Sabbath, January 4th - Numbers 16:45 - Weebles Wobble

Sabbath, January 11th  - Numbers 20:12 - Trust and Obey

Sabbath, January 18th - Numbers 28:2 - At Just the Right Time

Sabbath, January 25th  - Numbers 33:56 - Do To You


Sabbath, February 1st - Deuteronomy 4:2 - Precisely

Sabbath, February 8th - Deuteronomy 8:4 - Our God

Sabbath, February 15th - Deuteronomy 16:17 - According to the Blessing

Sabbath, February 22nd - Deuteronomy 23:23 - Keep Your Vows


Sabbath, March 1st - Deuteronomy 28:47 - Joy and Gladness

Sabbath, March 8th - Deuteronomy 29:29 - Cell Phones and Secret Things

Sabbath, March 15th - Deuteronomy 32:4 - A God of Faithfulness

Sabbath, March 22nd - Joshua 1:9 - Be Not Afraid

Sabbath, March 29th - Joshua 5:15 - Holy Ground


Sabbath, April 5th -   Joshua 18:1 - Still Work to Be Done

Sabbath, April 12th -  Judges 3:2 - The Battle Belongs to the Lord

Tuesday, April 15th -  Judges 10:13 - Who Will Save You?

Sabbath, April 19th -  Ruth 1:16 - Gleaning From Ruth

Monday, April 21st -   Ruth 4:14 - My Kinsman-Redeemer

Sabbath, April 26th -  1 Samuel 2:2 - No Rock Like Our God


Sabbath, May 3rd -  1 Samuel 8:19-20 - BFF and Belonging

Sabbath, May 10th -  1 Samuel 18:14 - Behaving Yourself Wisely

Sabbath, May 17th -  1 Samuel 30:24b - Staying With the Stuff

Sabbath, May 24th -  2 Samuel 6:14 - Dance!

Sabbath, May 31st -  2 Samuel 18:8 - Fighting Forests


Sabbath, June 7th -  1 Kings 3:9 - Wisdom

Pentecost, June 8th - 1 Kings 3:9 - Where Wisdom is Found

Sabbath, June 14th -  1 Kings 3:28 - Wisdom in Everything

Sabbath, June 21st -  1 Kings 4:20 - Through His Faith He Still Speaks

Sabbath, June 28th -   1 Kings 6:7 - Building the House


Sabbath, July 5th -   1 Kings 8:60 - That You May Know

Sabbath, July 12th -  1 Kings 11:4 - Choose Wisely

Sabbath, July 19th - 1 Kings 17:4 - Elijah!

Sabbath, July 26th -  1 Kings 18:21 - Don't Sit on the Fence



Sabbath, August 2nd -   2 Kings 6:16 - Greater

Sabbath, August 9th -  2 Kings 9:3 - What He Says We Will Do

Sabbath, August 16th -  2 Kings 13:21 - That You May Have Life

Sabbath, August 23rd -  2 Kings 17:14 - Beans in Your Ears

Sabbath, August 30th -  2 Kings 24:4 - Innocent Blood


Sabbath, September 6th - 1 Chronicles 10:14 - Cake

Sabbath, September 13th  -    1 Chronicles 22:19a - Seek God

Sabbath, September 20th -    1 Chronicles 28:9b - Your Whole Life Long

Trumpets, September 26th and Sabbath, September 27th -   2 Chronicles 7:8 - A Very Great Assembly; Dedication


Sabbath, October 4th and Atonement, October 6th  -  2 Chronicles 11:14 - Going Through the Motions; One Way, One Atonement, One High Priest


Sabbath, November 1st - Nehemiah 8:10b - The Joy of the Lord

Sabbath, November 8th  - Esther 4:14 - Survive or Thrive

Sabbath, November 15th - Job 12:23 - God's Sovereignty

Sabbath, November 22nd - Job 19:25 - I Know That My Redeemer Liveth

Sabbath, November 29th  - Job 38:2 - Darkens Counsel


Sabbath, December 6th -  Psalm 3:3 - A Shield, My Glory, and the Lifter of My Head

Sabbath, December 13th  - Psalm 19:1 - Are You Listening?

Sabbath, December 20th - Psalm 33:12  - Blessed!

Sabbath, December 27th -  Psalm 51:10 - A Clean Heart and a Right Spirit

Sabbath, January 4th
Weebles Wobble
“Get away from the midst of this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” And they fell on their faces. Numbers 16:45

When I was a kid, weebles were the new toy on the market. The advertising slogan was “Weebles wobble, but they won’t fall down.” Now when you’re a kid with bad guys attacking the castle, you want the bad guys to fall down. What good is a bad guy that when you hit him, he bobs back up again? I remember thinking as kids that weebles were pretty lame toys.

But I was thinking of the weebles this morning when I was considering this verse in Numbers 16:45: “Get away from the midst of this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” And they fell on their faces. Who fell on their faces? Moses and Aaron did. This is the instance of Korah’s rebellion, but it could have been any number of instances when the  Israelites rebelled, murmured, and grumbled against God. There was the manna, the golden calf, the bitter water, the water from the rock, the quail (twice), Aaron and Miriam opposing Moses, the bronze serpent, and refusing to enter the land God was giving to them as their inheritance. Numbers 14 records God saying that the people had put Him to the test ten times! And that was before they disobeyed God and tried to take the land anyway (Numbers 14:39) and Korah’s rebellion (Numbers 16).

God had been extremely patient with the people. In Exodus 34:6-7 God had passed before Moses and proclaimed, about Himself, “The LORD, the LORD,  a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

Moses, Aaron, and the Israelites had experienced over and over the patience, the loving kindness, the mercy of God. Over and over they had put Him to the test. And now, here in Numbers 16, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram were swallowed by the earthquake, and the other 250 leaders, who had offered fire and incense in their censors to God - in a power play against Moses, were consumed by fire. But this isn’t where we find this verse: “Get away from the midst of this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” And they fell on their faces. (Numbers 16:45) No, this verse comes after God’s judgment against Korah and the others. This is the next day - and the people are still grumbling! God has finally had enough!! He tells Aaron and Moses to get away from the people. What was Moses’ and Aaron’s response? They fell on their face! 

There’s at least a couple of lessons to learn. First of all, God is long-suffering. He’s extremely patient and merciful. Because God is so slow to anger, we tend to think He is condoning our misdeeds and sin. (Psalm 50:21) We couldn’t be more wrong. God will by no means clear the guilty.

Secondly, God will deal swiftly with evildoers when He decides to. As soon as Moses and Aaron fell on their faces, the plague started. Moses told Aaron to run and get some fire and incense in his censor, to stand before the people and make atonement for them.  Before Aaron could do so, there were already 14,700 people who had died from the plague. 

Thirdly, Moses and Aaron reacted to God’s judgment by prostrating themselves before God! This was no time to try to talk God out of it. God was acting, and Moses and Aaron just humbled themselves before God as quickly and completely as they could.

What about us? Do we test God? Do we arouse His anger at us? Does Jesus stand in the gap and make intercession for us? How long will God allow that intercession before our wickedness surpasses His long-suffering and mercy? We cannot call Jesus our Savior and then continue in a sinful lifestyle. Jesus is not our Redeemer so that we can continue to sin. He is our Redeemer from being slaves to sin. We cannot quench the Holy Spirit within us which teaches us the right way to go - we cannot quench it without impunity!

I think we’d better find our faces before God. I think we’d better confess our sins, repent and humble ourselves before our Maker. In our relationship with our God and Savior, we don’t want to be like the weebles who wobble but they won’t fall down.


Sabbath, January 11th
Trust and Obey
And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” Numbers 20:12

What a devastating pronouncement to Aaron and Moses!  This was after 38 years of wandering in the wilderness. They were about to enter the Promised Land - finally. But, the people started grumbling and complaining . . . again . . . and Moses did not respond well. The people complained because there was no water. Moses and Aaron said to the assembled people, “Must we bring forth water from this rock?” It wasn’t Moses or Aaron who was responsible for bringing forth the water. It was all God, totally, completely, unmistakably. Then, to make matters worse, Moses disobeyed God. God told Moses to speak to the rock. But Moses didn’t do that; he struck the rock . . . twice.

Obedience is important to God. Do you remember the consequences of Saul not obeying God in 1 Samuel 15? God told Saul, through Samuel, that the kingdom would be taken from Saul and given to another. 1 Samuel 15:22 states, “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice . . .” 

Likewise, claiming responsibility, or taking the glory, for something when it’s not yours to claim is not a good idea - especially when the glory belongs to God. God states in more than one place that His glory He will not give to another. (Isaiah 42:8, Isaiah 48:11)

But the thing I find very striking in this pronouncement in Numbers 20:12 is the first phrase: Because you did not believe in me. God says that Moses and Aaron’s actions were due to their unbelief. Because they didn’t trust, have faith in, didn’t believe in God, they didn’t obey Him. Isn’t that shocking to you?! Of all the people in the Bible, I would have thought that Moses wouldn’t have had a problem with believing in God!

So what about us? Do we believe in God?

The reality is that our words and our deeds will follow our beliefs. If we believe in God, we will obey Him. If we trust Him, we will say and do things which are evidence of that trust.

We have been given an incredible job as the people of God. We are to uphold Him as holy in the eyes of the people around us. So we’d better give serious thought to  one thing: do we believe in God?


Sabbath, January 18th
At Just the Right Time
“Command the people of Israel and say to them, ‘My offering, my food for my food offerings, my pleasing aroma, you shall be careful to offer to me at its appointed time.’ ” Numbers 28:2

Does being on time matter?
     If you’re late to a doctor’s appointment, you can be charged for a missed appointment or you may have to reschedule. If you’re late for work, you are warned the first couple of times; then you’re fired. If you’re late going through an intersection and run the red light, you can be issued a ticket if you’re caught. If you’re late to the airport, you can miss your flight. These are just a few examples amid a myriad of examples! Yes, being on time matters a lot.

Time matters to God as well.

***God rested on the seventh day and made it holy. (Genesis 2:3) The Sabbath is holy to God.

***The Israelites were told to march around Jericho seven days in a row. (Joshua 6) What if the people had only marched six days? What if they’d only marched around Jericho three times the seventh day? Would the walls still have fallen?

***On the tenth day of the first month, the Israelites were to choose a lamb. (Ex 12:3) If the people hadn’t chosen the lamb that day, would the death angel still have passed over their door without striking the firstborn dead?

***Three times in the year, the males were to appear before God with their offering in the place that God would choose. (Deut 16:16) Over and over, God tells His people to worship Him in the place He would choose - and the appointed time.

But God is merciful. 
     Yes, He is. There are times when you are late for something, when you can’t do anything about it, and sometimes you miss it altogether. My brother Nate and sister-in-law Sylvia didn’t go to the Feast of Tabernacles in 2004: Mateo was born on the Last Great Day. There’s a huge difference between not going because you don’t feel like it and not going because there’s a special situation. God’s mercy does not equal license. That is, just because God is gracious and merciful when you can’t obey Him, doesn’t give you the excuse to disobey just because you don’t feel like doing it God’s way. God still expects us to obey Him - and doing things according to His time is part of that obedience.

