is the One promised to come, to save mankind, slain from the foundation of the world. Perhaps, when people hear “son of Abraham,” they think of God’s command for Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Perhaps, Matthew is telling his readers that not only was Jesus born to be King, He was also born to be our sacrifice, our Savior.

Genealogy and family connections are interesting. In the life of a Christian though, they are more than interesting; they are very meaningful. We are told in Romans 8:15-17, 23 that we are adopted into God’s family as sons. Jesus Christ is our older Brother (Romans 8:29). We are going to be adopted into the kingly line - that’s why we’re called a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9). That’s why we’re qualified to reign with Christ on earth for a thousand years (Revelation 5:10). But this inheritance is not because of our works, our inherent goodness, because we are so wonderful. These promises of being the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ are because of what He did: He came as a human being to die for the sins of those who would believe on Him. In accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are not only given salvation and the promise of eternal life, but adoption into the very family of God as well. It’s a huge thing that Jesus Christ did for each of us.

Sometimes life gets tough. Sometimes you get discouraged. Just remember what your inheritance is - in Jesus Christ. As part of His family, you’re in the kingly line. You’re a descendant of Abraham, the father of the faithful. When you’re tired of struggling, just remember what’s waiting for you. Then, work out your faith. Live like a child of the King.

Sabbath, November 21st
Every Careless Word
I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, Matthew 12:36

There’s a childish saying which goes:

   Sticks and stones may break my bones,
   but words can never hurt me.

It’s not true, of course, because the words people say can hurt a great deal. You can forget that you’ve been hurt physically, but the mental pain of an ill-placed word can linger for decades! It’s very unfortunate that the compliments we sincerely give to others are not remembered as long!!

There’s a much more accurate, contemporary Christian song sung by Hawk Nelson about the power of our words.

   They've made me feel like a prisoner; They’ve made me feel set free;
   They've made me feel like a criminal; Made me feel like a king.
   They've lifted my heart To places I'd never been,
   And they've dragged me down Back to where I began.

   Words can build you up; Words can break you down;
   Start a fire in your heart or Put it out.

   Let my words be life; Let my words be truth.
   I don't wanna say a word Unless it points the world back to You.

   You can heal the heartache; Speak over the fear.
   God, Your voice is the only thing We need to hear.

   Let the words I say Be the sound of Your grace.
   I don't wanna say a word Unless it points the world back to You.

   I wanna speak Your love; Not just another noise.
   Oh, I wanna be Your light; I wanna be Your voice.

Words can so quickly slip out of our mouths. We can be joking. We can be angry. We can be too busy. We can be thinking of other things. But once those words are out of our mouths, they’re gone. We can’t call them back. We need to be very careful about our words.

There’s another poem about our words:

   The wise old owl lived in an oak.
   The more he saw, the less he spoke.
   The less he spoke, the more he heard.
   Why can’t we all be like that bird?

We know the power of words, both to do good and to do incredible damage. But do we realize how much our words matter to God? He says, “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak” (Matthew 12:36). We will have to explain to God why we said what we said, why we chose those particular words, why we delivered them in that tone of voice.

The words we say come out of our hearts. They are an expression of what we really feel and who we really are. We need to remember that we will give an account both for what we have done in this life as well as what we have said. We seriously need to learn to be more judicious about our words!

Sabbath, November 28th
The Center of our Lives
Simon Peter replied, “You are Christ, the Son of the living God.” Matthew 16:16

I had heard that Matthew 16:16 is the center verse in Matthew. But I couldn’t verify that. I counted and divided by two, and it didn’t come out that way. So, I don’t know if the count was done using a different version, if some of the verses were eliminated because they weren’t in the original text, or if I simply miscalculated. But I couldn’t get it to come out that way.

Still, it would be a nice “coincidence” if Matthew 16:16 did happen to be the center verse. After all, the book of Matthew’s theme is discipleship. It makes sense that you would want to recognize the person to whom you are a disciple!