Obedience shows your heart.
     One day in September of 1976, my dad told the three of us kids to vacuum the house after we got home from school, but before 4:00. We had a bright orange carpet and three dogs (two white and one black); the carpet probably really needed to be vacuumed. We got the vacuum out and plugged it in, but we looked at each other and said, “Dad’s not going to be home until at least 5:00 and I want to watch such-and-such cartoon on tv. It’s not going to matter in the least if we wait until just before 4 to get started.” Only . . . it did matter. Dad arrived at 3:55 because a new piano was being delivered at 4:00. The carpet wasn’t vacuumed, and to make matters worse, the vacuum was in the living room right in the middle of the way.
     We didn’t vacuum because we thought it didn’t matter. But in reality, what we were saying was that we didn’t respect my dad enough to do what he said when he wasn’t there and when we didn’t understand why it was important. We were disobedient and disrespectful.

What and when
     When you’re in a relationship with God, time is part of the sacrifice or offering. In Numbers 28:2, God says to be careful to offer to Him at the appointed time. To offer whenever it’s convenient says an enormous amount about your heart; it indicates whether you think you’re more important or you think God is more important. 
     What you offer to God also says a lot about your heart. You have to bring your best to God. When you chose the lamb for the offering, you had to bring one that was without blemish. You couldn’t bring one that was maimed and deformed just because it was just going to be killed anyway. (Malachi 1:6-12) Numbers 28:2 says that these offerings were a pleasing aroma to God. But if it’s not offered in the right way, at the right time, in the right place, and it’s not the specified offering - if you’re disobedient and disrespectful - how could that possibly smell good to God?

Just how important to you is your relationship with God?
      God gives specific directions in so many instances of how He wants to be worshipped. When we obey Him, we are acting out our devotion to Him. When we do it His way, we’re telling Him how important He is to us. When we are careful to follow Him, we honor Him in the sight of the people around us. It’s important to the vitality of our relationship with God to obey Him always, completely, wholeheartedly. That would be at just the right time.


Sabbath, January 25th
Do To You
And, I will do to you as I thought to do to them. Numbers 33:56

This statement follows right on the heels of the discussion we had about Numbers 33:52. God has told His people to completely destroy (in some cases) or drive out (in other cases) the inhabitants of the land. These people had become so wicked that God was no longer willing to allow them to live.  Then He gives the Israelites a stern warning. The inhabitants must not be allowed to pull God’s people away from following Him in the way He prescribes. Once the perversity gets a foothold, it becomes more and more perverse; a rotten apple in the barrel is not made pure by all the apples around it! A little bit of dog poop ruins the entire batch of brownies. A little bit of rebellion against God works through a people like leaven through a batch of bread dough - leavening the whole lump. You can’t allow evil - uncleanness, wickedness, perversity, rebellion, whatever you want to call it - a foothold in your life.

And here’s where this verse becomes very important. If you do become wicked and perverse, God will do to you as He thought to do to them. There’s no grading on a curve. There’s no teacher’s pet. There’s no mercy just because you think God is your special friend. Just because God has, in times past, blessed you does not mean that you are now exempt from keeping His laws. The description of the character of God includes just, right, and holy. He cannot just let someone go because He feels like it.

It makes one think - because I know who I am, the carnal nature against which I must daily do battle. I know that I am deserving of destruction - just based on my merits.

But there’s good news: Our inheritance is not based on our merit; it’s totally, solely based on the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and in our personal relationship with Him. In reality, God took our punishment, what we deserved, and laid it on His only begotten Son. He truly did to Jesus what He thought to do to those who deserve destruction.

Now, if He did all of this for me, what should I not do for Him?

Sabbath, February 1st
Precisely
You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you.  Deuteronomy 4:2

There’s a family joke about my cooking that if you like something that’s too bad because I just make up the recipe as I go, I don’t measure ingredients, and therefore, I can’t duplicate the results. To some extent that’s true, but I have learned there are times when you have to be very precise if you want the recipe to turn out at all. When I’m making candy, I’m very careful to measure the ingredients according to the recipe and I use the candy thermometer. When I’m making a cake, I’ve learned that you have to follow all of the directions!

Similarly, when we were building the house, and I was cutting the trim. If I hadn’t cut the trim boards at exactly the right length or at exactly the right angle, it would look bad, sloppy, haphazard. We wouldn’t have wanted our house to look like that!

My mom worked for Martin Marietta in Denver as a bookkeeper. She had to be precise down to the penny. If you’re off a penny, it’s likely an indication that you’re actually off more than that. Mom also likes to be very precise! Even if she’s making up a recipe, she writes down the amounts that she’s measured and thrown in - so she can adjust them the next time or duplicate her results whenever she wants to.

The importance of being precise is seen all around us in our world. We are precisely the right distance from the sun. If we were any closer, the sun’s gravitational pull would eventually pull us in. If we were any farther out, the sun’s gravitational pull would not be able to keep us in orbit.

Our earth is tilted at precisely the right angle to create seasons.

Water freezes precisely at 32º, but it is also the most dense at 39º. That’s very important. That means ice is less dense than water so that a pond doesn’t freeze all the way to the bottom and kill all the fish!

We also find that God is very precise. Think of the detailed instructions for the construction of the tabernacle and all its furnishings. Think of the detailed directions for offering sacrifices. Think of the precision of how to deal with skin infections, mold in houses, or having touched a dead body. God was also very specific on the day to celebrate His holy days. On the 14th day of the first month was the Passover. The 15th day was the start of the Days of Unleavened Bread. God told them, “You shall eat unleavened bread for seven days.” God was very precise with how many days to eat it! Similarly, each one of the holy days, when to keep it, is delineated!

So then we read this verse in Deuteronomy 4:2: You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you.

Moses is adjuring the people to keep God’s laws precisely! Keep them exactly as God has specified! Do you see the implication here? If you add anything to God’s commandments, or take anything away from God’s commandments, it’s no longer God’s commandment! It’s like me making candy or Mom balancing the books; if it’s not precise, it’s not right. It’s the same thing with God’s law. If you vary it a little bit, it’s no longer exactly what God said; it’s no longer God’s law.

It’s important for us all to wrap our minds around the fact that we can’t take a little bit off here, add a little bit there, throw in - so to speak - some of our own ideas of what is right and wrong. God is very precise about His commands. We need to realize that we can’t improve on what He has said. And if we don’t keep God’s law exactly as He specified, then we’re not really keeping God’s law! We must follow God’s laws precisely!


Sabbath, February 8th
Our God
Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. Deuteronomy 8:4

As you think back over the incredible miracles and ways that God provided for the Israelites, do you think about this verse? Do you think about clothes not wearing out on you or your foot not swelling in forty years of wandering in the wilderness?

It reminds me of a couple of things: first, God didn’t overlook little details. He provided for what they needed. But think about it. If you’d been traveling with the Israelites and your clothing wore out, it would have been a big deal, not a little detail! There’s no local Wal-mart. You have to plant the flax, turn it into linen (with all that entails) and then make your clothes. Or you have to plant cotton and harvest it. Or you have to shear your sheep, wash and card the wood, spin it, weave it, make it into cloth, and then make your clothes. Clothes wearing out was a big deal. Now imagine clothing not wearing out for forty years! Do you realize what a miracle that would have been?! Similarly, not having trouble with your feet swelling when you’re traveling? 

There’s another aspect to this provision from God: you don’t see your clothing wearing out. You don’t see the initial swelling of your feet. All of a sudden, a seam gives out and you realize the whole piece of material is rotten. Or you wake up one morning and think, my feet hurt. The absence of the problem sometimes causes you to overlook the fact that it’s not normal! God has done a miracle and you didn’t even notice!

Another thing to notice from this verse is God’s almighty hand. God could completely eliminate all trouble and pain from our lives. But He doesn’t. The verse right before this one talks about God letting the people hunger and then providing manna for them to eat so they might know that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. This section goes on to talk about how God humbled the Israelites and tested them that He would know what was in their hearts. Then Moses continues by telling the people that God is disciplining them.

So, even though God could make our path straight, level, and smooth, sometimes He chooses not to. Why? Because He knows what we need in order to form us into the image of His Son. He knows how to mold us to guide us so that we will follow His leading. He does what is best for us in the long-term because He loves us. Sometimes that means keeping our clothing from wearing out. Sometimes it means leading us in the wilderness.

Next time you’re on your knees, you might thank God for the many things He has provided for you, and then thank Him for the provisions that you just took for granted - that you didn’t even notice, and then thank Him for loving you so much, for continuing the sanctification process in you, even when you’re not grateful for the discipline.

And maybe the next time you pull out an old, favorite shirt, thank God that it hasn’t worn out yet.

Sabbath, February 15th
According to the Blessing
Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you. Deuteronomy 16:17

There’s a great old hymn - “Count Your Many Blessings” - whose exhortation we would be wise to heed! When we’re down, when we’re overwhelmed, when we’re stricken by the green-eyed monster of envy, or when we’re involved in battle, that’s the time to remember what God has done for us. God has given us so much! He has blessed us so richly! He has directed our steps! He has redeemed us from our sins! He has given us His Son! And then there’s the little things like air to breathe, colors to enjoy, music which inspires us, children who delight, and food to savor! The list goes on and on! Really! When you stop to think about the goodness of our God and the many blessings you could scribe on a piece of paper, the list would be enormous.

So once you’ve written your list, what do you do with it? Hmm.

The author of “Count Your Many Blessings” intended that list to be an encouragement: “help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.” And it is! The list of blessings does strengthen our hands and exhort us to continue on regardless of our struggles and difficulties.

But the list can do more! Obviously, the first step is to recognize that we have received numerous blessings, but then what? It can, and should, motivate us to thank God for those many blessings! It’s hard to grumble and complain when you are expressing gratitude from a grateful heart! I can’t help but think of 1 Corinthians 10:10 - “nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.” Thanksgiving is a life-saving antidote to grumbling!

But there’s more that listing your blessings does for you. It’s highlighted in this verse in Deuteronomy 16:17: Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you.  The recognition of our many blessings should motivate us to give an offering to God. How much of an offering? What should I give to God? Well, how much has He blessed you? That’s what this verse says! You give according to how God has blessed you.

So look at your list of blessings again. What monetary value, what offering equivalent  can you ascribe to the blessings from God?

When it comes right down to it, we owe God everything: our homes, our families, our possessions, our lives, the very air we breathe and the food we eat. It is not lightly that Paul exhorts the Romans to “present their bodies as living sacrifices”! That truly is our “reasonable worship” (Romans 12:1)! If you (and I) would begin to view our possessions as God’s possessions that we are merely stewards of; if we would begin to view our lives as gifts from God and our entire being as no longer slaves to sin, but bought by the precious blood of Christ; if we would truly view Jesus as our Lord, our Master, our Adoni in every area of our lives, we would live very much differently.

Well, I don’t know about you.  I know that I would live very differently. In counting my blessings and giving a gift to God according to how He has blessed me, I would give all that I am. That’s my goal. In scriptural terms, it’s a restatement of 2 Corinthians 10:5: We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ. My gift to God according to how He has blessed me would be everything, my possessions, my life, my very being, including my thoughts!

How has God blessed you?


Sabbath, February 22nd
Keep Your Vows
You shall be careful to do what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the LORD your God what you have promised with your mouth. Deuteronomy 23:23

In the movie Black Beauty, Joe promised the horse that he would find him and buy him back some day. How important was it for Joe to keep that promise?

When  two people get married, they recite marriage vows - before God and all those assembled. How important is it to keep those marriage vows?

Ecclesiastes 5:4 says, “When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools.” Do you get this? Solomon says if you make a vow and don’t fulfill it, you’re a fool.

This command in Deuteronomy to keep your vows isn’t the only occurrence of this admonition.  This is serious stuff to God. So why would anyone make a vow in the first place? Can you think of specific examples in the Bible of people who made a vow and the reason they did so?

Jepthah wanted God to act on his behalf; he wanted victory over the Ammonites. He vowed that if he arrived home in peace (got the victory over Ammon) the first thing to greet him, coming out of the door of his house, he would sacrifice as a burnt offering to God.  Judges 11:30-40

Hannah wanted God to act on her behalf; she wanted a son. She vowed that if God gave her a son, she would dedicate him to the LORD. 1 Samuel 1

Saul wanted victory over the Philistines. He vowed that anyone among the people (those fighting the Philistines) who ate anything that day would be cursed. 1 Samuel 14:24-46

Herod wanted to show his pleasure to  the daughter of Herodias for her dancing. He vowed up to half of his kingdom to her. Mark 6:22-23 

Certain Jews wanted to show their hatred and determination. They vowed to neither eat  nor drink until they had killed Paul. Acts 23

How well did these vows turn out for the people who made them?

In Jepthah’s case, what came out of the door of his house was his only child, his daughter. Jepthah was beside himself at his vow, but he knew that he had to fulfill it. 

In Hannah’s case, the dedication of that son was a huge benefit to Israel! They had Samuel leading them for years!

Saul’s rash vow was a disaster from the start. The people are fighting the Philistines! How well can you fight when you’re hungry, faint from hunger? To complicate matters, Jonathan (Saul’s son) didn’t hear the curse. He ate some honey. So then, when Saul went to inquire of the LORD to determine their next move, God wouldn’t answer. Saul knew someone had sinned. So he set the people against himself and Jonathan, saying that whoever had sinned would surely die. When it came out that it was Jonathan who had eaten the honey, Saul was ready to fulfill that vow. But the people intervened! Because God had worked mightily through Jonathan that day, and because the people knew that, they wouldn’t let Saul kill him.  The way the event is recorded is: “So the people ransomed Jonathan, so that he did not die.”

Herod’s vow was just thoughtless. Proverbs 20:25 says, “It is a snare to say rashly, “It is holy,” and to reflect only after making vows. In other words, you can find yourself in trouble when you vow something before you know what it  is that you’ve promised. That’s what Herod did. He didn’t have any idea that it would mean the head of John the Baptist!

Similarly, the Jews who vowed they would neither eat nor drink until they killed Paul were destined to break that vow or to die a premature death - because we know they didn’t kill Paul!

But really, how serious is it to make, and keep, a vow? There’s a passage in Jeremiah 44 where God told the people of Judah who were living in Egypt that they would keep their vows to the queen of heaven to burn incense to her and to pour our drink offerings to her. And subsequently, God would “watch over them for evil, and not for good”  and that all those people would “be consumed by the sword and by the famine” until they were all gone! God took their vows very seriously!

And then there’s Psalm 15. It starts out: “O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill.” Then there’s a list of 11 items, including doing  what is right, speaking the truth, not slandering your neighbor, not taking a bribe against the innocent. The ninth in the list is this one: “ who swears to his own hurt and does not change.”

How important are your vows, your promises? Let’s review: First, God expects you to keep your vows. Secondly, you’re a fool if you make a vow and then break it. And thirdly, if you want to dwell with God, you have to keep your vows!! In this society, where integrity and vows are not given the weight they require, we need to be extremely careful what we say. We need to seriously consider the words which are about to pass our lips! I don’t know about you, but I want to dwell on God’s holy hill.

Sabbath, March 1st
Joy and Gladness
Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, Deuteronomy 28:47

Ebony and Velvet, our two black labs, are about as close as we get to having servants. They exist to serve us, to wake up the children in the morning, to keep a watch out for intruders (especially at night), and to offer us comfort through companionship whenever we need it. They are our servants. (Now, if only someone would tell the dogs that!) But seriously, when I walk up to get the mail, and I tell the dog that she can’t come with me, that she has to stay home, I expect to be obeyed. Neither Velvet nor Ebony like that order. If I’m going for a walk, they want to go along. But, amazingly enough, they both obey me. 

One day, several weeks ago, I walked up to get the mail when Ebony was out. She greeted me at the front door with leaps and bounds and huge tail propellers. (Greeting your master joyfully is another mandatory job of a servant.) Those tail propellers stopped abruptly when I told her she had to stay home. But when I walked back down the hill from getting the mail, and I called Ebony to come, she raced to me. When she got close, she ran circles around me to show me how happy she was to see me and how happy she was to be back in my good graces - because  I wanted her with me again. But as she raced around me, it wasn’t enough to her; it didn’t express her joy as completely as she wished. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a leaf on the ground. So she grabbed  it in her mouth and tossed it up into the air. Then she grabbed another leaf . . . and another. I was delighted to discover that I have a leaf-throwing dog - because it was how she was expressing her joy.

How important is it to God that we are happy and joyful? On a scale of one to ten, I’d say it’s about a 1. You see, God is not in the business of making us happy - not anymore than a parent’s sole job is to make sure that his or her child is always smiling. That’s not the primary focus. 

So what is important to God? You can answer this question by thinking of the things for which God punished His people. Let’s see. Disobedience was a big one. That included breaking any of the Ten Commandments - serving other gods, making idols to worship, taking His name in vain, collecting sticks on the Sabbath (breaking the Sabbath), dishonoring your parents, murdering, committing adultery, stealing, bearing false witness, coveting what is not yours. I can think of stories in the Bible where the people were punished for each one of these transgressions. But what else displeased God? Not treating God as holy kept Moses and Aaron out of the Promised Land. Not trusting God to guide and protect caused the Israelites 20 years old and upwards to lose out on the Promised Land - all except Caleb and Joshua. Grumbling caused God to send fiery serpents among the people. 

The first example, obedience, is about what you do. We understand that we are supposed to serve God. We need to obey Him. There are too many examples of disobedience which highlight that error. But the last three examples listed above of what is important to God focus on the attitude towards God - which directly impacts your actions. So the original question of how important joy and gladness are to God is better asked this way: How important is it to God that you serve Him with joyfulness and gladness of heart? Does God care whether you are willingly, eagerly, zealously, joyfully serving Him? Wouldn’t it be enough that you just obey His rules?

No. It’s not enough.

Look at Deuteronomy 28:47-48: Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And he will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you.

Our God, who has graciously, incredibly, given us so much (the abundance of all things!!), He expects that we would serve Him with joyfulness and gladness of heart. We willingly serve Him. We eagerly serve Him. We zealously serve Him with our whole heart.

And those servants, those dogs which God has given to us, they show us the way.

Sabbath, March 8th
Cell Phones and Secret Things
The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. Deuteronomy 29:29

I have an old cell phone. I don’t remember the last time I upgraded, but it’s been years. Nevertheless, I have not yet begun to plumb the depths of what it can do. Oh, I know how to turn it on, make calls, retrieve messages. But that’s about the extent. I know there are games on it. I know I could send a text message. I know there are lots of features that I could access, but it’s enough to me that it just works to make phone calls when I need it to do that.

I learned how to turn it on, answer calls, and make calls when we first got it. Someone showed me how to do the basics. The rest of it, well, I could engage in some trial and error. I could go to the internet and google it. I could go to a phone store and ask. But it just  isn’t that important to me to know how to access all of the features. At least, I don’t think I need to access any of the other features; I’m getting along just fine. But the reality is: I know there are probably functions that phone can perform that I haven’t even considered.

In a similar way, God gives us His word, the Bible. Many times whoever gives us our first Bible also gives us some basic instructions, like “don’t steal,” “don’t lie,” and “don’t covet.” We read a little bit here and there. We may go to church and hear what the preacher has to say. We keep adding  to our knowledge base of what the Bible says, how it applies to our life, and how our observance of God’s laws impacts our relationship with Him. 

As we learn more and more, and as our relationship with God deepens, we want to learn more and more. So we read the Bible. We pray. We fellowship with others who have a similar hunger for the things of God. And then we come across things we don’t understand. 

What do you do when you read something you don’t understand? You can 1)  stop searching altogether; you can 2) put it on the shelf and look at it later when you have gained more overall understanding; you can 3) gather opinions from other people you respect; you can 4) ask God to give you understanding; or you can 5) remember this verse in Deuteronomy 29:29:

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

There are some things that we aren’t going to understand about God during this lifetime, who He is, and what He’s doing. That knowledge doesn’t impact our ability to obey Him. The truth is, the Bible contains enough information for us to obey God, to do what He has said. 

But sometimes, we have to dig. There’s a fascinating verse in Proverbs 25:2: It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.  Sometimes when we come across things we don’t understand, we need to dig a little deeper. We need to show some perseverance in our curiosity. It demonstrates to God just how valuable His word is to us. 

I started with a physical example of my cell phone. The analogy breaks down quickly because the cell phone is a tool. I use it to accomplish what I need. God’s way is more than a simple tool; it’s a way of life; it is our life. So while there are many things I don’t know about my cell phone, it doesn’t really matter. In contrast, there are many things I still don’t know about God, and I plan to keep seeking and searching. The things of God matter enormously, and what I need to know God will reveal to me.


Sabbath, March 15th
A God of Faithfulness
The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice.
A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he. Deuteronomy 32:4

Has anyone ever hurt you, intentionally or unintentionally? It’s almost a silly question to pose because we humans are so fallible that we hurt the people we love the best, unintentionally, quite frequently. Our ways are not always just. Our work is rarely, if ever, perfect. 

This verse, found near the beginning of the Song of Moses, contains such a rich collection of descriptors for God.  Why? Why did Moses emphasize this part of God’s character? It’s interesting: God’s people have a hard time trusting God because everyone else around them fails them at some time, to some degree. When that’s all we know, it’s hard to remember that God is not like us. We have the incredibly human failing of trying to make God in our image, even when we don’t intend to. So perhaps Moses, for our benefit and for the benefit of the people who would sing his song down through the ages, would write a very strong reminder that God is faithful, just and upright, that His work is perfect and His ways justice.

Perhaps, too, the structure of this verse is designed to help the people remember. There’s a chiasm here. “The Rock” (A) is mirrored by “is He” (A’).
“His work is perfect” (B) is mirrored by “just and upright” (B’). “For all his ways are justice” (C) is the positive way to express “without iniquity” (C’). That leaves “A God of faithfulness” in the middle spot. In Western thinking, this doesn’t make sense. But in Hebrew writing, the main point is in the center. Everything else mirrors around that main point, setting it off. 

Not only in the chiasm a wonderful literary device for driving home the important point, it also makes memorizing the verse easier. There’s a form, a recognizable structure to the words.

           A.  The Rock

                 B.  His work is perfect

                       C. For all his ways are justice

                             D. A God of faithfulness

                       C.’ Without iniquity

                 B.’ Just and upright

            A.’ is He

It’s a wonderful reminder for us. We can rest assured, have that confident assurance, that solid foundation, that our God is faithful. Amen!