Furthermore, there’s the literary structure. In Western thought, the point of the story comes at the end. Think of our fairy tales or Aesop’s fables. The lesson or moral of the story isn’t revealed until the end. But in Hebrew thought, the point of the story comes in the middle, with all the supporting thought mirroring that thought on both sides. They build to the main point and then reiterate the reasons why. So having Matthew 16:16 as the center verse would make a lot of sense.

Why is it central?

Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ. He’s the One who was promised to come and save us from our sins. In addition, He’s the Son of the living God. He’s not anything like the immovable, inanimate, pagan gods of the nations. Jesus is the only begotten Son of the God of the universe. He’s God the Son. He’s of that divine family. That means Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament promise of a divine son as anointed king (2 Samuel 7:14; Psalm 2:7).

It’s also very significant that Simon Peter recognized Jesus as Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus told Peter that was not revealed to Peter by a human being, but by the Father in heaven. Do you understand how important that is? Peter believed that Jesus was/is the Messiah, the Son of the living God. He didn’t just come to that understanding on his own. God the Father gave it to him. Similarly, if you believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the living God, then it is evidence that God is likewise working in your life, drawing you to Him (John 6:44).

You have to believe that He is who He says He is before you’re willing to do what He says. You have to believe that He is the Messiah, the Anointed One sent by the Father, before you are willing to submit your life to Him. You have to believe that He is the Redeemer, the Savior of the World, before you turn your life over to Him. And you have to believe that He is the King of kings and Lord of lords before you’re ready to accept Him as your Sovereign in all things.

But there’s a funny thing about words. You can say a lot of things - they just pop out of your mouth without much thought. But it’s when you believe with your entire being what you are saying that it has life-changing power. If you say, and truly believe, that Jesus is Christ, the Son of the living God, you will be willing to be His disciple. You’ll learn about Him. You’ll learn to walk in His ways. You’ll desire to know Him so well that He becomes the most important part of your life. He will, in essence, become the center of your life.

I don’t know where I heard that Matthew 16:16 is the center of Matthew. But even if it’s not in a strictly counting sense, it is in every other way that matters. Jesus is Christ, the Son of the living God.

Sabbath, December 5th
Humility
Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:4

We want to be great, to have honor, to be well-thought of by the people around us. We want a better position rather than a lesser position. We don’t want to clean toilets, pick up dog poop, muck out stalls, or take care of people’s trash. If we had a choice, we would rather be close to the top, making decisions, influencing others, and keeping our hands clean. So we think about what Jesus said:

Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:4).

To be great we have to become like this child. We have to humbles ourselves. So what is humility? It’s the knowledge that God is great and you are not. It’s an attitude of submission, recognizing his sovereignty. We realize that His will is perfect, no matter what happens in our lives, and we need to learn to put His will and His ways first - always.

Jesus used the illustration of a child, a particular child who had come to Him, an an object lesson in humility. Think about the children you’ve seen. Some of them are anything but humble. I watched a little toddler run to his mother with a popped balloon. He screamed at her, “Blow it up.” She couldn’t, of course, because it had been popped. But he was in no frame of mind to listen to her. He just wanted his way. His face turned red, he pushed his chest up, and cried and screamed at his mother to fix it. When she tried to reason with him and tell him she couldn’t, he continually interrupted her and screamed all the louder to “blow it up.”

There’s the urban legend about the grandfather with his grandson in the store. The grandson was out of control, demanding, and screaming. The grandfather kept calmly repeating, “Just wait until we get home, Earnest. Just wait until we get home.” An observer remarked to the grandfather, “I’m so impressed with how patient you are with Earnest.” The grandfather looked at the person and replied, “I’m Earnest.”

Maybe you can think of a nice child, but I see many who are not humble. And, unfortunately, we weren’t there to see the one Jesus was holding. But we do have other verses in the Bible which talk about humility.

James 4:6 “ . . . God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Daniel 4:37 “. . . and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.”

Proverbs 6:16-17 “There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes . . .”

Jesus Himself gave us an example of what it means to be humble: “Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:5-8)

Jesus our Messiah submitted His will to that of the Father, even to the point that He suffered and died, despite being innocent! He took our guilt and our sins upon Himself. He was mocked and ridiculed and beaten - none of which He deserved - for us because it was the will of the Father.