Sabbath, March 22nd
Be Not Afraid
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

Have you looked up a list of phobias lately? I did. I was amazed at not only the things of which people are afraid, but also the fact there are names for them! Of course, the fear of heights (altophobia or acrophobia) is well-known, as is the fear of spiders, arachnephobia. But there’s also the fear of snakes, snakephobia or ophidiophobia. There’s the fear of cats, which actually has five different words for it. Felinophobia seemed the most memorable to me. The fear of words is verbophobia and the fear of long words is either sesquipedalophobia or hippopotomonstrosesquipedalophobia. The one which made me grin, probably because I’ve only had a teenager for a couple of years, is ephebiphobia, the fear of teenagers. (Source: phobialist.com)

There are many things of which we are afraid, and it’s been that way for a very long time. The first instance of fear in the Bible is in Genesis 3:10. Adam told God that he was afraid because he was naked. The people were afraid of the smoking and thundering Mt. Sinai in Exodus 20:18. Even in the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:25, the one who hid his talents said that he was afraid of his master, that he was a hard man, so that was why he hid his talent in the ground instead of doing something with it.

Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:8), Ezekiel (Ezekiel 2:6), Peter (Luke 5:10), Paul (Acts 18:9), and Joshua (Joshua 1:9) were all told not to be afraid. God had given them a task to do. It was going to require courage, but God was with them, and they would succeed. We, too, by extension, because we are God’s people, have this command and assurance that God is with us, that we are not to be afraid. 

Isaiah 44:6-8 says: Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts [the God of angel armies]: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. Who is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and set it before me, since I appointed an ancient people. Let them declare what is to come, and what will happen. Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? And you are my witnesses! Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any.”

John 14:27 says: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

Implicit in these two verses is the idea that God’s people are not afraid because they believe in and trust God. David clearly states this in Psalm 27:1: The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

My favorite example of not being afraid is Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael, although we are more familiar with their Babylonian names: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. When faced with a command from King Nebuchadnezzar, which would violate God’s command, these three young men refused, even faced with death. Their response to the king is amazing! “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 3:17-18). The faith of these three young men in the Great God of the universe was incredibly strong. They didn’t just say that God would save them; they said God could save them. But they were not going to transgress God’s laws even if it wasn’t God’s will to save them.

How could they do that? Why were they able to have such courage and conviction? 1 John 4:18 says, “Perfect love casts out fear.” David writes, in Psalm 56:3, “When I am afraid, I will trust in you.”  Both of these verses strongly imply relationship with the only One who has the ability to hold your life in His hand. If you don’t have a relationship with God, your gods of stone and wood  are not going to save you from the trouble to come. In Adam’s case, he’d damaged the relationship with God. In Exodus, the Israelites didn’t trust God. In the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, the servant didn’t know and love his master. He wasn’t serving him with all of his heart. In all these cases, the relationship wasn’t there to prevent the fear; the relationship wasn’t there to be able to trust.

Nevertheless, it isn’t that we’re never going to be afraid. Fear is programmed into our consciousness to keep us from doing stupid things - like walking over high bridges or playing with poisonous vipers. It’s our response to those feelings of fear that matter. We need to consider the situation. If it’s not something we should be doing, fear is a motivator to stop doing it. Arachnephobia keeps me from playing with spiders. But if fear is due to someone trying to force me to stop serving God, then I have to do what I know to be right in God’s sight and to trust Him for the outcome, even if we’re talking about ephebiphobia (the fear of teenagers).

Sabbath, March 29th
Holy Ground
And the commander of the LORD’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. Joshua 5:15

Who is this commander of the LORD’s army? Likely, this is the One who would become Jesus Christ. Notice that when Joshua fell down and worshiped, Joshua was not rebuked. (There are numerous instances where an angel rebuked the person who fell down and worshipped them.) In addition, notice that the ground was holy. Only God can make the ground holy. 

This incident should make you think of another, similar incident where the person was told to take off his sandals because the ground was holy (Exodus 3:1-6). Moses, when he investigated the burning bush, was told by God to take off his sandals because the ground was holy. God introduced Himself to Moses as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.  You know this story. God sent Moses to tell Pharaoh to “Let my people go”. When Pharaoh wouldn’t, God didn’t just stage a military coup; God destroyed Egypt militarily, politically, economically, and religiously. Then God brought the Israelites out, performed miracles of water and manna, fought for them and delivered their enemies into their hands, and led them with fire by night and a cloud by day. The apostle Paul states in 1 Corinthians 10:4 that the Israelites drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 

There’s a lot of evidence to indicate that the God who led the Israelites out of Egypt and the Commander of the LORD’s army were both the One who would become Jesus Christ.

Perhaps this is startling to you. Perhaps you think that Jesus had long hair and looked almost effeminate. You would be wrong. There’s nothing weak or wimpy about Jesus Christ. That’s one of the pictures we can take away from Joshua’s encounter with the Commander of the LORD’s army: our God is the victorious warrior. Read Revelation 19:11-16. The rider on the white horse, who is called Faithful and True and has the name “The Word of God,” will strike the nations with a sharp sword proceeding from His mouth. The God we serve is mighty and powerful, and none can stand before Him.

This is the God who said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” 

So in your life, with what do you come into contact that God says is holy? One thing you routinely encounter that God has declared holy is the Sabbath. How do you approach it? Do you metaphorically take off your sandals because the place where you are standing is holy? Do you treat the Sabbath as holy? Do you show it the honor it deserves because God has declared it holy? Think about it. What made that ground holy? God said it was. What makes the Sabbath holy? God says it is. Could some person come along later and say that the ground was not holy? Do people come along later and say that the Sabbath is no longer holy? No person has a higher authority than God to change His decrees. 

Take some time to consider what God has declared holy and how you treat that item, that day, or that person. It’s important to your relationship with the God who created all things - the One who is Himself holy.

Sabbath, April 5th
Still Work to be Done
Then the whole congregation of the people of Israel assembled at Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting there. The land lay subdued before them.  Joshua 18:1

Do you set goals for yourself? Do you have plans and projects you want to do? Do you have a bucket list? Do you make a to-do list for yourself every day, every week, every year? 

I  like lists. I find myself better organized to get more accomplished if I have spent some time thinking about what I want  to get done. So I have a daily/weekly list. But accompanying that short-term framework, I also have longer range goals. Right now, my overarching goal is to accomplish everything that needs to be done by Passover: cleaning the whole house, working on the garden as the weather permits, finishing up formal homeschooling for the year, and preparing my heart and mind for the upcoming Holy Days. There are other goals and projects mixed in which have no definite end: I’m working on crocheting a blanket. I want to build a corner shelf in my kitchen. I’m reading the Bible each day. 

The reality is: there’s a lot to be done. Inherent in the process of setting goals is using your time wisely - not only in being able to accomplish more, but also in accomplishing what is most important. When you set goals, you tend to put some thought into what is most important that has to be done first. That usually goes at the top of the list. Think about it on a tiny scale: grocery shopping. When I used to shop at the same store all the time, I got so I knew exactly where everything was. So when I’d make out my grocery list, I’d start by listing everything I knew I needed. Then I’d go back and arrange that list by where I’d find it in the store. That eliminates getting to the end of the store with a full cart and realizing you walked right by something that’s clear on the other side of the store .

Or think about running errands. I always plan my errands in sequence. If I have to go to the post office, the bank, the library, the grocery store, and the craft store, I plan them in the most efficient route. It would be the height of ridiculousness to drive right by one of the stops and end up having to drive miles out of my way to get back to it. Gas is expensive. But, really, time is much more valuable!

So I make lists. I work towards goals. But what happens when I have completed everything on my list? I throw the list away. What happens when I reach a goal? I turn my attention to what needs to be done next. There’s always something to do. There’s still work to be done.

I wonder if that’s how the Israelites felt when they finally took the land. It took seven years, from the time of the crossing of the Jordan, to reach the point where Joshua 18:1 records, “The land lay subdued before them.” This goal had been a long time coming! God had promised this land to Abraham some 500 years before! The goal of reaching the Promised Land had been before the people’s eyes since they came out of Egypt. Forty years of wandering in the wilderness had ensued. Seven years of conquering the land was behind them. Finally, they were there. Now what?

They started right. Joshua 18:1 says, “Then the whole congregation of the people of Israel assembled at Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting there. The land lay subdued before them.” They set up the tent of meeting, the place where they would worship God, where they could go to inquire of God. The implication is that, even though they’d reached their goal of taking the land, they knew they still needed God. They knew that worshiping God was still on their to-do list.

But we know how the story unfolded. Israel entered the period of the judges. They would start out serving God. Things would be going well. Then they’d start to serve the false gods around them. God would give them into the hands of their enemies who would make their lives miserable. So the Israelites would call out to God to save them. He’d send a judge to save them. Then,  as long as that judge lived, the land would have rest and the people would serve God. As soon as that judge died, the cycle would start again: apostasy, oppression, repentance, salvation - over and over again.

So, does this history have any relevance to our lives today? Human nature is still the same. We are still tempted and drawn away from God and His ways by the things around us. We still have the tendency to seek God while there’s a goal to be met, when we know we need Him to help us get through whatever battle we’re presently fighting. But what do we do when we finally have finished the battle and are at rest? What do I do when I finish reading through the Bible? Do I set the Bible on the shelf and say, “O.K. That’s done. What book shall I read next?” What do I do when I’ve finally done everything that has to be done before Passover? Do I pat myself on the back and just let the house get dirty again, and, more importantly, stop evaluating my actions against the plumb line of God’s Word? What do we do when we’ve reached a major goal? 

Too many people are deceived into thinking their major, long-term goals are their overarching reason d’être, their reason for existing. Some young people see finishing school as their overarching goal. Finishing school becomes their reason d’être. Then, when they’ve finished school, they don’t know what to do with themselves. Some mothers see their reason d’être as raising their children. So when the children are grown and out of the house, the mothers feel like they have no purpose in life. And the list goes on. Too many people feel like rudderless ships. They don’t know where they’re going in life because they don’t have that overarching goal, that purpose, that reason d’être. So they try to find it in temporal pleasures: doing what feels good at the moment, drugs, alcohol, relationships - all of which are unfulfilling in the end because they are not our reason d’etre.

They’re missing the main goal at the top of their to-do list: love God and serve Him forever.

Loving God and serving Him forever is the first thing which is written at the top of our daily project list. It’s the glasses through which we must view the rest of our endeavors. It becomes not just a goal to reach, but who we are. It’s not saying six sentences to God in the morning and then I’m done for the rest of the day. It’s not the first errand to accomplish when we’re out running errands; it’s the mantle we wear as we’re running those errands. Loving God and serving Him forever is indelibly written on our to-do lists - if we belong to God.

And, if we belong to God, God’s right there with us as we accomplish each more minor goal.  The Israelites had conquered the land; it lay subdued before them. They set up the tent of meeting; God was with them, dwelling in the midst of Israel. They just had to keep God first in their lives. They just had to put Him and His ways at the top of their daily to-do list. There was still work to be done, and they desperately needed God to be part of their daily lives. We have to learn the lesson recorded for us: we have to be sure that God is dwelling in the midst of us, that He’s part of the fabric of our daily lives, that He’s at the top of our to-do list, that loving Him and serving Him forever is our primary goal, our reason d’être. Because, as long as we’re alive, there’s lots to accomplish; there’s still work to be done.