Because Jesus was willing to humble Himself completely to God’s will, the Father “has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:9-11).

It’s that paradox that we see so often in the Bible. You humble yourself and you will be exalted. “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you” (1 Peter 5:6). But the catch here is that you are not seeking the honor. Your job is to seek the humility, to submit your will to whatever God wants for you. You don’t complain. You don’t grumble. You respectfully, willingly do whatever God gives you to do. If you think you’re there, if you’re willing to do whatever God asks of you, look at the relationships you have with the people around you, especially those in authority over you, your parents, teachers, the police, your boss at work. How do you respond when they give you a job you don’t want to do? Do you submit your will and do what they ask? Do you submit, but grumble the whole time? Do you complain to others about having to do what they’ve asked? God gives us lot of chances to practice our humility. This life has a way of humbling most people.

The other interesting paradox in this whole equation is that a person who is truly humble before God is no longer interested in becoming great for his own benefit in the kingdom. He still wants to become great, but it’s for the glory of God. Remember what Philippians 2:11 says? “ . . . every knee [will] bow . . . and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the God the Father. Jesus Christ submitted completely to the Father’s will and when He was exalted, Jesus continued, and continues, to honor the Father - even though He is King of kings and Lord of lords. Jesus continues to submit to the will of His Father.

Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:4

We don’t know what the humility of that child looked like, but God gave us lots of examples, especially in the person of Jesus Christ, of what kind of humility He’s looking for. Additionally, He gave us lots of chances to practice humility with those all around us. It’s not just those in authority over us! Philippians 2:3 says, “ . . . in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” Every day you get to practice being humble, even if it means scrubbing toilets or serving others. And God doesn’t make it an if-then statement: you have to be humble only if others are humble first. It doesn’t work that way. You are submitting out of reverence for God. If you truly humble yourself before Him, He will lift you up - for His glory!

Sabbath, December 12th
Angels
See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. Matthew 18:10

In American Sign Language, the sign for “hate” is flicking the middle fingers of both hands down and away from you. It’s almost like saying, “Ooo, yuck. Get that away from me!!” That’s what it’s like to despise something. It’s a feeling of revulsion. You feel like, “I don’t want that to touch me.” Despising something can also mean that you look down at with repulsion. It’s a combination of not valuing something that you don’t want close to you. I despise dead skunks. Just thinking about it makes me scrunch up my face with revulsion. I will cross to the other side of the road to get as far away from them as possible. I feel similarly towards eating mice or snake. I can’t imagine actually be willing to intentionally put that stuff in my mouth.

But I should never have that kind of feeling towards a child, what Jesus calls a little one. That makes me think of Pigpen in Schultz’s comic strip Peanuts. He is such a dirty little boy that a cloud of dirt envelopes him everywhere he goes. If you met him face to face, the last thing you’d be tempted to do is actually touch him.

This verse also makes me think of the plight of children in India. Many children are simply unwanted. They beg on the streets. They comb through the garbage dumps looking for enough food to eat. They are unwanted and despised by the society around them. But the United States is even worse than India. In the United States, if you don’t want a child, it is legal to kill it. It’s called abortion! Before the child is even born, before the mother can even touch her own child with her own hands, she despises it so much that she kills it - and there are doctors (you know, the ones who have taken the hippocratic oath to heal, not hurt) who actually carry out the murder simply to make money.

Thinking about Pigpen, children in India, and abortion, look at Matthew 18:10 again: See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.
Why does Jesus say you shouldn’t despise one of these little ones? Because their angels in heaven always see the face of God the Father in heaven!

Consider what we know about angels. They are messengers like Gabriel to Daniel (Daniel 8:15; Daniel 10:11) and to Zechariah (Luke 1:19) and the angel to Philip (Acts 8:26). They help to fight where God sends them to fight (Daniel 10:13, 20; Joshua 5:13-14; 2 Kings 6:17). Angels are sent to destroy or kill (1 Chronicles 21:12). Angels are given the task when Jesus returns of gathering the elect “from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven” (Mark 13:27). Angels are also given the charge to guard and protect (Psalm 91:11-12).