Sabbath, April 12th

The Battle Belongs to the Lord
It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before.  Judges 3:2

Have you endured any pre-Passover tribulations this year? Anything unusual or unexpected pop up in your life that discombobulated you within the past month or so? Ask some of the church members who have been around for awhile: it’s normal, and almost expected, to have some sort of problem before Passover.

Do you remember the story of Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20? It’s the episode where the Ammonites, the Moabites, and the Edomites all came up against Jehoshaphat and Judah. The Bible calls them “a great horde.”

And then there’s Judges 3:2: It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before. In the previous chapter, God says, “I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died  . . .” (Judges 2:21).

All three of these situations are guaranteed to produce one thing: a reaction in the people of God. So how did the people of Israel react when they had to go to war against the nations who were dwelling in the land? They didn’t react well. They won a few battles, but when things started going well, they began to be drawn away from serving God. They looked to those nations, the same ones against whom they would have to go to war, they would look to those nations to see how they worshipped their gods. Israel would adopt those pagan customs, over and over again!

How did Jehoshaphat react when he saw the hordes of people coming up against Judah for battle? He goes before God and retells how mighty our God is, how God had promised this land to the Israelites, how the people coming up against them were the ones God wouldn’t permit them to drive out of the land (the Ammonites, the Moabites, and the Edomites). Then in 2 Chronicles 19:12 Jehoshaphat says, “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you?”

So, how do you react when you have problems in your life, unexpected things which range on the scale from annoying to life-threatening? What is your response?

God is very interested in your response to the trouble in your life. When God told the Israelites that He’d no longer drive out the inhabitants of the land, that the people would have to learn war,  God also told them why. Judges 2:22 relates the reason: “in order to test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the LORD as their fathers did, or not.”

When the Israelites, during the time of the judges, did not continue to walk in the ways of the LORD, God delivered them into the hands of their enemies. By contrast, when Jehoshaphat relied on God, God told Jehoshaphat to go out to battle, but that he would not have to fight the battle. Jehoshaphat believed and trusted God so completely, do you know who he sent out first? The singers! Praising God! This is not normally who goes first to engage in battle! But as they did, here’s what 2 Chronicles 20:22-23 says, “And when they began to sing and praise, the LORD set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir . . . they all helped to destroy one another.” God gained the victory for them - indisputably! 

Here’s the point of the whole thing: You’re going to have trouble in this life. It could be because of your own poor decisions. It could be because we live in a fallen world. It could be the Enemy fighting against you, trying to draw you away from our God. It could also be God testing you, to see what is in your heart. Regardless, when trouble comes, I want to react as Jehoshaphat did; I want to look to God and say, “I don’t know what to do, but my eyes are on you.” I want to have a close relationship with God, where I’ve daily communicated with Him, where I’ve asked Him to guide my steps and make my path straight before my feet.  I do not want to follow the path of the Israelites during the time of the judges; I don’t want to go through their apostasy, servitude, supplication, and salvation cycles. But it’s a daily choice. I have a myriad of choices to make each day: one path leads to bumps and bruises and having to learn war; the other path may have a few bumps and bruises, but I rely on God to fight my battles. I’d rather the battle belonged to the Lord.

First Day of Unleavened Bread, April 15th
Who Will Save You?
Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more. Judges 10:13

My brother, Bob, was three years older than me. Even though he pestered me and aggravated me until I was almost ready to scream, numerous times he rescued me from whatever predicament in which I found myself. He’s the one who taught me to ride a bike. He’s the one who, after I badly sliced my foot open on a shard of glass, slung me over his back and carried me back to the ranch house - even though I was nearly the same weight. He was a great older brother.

Another interesting fact about my childhood was my proclivity to sleep walk and sleep talk.

These two facts, my active sleeping and my older brother, as rescuer, collided one night at my grandparents’ ranch. Bob heard noise from the room I shared with my sister and came to investigate. I  was jumping up and down on my bed, yelling, “Get ‘em, Bobby! Get ‘em!” I had no recollection of it the next morning, so we’re not completely sure what I was dreaming.

The reality is: we all need to be rescued from things in this life. Who do we look to?

Judges 10:13 says, “Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more.” If God is not going to save us because we’ve forsaken Him and served other gods, maybe we’d figure out what serving other gods entails.

The outright worship of other gods is obvious. Burning your children in the fire to Molech, building an altar to Baal, baking cakes to the queen of heaven - those all fall into the category of serving other gods in a very obvious sense.

But there are less obvious ways of serving other gods. For instance, when Micah (in Judges 17-18) made his own ephod, ordained a Levite as a priest, he said, “Now I know the LORD will prosper me because I have a Levite as a priest” (Judges 17:13). Wow! He’d broken so many of God’s commandments. He had a houseful of gods. He set up a Levite, specifically Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, as a priest, when the priests were supposed to come only from Aaron’s line. Yet, Micah thought God would be pleased with him because he had a Levite as his priest. The syncretism, the blending of what was right in God’s sight with what was right in his own eyes, was incredible! Needless to say, God did not prosper Micah!

Another instance of syncretism, blending God’s ways with pagan ways, is seen in the construction of the golden calf. The Israelites took that calf and declared that the next day would be a festival to Jehovah! All the time they had disobeyed God by making a golden idol, they decide to worship the One True God with the very object of disobedience!

Disobedience can happen on a daily level too - even during the Days of Unleavened Bread. The command is to get the leavening out of your house, and out of your borders, for seven days. Some people think that’s a little over the top. They think God didn’t really mean for us to do that.

Then there are others who think you should get the leavening out, but they don’t do the other half of the command: to eat unleavened bread for seven days. Some people don’t like how it tastes and they really don’t think God would require it of us. He’d understand if we just don’t want to do it!

The curious thing about this whole continuum of disobedience from not wanting to eat unleavened bread to burning your own children in the fire to a pagan deity, the curious thing is that whenever you disobey God, you’ve put something else or someone else in His place; you’ve decided that something else trumps God. You’ve allowed something else to become first in your life. It can be your own desires. It can be the desires of your friend or boss. It can be the gods of your imagination. 

So God has a message for you, if you’re going to put something or someone else before Him. Judges 10:13 says, “Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more.” And verse 14 goes on to say, “Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen, let them save you in the time of your distress.”

So, what’s the bottom line? Are we obeying God to obtain salvation? No, absolutely not! Our salvation is a free gift from God, through the blood of Jesus Christ, lest any man boast. Nevertheless, if we’re not willing to obey God, it’s an indication that we may not have trusted Jesus Christ for our salvation. Our works are evidence of the new creature that was begun in us when we repented of our sins, accepted the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to pay the penalty for our sins, and were baptized to receive the indwelling of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.

My older brother died almost thirteen years ago, but truly, he couldn’t really save me from all of the trouble I can get myself into anyway. But I have an Older Brother, Jesus Christ. Hebrews 7:25 says, “Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.”

But you have to draw near to be saved. That’s implies an intimate relationship. That implies obedience to God’s law. That underlines even the necessity of eating unleavened bread every day during the Days of Unleavened Bread. 

Who will save you?

Sabbath, April 19th
Gleaning from Ruth
But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Ruth 1:16

Do you know the story of Ruth? She marries into a Jewish family which is sojourning in Moab because there’s a famine in their land. First, Ruth’s father-in-law dies. Then her husband and her brother-in-law die. Then her mother-in-law, Naomi, gets word that God has given his people food: the famine is over. So Naomi prepares to go back to her hometown, Bethlehem. She has such a strong relationship with her daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth, that they both intend to go with her. But she basically tells them there’s no future for them; they need to go back to their own families so that they can eventually find new husbands. Orpah goes back to her own family. But Ruth utters these famous words: “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”

What unfolds is a beautiful story of a God-honoring woman who obeys her mother-in-law. God blesses Ruth with a husband, but a husband who is a close relative of Naomi: a kinsman-redeemer. But the story gets better! Ruth becomes the great-grandmother of King David, and therefore, the ancestor of Jesus, the Messiah. This beautiful story, from the time of the judges, is such a huge contrast to the human failings, the carnality, displayed so prominently in the book of Judges. In addition, it is rich in foreshadowing events in the life of one of Ruth’s descendants, Jesus Christ.

There was a day when Jesus was teaching in Capernaum when he told the crowd, “I am the bread that came down from heaven. . . . I am the bread of life. . . . Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” This was such a hard thing for the people to hear that many turned back from following Jesus, the Messiah.

Perhaps it’s just coincidence that Bethlehem means “house of bread.” Perhaps it’s just coincidence that Elimelech and Naomi left Bethlehem because of a famine. Perhaps it’s just coincidence that the author of Ruth phrases the reason for Naomi’s return to Bethlehem: Naomi “heard in the fields of Moab that the LORD had visited his people and given them food.” Perhaps it’s just coincidence that Jesus said he was the bread that came down from heaven. But the next section in John 6:66-68 is so striking: 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.”

Ruth had seen something in Naomi that caused her to be willing to stay with her, to give up her family, her country, her home, her gods in order to follow her. Similarly, Peter and the other disciples knew that Jesus had what they needed for eternal life.

There’s another interesting parallel. After Christ’s resurrection, yet before He’d ascended to the Father, Mary Magdalene stood weeping outside the tomb. Jesus asked her why she was weeping. Mary didn’t recognize him until He called her “Mary.” Then Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” This is so similar to what Ruth originally said to Naomi. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. And yet, at the time she said it to Naomi, it’s doubtful that she knew Boaz would come forward to be her kinsman-redeemer. But Jesus knew. Jesus knew that in His death and resurrection, He would become the kinsman-redeemer to all who are called according to the will of the Father, to all who believe on His name for salvation.

Look at what Jesus says to Mary: “Go to my brothers.” In Christ’s death and resurrection, we are adopted into the family of God. Then Jesus makes it very clear to Mary - because he’s paralleling the words of a story that would have been very familiar to those who knew the scriptures, the story of Ruth. In using that structure, Jesus was telling Mary that He, Jesus, had become the kinsman-redeemer to his people. It’s such an interesting parallel. Jesus’ disciples went with Christ; they followed Him wherever He went. Through His death and resurrection, His people (the Father) became their people (their Father) and His God their God (reconciled to the Father through the Son).

The barley harvest is just beginning this year; why don’t you read the book of Ruth again, and see what you can glean.

Tuesday, Last Day of Unleavened Bread, April 21st
My Kinsman-Redeemer
Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a kinsman-redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel. Ruth 4:14

The first time I saw Jason Gray’s video of “Remind Me Who I Am,” I was so struck by the reality of the words. We are, each of us, sinful, carnal human beings who manage to embroil ourselves in ungodly situations. Some of the signs in the video are unloved, rejected, angry, betrayed, used, refugee, addict. All of them tug at the heart as realization of the universality of the hopelessness of existence without Christ sets in.

That’s where Naomi found herself. Her husband has died. She’s too old to get a new husband. Her two sons have died. She has no one to perpetuate the family name. Because of the relationship between Naomi and Ruth, Ruth is determined to follow Naomi back to Bethlehem. But it’s not an easy life. Ruth is found with the poor of the land, gleaning the fields for food after the harvesters have taken the shocks of grain. It’s dangerous (as inferred in Ruth 2:8-9). It’s very hard work. Both Naomi and Ruth are struggling just to have enough food to eat.

Enter the kinsman-redeemer. Who was the kinsman-redeemer? Boaz? To whom was he a kinsman-redeemer? He was the close kinsman of Naomi’s dead husband, Elimelech. But what was a kinsman-redeemer?

A kinsman-redeemer was God’s merciful way of rescuing a person from dire conditions.  If a person found themselves in debt, they could sell themselves. A kinsman-redeemer could redeem them, pay their debt. If a person sold a piece of property, their inheritance from the Lord, the kinsman-redeemer could buy the parcel back to keep it in the family. (Leviticus 25) The redemption needed by both Naomi and Ruth was the perpetuation of the line of Elimelech. By marrying Ruth, Boaz purposed to fulfill that need (Ruth 4:5), to perpetuate the name fo the dead in his inheritance.

A kinsman-redeemer had to be a close relative, but, as we see in Ruth 4:6, that didn’t always ensure he would provide the needed redemption. There also had to be the desire to redeem. Otherwise, the opportunity would fall to the next closest relative. Boaz, in the story of Ruth, was not the closest relative, but he was the one who cared about Ruth enough to redeem Naomi’s land and to marry Ruth.

So, this beautiful story of Ruth reaches down to King David and on to our Messiah, Jesus Christ - the ultimate kinsman-redeemer.

But wait? Are we related to Him? Is He our kinsman? Jesus said that those who do the will of His Father in heaven are His brothers and sisters (Mark 3:35). Furthermore, Romans tells us that we are part of the family of God, that our spirit testifies with His Spirit that we are the children of God (Romans 8:15-17; Galatians 4:6; 1 John 3:2). Jesus is our Elder Brother. He’s our kinsman.

Furthermore, there’s no doubt that he’s our Redeemer. (Job 19:25; Psalm 19:14; Isaiah 44:6, 48:17, 59:20; 1 Corinthians 1:30) 

In essence, the story of Ruth foreshadows Jesus Christ becoming our Kinsman-Redeemer. We have been sold as slaves to sin (Romans 7:14), and while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8), God sent His Son, who knew no sin, to become sin for us, to become the propitiation for our sin (I John 2:2), reconciling us to the Father (Romans 5:10-11, 2 Corinthians 5:18-20). This is huge! Remember the two qualities of the kinsman-redeemer? First, He had to have the means. Jesus Christ is the only One who could pay the sin debt for all mankind. No one else is worthy. Because He is the builder of the house, Jesus is worth more than all of the house (Hebrews 3:3). He is the only possible proper payment! (1 John 4:10; Romans 3:25) So Jesus had the means to redeem us. 

Secondly, He had to care, to have the desire to redeem us. Stop to think about this! These human beings, these created beings who owe everything they have and their very lives to God, are nevertheless in rebellion against God (Romans 8:7). Yet, while we were yet sinners God sent His Son to die for us. That’s love of a magnitude that we cannot even comprehend.

I love the story of Ruth. The character of Ruth and Boaz is so admirable and praiseworthy. But their lives give glory to God beyond what we can see within these four chapters. As the writer of Hebrews said of Abel, we can also say of Ruth and Boaz: “And by faith [they] still speak, even though [they] are dead” (Hebrews 11:4). Both of their lives are woven into the tapestry of lives who testify to God’s plan, God’s greatness, God’s character. Not only are they honored to be the progenitors of Jesus Christ, they also get to foreshadow the gospel and His work on the cross to become our Kinsman-Redeemer. Wow! What a legacy!

Beloved of Christ, what do you think your legacy will look like?

Sabbath, April 26th
No Rock Like Our God
There is none holy like the LORD; there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God. 1 Samuel 2:2

We use the word rock in our language frequently, in a myriad of ways. Think of: he’s a rock. That means He’s dependable  or  You can count on him. You may hear:  She’s got a rock on her finger. That means the diamond in her ring is enormous. And then there’s the paper, rock, scissors method of decision making. It goes like this: you count to three. On three, you either show a sign for paper (flat hand), rock (fist), or scissors (two fingers out like scissors). Paper trumps rock because it can cover a rock. Rock trumps scissors because it can smash scissors. Scissors trumps paper because it can cut paper. At any rate, it’s another example of rock in our language and culture.

Hannah (1 Samuel 1 -2) knew that the LORD is the Rock, trustworthy and dependable. She knew that there is no other god like our God. There were other gods, pagan gods, in their world, but none of them were holy like Jehovah. None of them had the power of life and death. None of them were truly God.

David knew that. In Psalm 86:8 David writes, “There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours.” There is no god of man’s imagination and construction which can do what our God can do. David knew that from the time he was a young man relying on God while he watched over his father’s sheep. He relied on the Rock when facing Goliath. I love the “coincidence,” the symbolism of David using a single small smooth stone from the brook to defeat Goliath. In relying on the Rock, the Living Water, David used a rock from the water. 

Isaiah records a prophecy of the Rock: “therefore thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: “Whoever believes will not be in haste.”’  ”(Isaiah 28:16) 1 Peter 2:6-8 cites this verse and then goes on to say, “So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,’ and ‘A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.’ They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.”

Reading through the first nine books of the Old Testament gives a picture of carnal, human beings who are on the continuum of seeing our Holy God as holy, relying on Him, trusting Him, living their lives in obedience to Him (like Abraham, Ruth, Joseph, Hannah, Samuel, Joshua, David) to those who see Him as just another god, one who is winning today but might not win tomorrow (Pharaoh, the Philistines, the nations around Israel, and sometimes the Israelites themselves - like Micah - see Judges 17:5, or Rachel - see Genesis 31:19). The ones who are listed in Hebrews 11 saw God as the Rock, unmovable, unshakable, dependable, trustworthy, and constant. The others, who did not recognize God as holy, applied the paper, rock, scissors game to God. He was the God of the Hebrews, but He’s not all powerful, they might say - at least, that’s how they lived their lives.

How you live your life is indicative of your view of our God. As cited from 1 Peter, God can become a rock of offense, a stone of stumbling. People stumble over God, because they disobey His word! They don’t obey God’s commandments. They think God doesn’t care or that God doesn’t mind, that God understands. In reality, they are putting themselves above God in modifying God’s commandments, indicating by their actions that they think they are wiser and more important than God. It’s kind of like playing paper, rock, scissors with God’s word, putting God’s commandments on an equal footing with your own desires or the world’s pressures.

I have never liked paper, rock, scissors. Paper can cover rock, but that doesn’t mean paper trumps rock. The rock is still there. The paper hasn’t done anything to the rock. It has only hidden the rock. The rock smashes the scissors. The scissors cut the paper. The rock remains untouched. Similarly, humans down through history have tried to cover over God, to dismiss Him, to ignore His commandments, but He’s still the Rock. He’s still there regardless of how they try to hide him. And because He’s still there, they stumble over Him when they disobey His word.

There is none holy like the LORD; there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.

 I love Hannah’s prayer when God answered her request to have a son by giving her Samuel. My heart exults in the LORD; my strength is exalted in the LORD. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation. There is none holy like the LORD; there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.

That’s how I want to live my life - rejoicing in the Lord because He is the source of my strength. He is my salvation. I want people around me to see in my life the evidence that I serve the Holy God, the Almighty, the Rock.

Sabbath, May 3rd
BFF and Belonging
But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” 1 Samuel 8:19-20

Educational psychologists will tell you that there are three basic needs that everyone must have met in order to be happy, to be at peace, to be able to learn: food, shelter, belonging. Understandably, it’s hard to be ready to learn if you are belly-pinched and cold, or if you are uncomfortably hot. But the concept of belonging is just as fundamental and yet, less obviously influential. That is, the need to belong impacts all of us: infant and child, teenager and adult - regardless of how we appear to others. That’s why peer pressure is such a big issue among that age which is trying to figure out its place in the world. And yet, peer pressure affects even adults who appear to have it all together.

Peer pressure can make you do incredible things: purple, spiked hair; baggy, ripped jeans; bungee jumping; doing drugs and drinking alcohol; various daredevil stunts. Peer pressure can also push you into worshiping false gods and going against God’s will. Look at 1 Samuel 8:19-20: But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”

They wanted to be like all the nations. They wanted a king like everyone else. They wanted him to judge them and to be their spokesman and to fight their battles. This sounded like a great idea to the Israelites - even when Samuel told them not to do this. They refused to obey the voice to Samuel. They had made up their mind that they wanted to be like all the other nations regardless of what anyone, including Samuel, was going to say about it!

Wait a minute! Aren’t these the nations who were worshiping pagan gods? Aren’t these the nations who had become so wicked that God told the Israelites to not only drive them out of the land, but to completely destroy them? These are the nations that Israel wants to look like? This is the government model that Israel is rejecting God in order to assume?

From our perspective, this in incomprehensible! Why in the world would Israel reject the One True God as King in favor of a fallible, human - and therefore, corrupt - king? In contemporary terms, the answer was peer pressure and belonging. They wanted to be like everyone else, even when they were told it was a bad idea.

So what happened? Why didn’t the Israelites remain faithful to God? Why did they reject Him as king? It’s all about relationship. They didn’t have the close relationship with God; they didn’t feel like they belonged to Him. Think about it: when you feel like you belong to God, that He loves you incredibly and you love Him, that’s a powerful deterrent to doing anything which will impair that relationship. It’s a deeper relationship than the one which sees God striking  you with a lightning bolt when you do the wrong thing. It’s the kind of relationship where the deterrent is you don’t want to disappoint God. 

Think about your own relationship with God. Do you reverence Him as God because He is worthy of all praise? That’s a good starting point. Do you do what you do because you know there’s a judgment coming? That can be a good deterrent. Or do you do what you do out of love for God recognizing that He loved you before you were ever aware of it? That’s a great place to come to. Or do you do what you do because it grieves you to think of feeling His disappointment in your choices? That’s when you know you’re coming closer to the relationship He desires with you. Or do you do what you do because the Holy Spirit has worked in your life, changing you into the image of God so that the new creature in you would not do anything else, could not conceive of doing anything else? That’s when you know you belong to God, that He’s your best friend, your best friend forever.

The need to belong is incredibly powerful! In the song “Remind Me Who I Am,” there’s a line “In the mirror all I see is who I don’t want to be - remind me who I am.” The enemy can use those feelings of falling short of the goal to convince us that we don’t belong to God. The enemy will do whatever he can to make you believe that you don’t belong to God, that you’re not good enough, that you’ve sinned too much. The enemy will try to make you believe that God doesn’t want you, that you’re not important to Him, or conversely, that what you’re about to do won’t matter to God. But you can’t listen to the lies. The reality is that, if you have repented of your sins and accepted Jesus as your Savior, you do belong to Him. God gives us the sabbath, the holy days, and innumerable scriptures to remind us that we are His. If you don’t feel like it, you have some repair work to do in the relationship. You need some more time in prayer and Bible study, fellowship with believers, fasting and meditation. You need to submit to the Holy Spirit’s life-changing work in your life. Let God remind you who you are and that you belong to Him.