For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.

Perhaps this is where we get the idea of guardian angels, angels that watch over little children and keep them from harm. Except . . . it doesn’t always work that way. We can all think of children who are injured and killed.

At the end of the day, we’re left with questions and a desire to know more about God, His will and His ways. We know that children are special to God, that Jesus rebuked his disciples when they were keeping children from coming to Jesus (Luke 18:16). We know that we are to consider others more significant than ourselves (Philippians 2:3). And we know that Jesus said, See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven (Matthew 18:10). It’s something to think about. But more than that, we must carefully consider our attitudes and actions towards any of these little ones.

Sabbath, December 19th
Last and First
But many who are first will be last, and the last first. Matthew 19:30

When I first moved to Missouri, one of the most remarkable differences between small-town Iowa and large-city Missouri were the lines. There were lines at the post office, lines at the grocery store, lines at the fabric store, and of course, lines at the DMV. You had to take a number. People wouldn’t just wait in line honestly; you had to take a number!

We run into lines everywhere we go. I remember the line of cars waiting to cross the bridge at Port Huron, MI on our way to the Feast of Tabernacles in 2000. I remember the lines at Six Flags the first year we took the kids. The lines were so long that even though we were there for ten hours, they only rode ten rides! There are even lines for things that you don’t really want to do - like pay your property and real estate taxes.

I’ve been responsible for making a few lines myself. When I was teaching, I was forever telling the kids to line up. Line up to go to the bathroom, line up to go to recess, line up to come in from recess, line up to go to gym or music or art, line up to go to the library . . . you get the picture! Lining kids up is the best way to make sure everyone is ready, everyone is quiet, and everyone is orderly.

Lines form because there are too many people at all the same place at the same time wanting to do the same thing. The Force Awakens opened on Thursday night. There were people who were waiting in line the night before at 11 p.m. They wanted to make sure they were going to get in and get a good seat. They were willing to sacrifice their time to wait in line.

So . . . shouldn’t those people who wait in line all night get to go in first? Shouldn’t those kids who are obedient and line up quickly get to go to recess first? Shouldn’t the people who are first in line at the DMV get to complete their business first? What’s Jesus really talking about here?

Jesus gave an example: it would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. He talked about those who had left everything to follow Him would be in leadership positions in the kingdom. It is all about attitude and perspective.

If you have an attitude of “me first,” then you, logically, can’t be putting God first. You are already breaking the first of the Ten Commandments. On the other hand, if you want God’s will in your life and are willing to give up what you want for God’s will, then you are putting God first - where He belongs. Thankfully, God gives us lots of practice to make sure we know where our heart really is. He gives us all of the people around us - like the people at the DMV and at Six Flags, and other brothers and sisters. If you think you are the most important person in the world and you expect everyone to do your bidding, then you are putting yourself first. You are not thinking of others more highly than yourself ( Phil 2:3). If you think your mom should cut you a piece of cake before everyone else is even finished eating supper, then you are putting yourself first - even if it is your birthday! On the other hand, if you serve others, if you put others’ needs in front of your own, if you seek to give them honor, then you are learning humility. If you are willing to do the dishes for Mom even if it’s not your turn, you are serving. If you are willing to do chores (like picking up dog poop, cleaning the bathroom, scrubbing the floors) even if it’s not your job, then you’re learning to put others first. If you are patient and polite even when the line is long at the DMV or Six Flags, perhaps you will be a good witness to the people around you that you’re different. You want people to recognize that you are different - in a good way - and you want them to be curious enough to want to know why you’re different. Then perhaps you can tell them about God and how great He is, not how great you are.

But many who are first will be last, and the last first. Matthew 19:30

Many who are first are first because they think they are most important. In reality, God is most important. When you learn how to live that in your life - that God is first in everything, it’s very pleasing to God . . . and you could find yourself first in line in the kingdom. The next time you’re standing in line, think about your attitude of God being first in everything; while you’re waiting you might as well do something important.