Sabbath, May 10th
Behaving Yourself Wisely
And David had success in all his undertakings, for the LORD was with him. 1 Samuel 18:14

Wouldn’t you love to have this said about you - that you had success in everything you did because the LORD was with you?! It’s like having the Midas touch: everything you touch turns to gold. But you could walk away from this verse with an erroneous impression. You could think that no matter what David did, good decisions or bad decisions, God stepped in and miraculously turned them all to good. The KJV, the NKJV, and the NIV give a different impression. Those versions all translate the phrase had success as behaved himself wisely. Look at how that changes the impression you have from the verse:

And David behaved himself wisely in all his undertakings, for the LORD was with him.

This rendering emphasizes David’s reliance on God’s direction, gaining wisdom from God, before he went into a situation. David made wise choices because God was with him, which leads to an understood implication that he had success in whatever he did.

Too often Christians believe that no matter what decision they make, God will take it and work all things out for their good. That’s Romans 8:28, and yes, that’s true. God can and will work out all things for the good of those who love Him and who are called according to His purpose. But that’s not quite the same thing as having success in everything you do. God can take the disasters, the illnesses and diseases, the bad choices, and He can use them to mold you into the person He wants you to be. But that’s not the same thing as making them all good immediately, ensuring that you have success in everything you do.

Proverbs 3:5-6, rather, shows what happens when you seek God’s direction in your life, asking for His wisdom before you act.

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.

We all want to be successful in this life, and we eagerly desire to be successful from God’s definition, not necessarily man’s definition. David’s example highlights that it’s not that his relationship with God just automatically ensured his success - for David made decisions that were not Godly and they didn’t turn out so well. It’s that when David sought God’s direction and relied on God’s wisdom, he had success. Similarly, you can’t think that just because you have a relationship with God that that will ensure success in all that you do. If, however, you make decisions based on wisdom from God, then you’ll be successful in all that you do. Think about it. Seek God; behave yourself wisely.


May 17th
Staying With the Stuff
For as his share is who goes down into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage. They shall share alike. 1 Samuel 30:24b

I’m so glad this verse is in the Bible. I’m very glad that David was the kind of commander who valued all of his men. In this instance, David and his men came back from accompanying the Philistines to find their homes burned by the Amalekites and their wives and families taken captive. David inquired of God, who told them to pursue the Amalekites, that they would be victorious and rescue the captives. So David and his six hundred men started in pursuit. When they got ready to cross the brook Besor, two hundred of these men were too exhausted to continue the chase. So David left them and all the baggage (the KJV says “stuff”). This is a good decision. You can travel more quickly if you’re not slowed down by exhausted men and all the stuff you have to carry with you. But when they were successful  and returned to the “stuff,” some of the four hundred men didn’t want to share  the spoil with the two hundred who had stayed behind.

David and his six hundred men were working together as a team, as a unit. There are many similar teams today: baseball, churches, families. Sometimes one person, or a couple of people, seem to be pulling more weight than the others on the team. But it’s not so. Think about the Cardinals. There are an incredible number of people behind the scenes who are rarely recognized, among whom are equipment managers, the ones who make sure all the stuff is in good condition and, regardless of whether the game is home or away, that the stuff is in the right place at the right time. Think about churches. If you think the only one who works in a church is the person giving the study, you’d be sadly mistaken. But the person who keeps the church clean, the one who makes sure there’s always stuff, like plates, cups, and silverware for potluck, those are the people who are rarely recognized. Even families have to work together as a team. Just because Dad is usually the one who goes out to bring home a paycheck doesn’t mean that Mom who usually stays at home with the stuff, cleaning the house, doing laundry, and raising the kids isn’t doing an important job.

Sometimes there’s a star baseball player who seems to think that without him the team would never win another game. Sometimes a preacher seems to think that without him the church would fall apart. They think that what the “little people” do is not all that significant. That was the viewpoint of some of the four hundred who had gone with David. They felt that those two hundred who had stayed with the stuff really hadn’t contributed to the victory. The author of Samuel calls these few “wicked and worthless fellows among the men who had gone with David.” And David’s response to them shows who was really important in the victory against the Amalekites to recover their families and property. David gives full credit to God for the victory; it wasn’t what any of the four hundred had done in and of themselves, and they would do well to remember that! In fact, David’s judgment was made a statue and a rule in Israel from that day forward. For as his share is who goes down into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage. They shall share alike. 

Can you imagine how divisive and destructive such an attitude can be on a team? The arrogance of a central figure who doesn’t recognize the value of all the people on the team can cause demoralization to the point where they no longer function as a team. I can remember players who didn’t want to play for the Cardinals any more because they thought Mark McGuire was getting too much attention. I know people  who stop attending certain churches because they think the preacher thinks of himself more highly than he ought, he thinks he’s infallible. I know families that have fallen apart because the husband did not value his wife and her contributions to the family. And I can guess at the infighting which would have occurred among the six hundred men who followed David, had David given a different answer.

So, what lesson do we take from this today? Stop and think about the different teams you are on - family, church, social, athletic. How do you contribute? And how do you treat the other members of your team? Those who stay with the stuff are just as important as the ones in the limelight.


May 24th
Dance!
And David danced before the LORD with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod. 2 Samuel 6:14

One of our black labs shows joy by wagging her tail - as if it were a propeller; it goes around in a circle. She enthusiastically licks whomever she’s pleased with. She also “skitters” - that is, she leaps, crouches, scratches at the floor, and throws herself into another leap. She thoroughly delights us as we watch her antics; we often comment, “Boy! Ebony is really feeling good today!”

I think it also delights God when we show our joyfulness. Ken Davis emphasizes this in some of his comedy routines. He says it’s incongruous that a Christian can be one for 20 years and it not be obvious because of the joyfulness he exhibits. He says, “Someone ought to send a missionary to your face.” We Christians, of all people, should be the most joyful because of the awesome God we serve.

So how do we show that joy? David danced. And David danced before the LORD with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod. 2 Samuel 6:14 This is the instance when they are bringing the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem. This is not just some piece of old furniture. This is the ark of the covenant, covered with the mercy seat. This is where the high priest makes atonement for the whole community once a year. This is where God met with Moses. This symbolically represents God’s presence with the Israelites. This is a big deal!

Another time the women danced because of the obvious presence of God is related in Exodus 15:20. The Israelites had just crossed the Red Sea. God had drowned the Egyptian army, rescuing His people from their hand in a very decisive manner!

When David struck the Philistines in 1 Samuel 18, the women sang and danced and lauded King Saul and David. There was great joy because of the deliverance Israel received.

But as Christians, we don’t just express joy when things are going well, when God has worked mightily, favorably in our lives. We also express joy because He is our God even in the midst of trials. I met a lady this week who was in a serious car accident six years ago. A simple trip to McDonald’s to get a hamburger changed her life in profound ways. She has had numerous surgeries, but will never walk again. She lives with pain every day, and it has led to divorce. Yet she told me that she is glad that the accident happened. Glad! She said she was backsliding, her word, that she wasn’t seeking God and living in a God-honoring way. She needed the wake up call. The accident and resulting pain on so many levels has caused her to seek God and learn to trust Him no matter what. 

Her comments made me think of Nehemiah 8:10: . . .The joy of the LORD is your strength. You see, when we find our joy in the Lord, we are living our lives with the faith that this present pain and trial is just temporary (2 Cor. 4:17), that the day is coming when there will be no more pain or sorrow or crying or death (Revelation 21:4). We demonstrate our faith that God is using the events in our lives for our good. We learn to trust Him. We live in hope, knowing the end of the story, of Who wins in the end. And that faith and hope should make us contentedly joyful.

Really, I think we, as Christians, need to spend more time dancing.


Fighting Forests
The battle spread over the face of all the country, and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword. 2 Samuel 18:8

When you stop to think about it, there are many stories in our culture about scary forests. Snow White was threatened by the forest, the trees reaching out to clutch at her clothes. The dark forest terrified Little Red Riding Hood. And the creators of Prince Caspian did a fantastic job of depicting the fear the men had of the forest. But sometimes we read over the words of 2 Samuel 18:8 and don’t think about what this could have looked like. Think about it. What does it mean that “the forest devoured more people that day than the sword”? Twenty thousand men died that day. We’re not talking a Veggietales yarn where a couple of asparagus get knocked over. Twenty thousand died, and more of those died because of the forest than died due to hand-to-hand combat. I doubt that it was like Prince Caspian where the roots of the trees exploded up through the ground, wrapping around and crushing the enemy soldiers. I doubt that it was like Stars Wars where the flying motorcycles crashed into the trees when the soldiers stupidly looked back over their shoulders to see who was chasing them. I don’t think these were man-eating trees. But they could have been widow-makers, dead falls which crash down when you disturb them. It could also refer to what was in the forest: lions, quicksand, etc. I don’t know. We’re not told.

So what’s the lesson - don’t fight in a forest? No. The author of 2 Samuel records this incident to leave no doubt as to Who gave Israel the victory. Like Joshua 10, where more of the enemy were killed by hailstones than by the sword, or like Joshua 24:12 where we’re told that Sihon and Og’s armies were defeated by hornets, or like the story of Gideon, it’s abundantly clear that God gave the victory.

So what does this have to do with us? Not too many of us are fighting a war. Or are we? Ephesians 6:12 makes it abundantly clear that we are fighting an intense battle: For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. So what do we do? Do we fortify our position, stockpile ammunition, start a new settlement of like-minded believers. Well, maybe. But not first. First, we seek God. Ephesians 6 goes on to tell us that in order to fight this battle we have to put on the whole armor of God. We’ve got to fight on God’s side. In other words, we’ve got to seek God’s will and serve Him. Because God’s going to win. Think about it: if you’re fighting against God, you have to fight against things like forests, and hornets, and hail.  Those are just some of the minors weapons in God’s arsenal. After all, the God we serve is the One who spoke the world into existence. He spoke and it was so!

Now more than ever we have to prepare for battle. We do that, we prepare for battle, by getting as close to God as we possibly can. He is our all in all. He is our strength when we are weak. He is the One who will give us the victory - if we’re in His will. God will help us to succeed if we’re fighting according to His plan and His will.

And you never know, maybe the help that He grants you will come from the trees.

Sabbath, June 7th
Wisdom
Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people? 1 Kings 3:9

If you could have anything you wanted, what would you ask for? Let’s assume that food and water, clothing, shelter, family - all those are a given. What would you ask for?

Solomon, when told to ask for whatever he wanted by God, asked for wisdom. He showed incredible humility before Jehovah as the new king of Israel, acknowledging that he didn’t feel adequate to the task God had given him. Do you know how God responded? God was pleased. I don’t know how that makes you feel, but when I read that God was pleased about something, it fills me with joy. It’s also interesting that the author of Kings uses Adonai here. In verse 7, Solomon addresses God as Jehovah my Elohim. The word Adonai is #136, exclusively used as a divine name for God, and is the emphatic form of #113, which means “lord” or “master.” It is this word, #113 Adon, which is used in verse 17 when the women are addressing Solomon. It makes me wonder if the author used Adonai intentionally in the narrative to underline the fact that it was indeed God, Adonai,  who gave Solomon, Adon, his wisdom.

At any rate, God was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom; he hadn’t asked for long life or riches or the life of his enemies. Solomon had asked for the tools needed to complete the task that God had given to him. In addition to granting Solomon wisdom, God blessed him with riches and honor, “so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days” (vs. 13). These were the golden years of Israel. The land was prosperous and at peace. The king was wise, able to discern between good and evil.

This word evil is #7451, “ra’ah,” which has “ten or more various shades of the meaning of evil according to its contextual usage. It means bad in a moral and ethical sense and is used to describe, along with good, the entire spectrum of good and evil; hence, it depicts evil in an absolute, negative sense, as when it describes the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Baker’s Complete Word Study Dictionary, Old Testament, 2003, pp. 1062-1063). Basically, God gave Solomon wisdom, not only to administer godly justice, but understand how things work. 1 Kings 4:29 - 33 says, “And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore, so that Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. . . He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall. He spoke also of beasts, and of birds, and of reptiles, and of fish.” Solomon’s wisdom and understanding was expansive. People came from all over to hear his wisdom!

There are a number of lessons here for us.

First, it pleases God when we ask for the tools we need to accomplish the task He’s given us. If we ask for ourselves, for temporary things, it shows an absorption with the self and our agenda instead of having our mind on being God’s servant to the best of our ability. 

Secondly, asking for wisdom is a reasonable request. James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” 

Third, you have to ask; God won’t necessarily automatically bless you for what you need. Matthew 7:7-11 says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; . . . If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

And finally, when you do ask, God may fulfill your request far beyond that request, beyond your wildest dreams!

So, ask God for wisdom to accomplish the job He’s given you to do, and may He bless you with abundant wisdom.

Pentecost, June 8th
Where Wisdom is Found
Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people? 1 Kings 3:9

There are some great wisdom quotes. Ron has a couple of them on the wall in his study:

Wisdom doesn’t necessarily come with age; 
sometimes age shows up all by itself.

and:

Everyone is a fool for at least five minutes every day. 
Wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit.

We find the subject of wisdom throughout the Bible too:

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.  Psalm 90:12

And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
1 Corinthians 1:30

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 

Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me.  Psalm 119:98

Claiming to be wise, they became fools,  Romans 1:22


Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.
Romans 12:16

and

For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,  1 Corinthians 12:8

But what do these have to do with Pentecost? 

There’s reason to believe that the Law was given to Moses and the Israelites from Mt. Sinai on Pentecost (Exodus 19). That law was not an arbitrary law; it was an expression of the very mind of our great God. That isn’t to say that our God is summed up in the Law; the Law is a reflection of His character, just as we say God is love (1 John 4:16) or He is our peace (Ephesian 2:14), the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). In the same way, 1 Corinthians 1:30 says that Jesus Christ is for us wisdom from God.

But how do we get that wisdom? There is a wisdom of man which ends in death (Romans 1:22). There is a pseudo-wisdom which God’s wisdom always trumps (Psalm 119:98). And then there’s a wisdom which comes from God because we are His, because we obey His law, and because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit which was given on Pentecost (1 Cor. 12:8).

But there’s another tie between wisdom and Pentecost that you don’t “get” unless you’ve been looking forward to Pentecost, unless you’ve been counting down the days to Pentecost. So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:12).  I don’t know if Moses intended this psalm to be a foreshadowing of Pentecost, but, in reality, when we number our days (really considering the time), when we count down to Pentecost (more than just going through the superficial motions of marking days), when we’re seeking Jesus Christ with our  whole heart, what we get is Jesus Christ who is for us wisdom from God. 

So on this Pentecost, ask for wisdom as Solomon did (1 Kings 3:9); ask for Jesus Christ to be more powerfully present in your life through the gift of the Holy Spirit; and praise God for His Holy Days which remind us of God’s plan in our lives, giving us wisdom to number our days.



Sabbath, June 14th
Wisdom in Everything
And all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice. 1 Kings 3:28

When we talk of people who are wise, Solomon’s name always enters the conversation. It’s interesting that this single account is given as evidence of his wisdom:


Then two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 17 The one woman said, “Oh, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. 18 Then on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. And we were alone. There was no one else with us in the house; only we two were in the house. 19 And this woman's son died in the night, because she lay on him. 20 And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me, while your servant slept, and laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast. 21 When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, he was dead. But when I looked at him closely in the morning, behold, he was not the child that I had borne.” 22 But the other woman said, “No, the living child is mine, and the dead child is yours.” The first said, “No, the dead child is yours, and the living child is mine.” Thus they spoke before the king. 23 Then the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son that is alive, and your son is dead’; and the other says, ‘No; but your son is dead, and my son is the living one.’” 24 And the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So a sword was brought before the king. 25 And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” 26 Then the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because her heart yearned for her son, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him.” 27 Then the king answered and said, “Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means put him to death; she is his mother.” 

This is the event which people cite to showcase Solomon’s wisdom. Solomon used Godly wisdom to render a Godly judgment, to do justice. That particular word is #4941 mispat, and has a meaning almost a page and a half in length documenting the various shades of justice and judgment. According to the dictionary, the word “just,” when used as an adjective, means “based on or behaving according to what is morally right or fair.”

I believe Solomon executed justice and righteousness judgment, that God gave him wisdom beyond anyone before or after (except Jesus Christ). But God didn’t force Solomon to  act wisely, to be wise in all his decisions. The ability was there. The wisdom and direction from God was there; Solomon was still free to decide to apply it or not. We know what happened: Solomon multiplied wives and they turned his heart away from God (1 Kings 11:2-4). I would definitely put that in the “not wise” category.

It’s a good lesson for us. We can seek God. We can ask for wisdom from Him. But God won’t force us to use it. Even if we use Godly wisdom most of the time, God won’t force  us to use His wisdom in every situation.  We are still free to do what many people do - whether they mean to or not: we can compartmentalize our lives and then give only a part of our lives to God. It’s almost as if we say, “God can be involved in my life when I’m going to church, reading the Bible, doing my work, but when I want to have fun - going to a movie, watching tv, reading a book, playing with my friends - I’d just as soon God left me alone in those situations.”

It’s shocking to us to hear it put into words. We’d never really say that, would we?! Probably not, but we say it in our actions. We watch tv shows that you’d be embarrassed to watch with  a minister. We say things to our friends we wouldn’t want our parents  to hear. We read books that we wouldn’t want opened before God  on the day of judgment. But because we don’t see any consequence to our choices, we think we’ve gotten away with them, and we continue down that road, making less and less wise choices all the time.

I don’t think Solomon’s heart was turned away from God all in one choice. After all, it takes a while to marry 700 wives and to build altars for all the foreign gods of his wives. One not-so-bad choice leads to another, because God hasn’t struck you with lightning yet, which leads to another bad choice. Down the road, your choices have led you away from God.

Make every effort to apply the wisdom God has granted you to all of your choices, to every part of your life, to.  . . . take every thought captive to obey Christ, . . .(2 Cor. 10:5). Give yourself wholly to the Lord.


Sabbath, June 21st
Through His Faith He Still Speaks
Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea. They ate and drank and were happy.  1 Kings 4:20

As many as the sand by the sea - what Biblical phrase does this bring to mind? I think of Genesis 22:17: “I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies,”  This is the covenantal promise made to Abraham by God - that Abraham would be the father of nations.

In this verse in Genesis 22:17 is the other promise made to Abraham: that God would give the land to Abraham’s descendants. Under Solomon’s rule, the land had rest. The people ate and drank and were happy. David had subdued all the enemies; the people were no longer at war. God had given them the land promised to their forefather Abraham. They were happy.

But were they really? The people, although prosperous under Solomon, were still primed to complain. After Solomon’s death, 2 Chronicles 10 records that all Israel came to Rehoboam and said, “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you.” That doesn’t sound like the people were happy. It sounds like they were tired of the taxes and building projects under Solomon’s rule. 

Consider this verse again:  Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea. They ate and drank and were happy (1 Kings 4:20). Is this the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham? Have they arrived? 

I believe that Solomon’s rule was a type, a picture pointing to a still-future fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham. I believe that life in Israel under Solomon was the best it was going to get until the time of Christ. The two kingdoms were still united. Solomon had the wisdom from God to render godly justice. The land was at rest from war. Prosperity and contentment reigned along with Solomon. But. Solomon was human; he sinned; he married hundreds of wives and they led his heart away from only worshipping God. Solomon was fallible, and the consequences of a human ruler reigning over humans - in all of their carnality - is life, culture, society that starts to unravel, come apart at the seams, becoming increasingly sinful and unsettling. The physical rest they  enjoyed did not translate into spiritual rest in God because of that old heart problem: their hearts were not completely fixed on God and His ways. In fact, because they were all carnal, they could not be wholly devoted to God. They needed the Savior to come to save them from their sins. They needed the indwelling of the Holy Spirits to change them into new creatures.

Still, in type, Solomon’s golden years point to the Messianic rule - a time after Jesus Christ returns to set up His kingdom on this earth.

Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever” (Revelation 11:15).

It will be a time when we will all eat and drink and be happy.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:3-4).

Solomon, in reigning as king over Israel, despite his sins and imperfections, is another example of a person whose entire life was a testimony, a witness, to what is yet to come. . . . And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks (Hebrews 11:4). 

That’s our goal too. We don’t want to be among the group who ascribe to the adage, “Let’s eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die” (1 Corinthians 15:32, Luke 12:19). We want to be among the group who live their lives in such a way that Jesus Christ is seen in their lives. We want to point others to the One who made them, the One we all so desperately need as Savior. We want our lives to be a witness of the God we serve. If we are wholly dedicated to Him, to serve Him, to be witnesses to His glory and honor through the life-changing power of the Holy Spirit, if - through our faith in God - our lives speak loudly of Him, then we can eat and drink and be happy.

June 28th
Building the House
When the house was built, it was with stone prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built. 1 Kings 6:7

Imagine for a moment that we all decide to prepare our church potluck dishes here at the church  Sabbath morning before church begins. What would that look like?! It would be total chaos. We’d be in each other’s way, so we wouldn’t be able to work as efficiently. We’d be talking to each other, distracting each other, so we’d slow each other down even more. And think about the dishes!! It would be a frustrating experience. The church kitchen is not the place for each of us to build our portion of the potluck meal, and Sabbath morning certainly isn’t the time to do it. It works much better if we do as much as possible before we get to church.

I think that’s what 1 Kings 6:7 is about. When the house was built, it was with stone prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built.  There was enough activity in just constructing the temple. The noise level would have been very high simply with the construction. Having the stones shaped to the exact dimensions needed, right there on site, would have added incredible noise and chaos to the site! It made much more sense to prepare the stones at the quarry so that they could be moved into place when they were done. It worked so much better to do as much as possible before they got to the building site.

That’s all reasonable. Prepare for potluck before church. Prepare the stones for building before bringing them to the construction site. So why are we talking about this verse today? Is there something else here to consider?

I believe that God gives us the physical so we can understand the spiritual - because we are physical human beings and we have a lot of trouble understanding the spiritual without the concrete examples! So what application to our lives can we see in this verse?

1 Corinthians 3 talks about us being God’s building. 1 Peter 2:5 picks up that same theme. Peter says, “you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, . . .”

Consider for a moment the analogy of being a living stone (1 Peter 2:5) and compare it with the stones that were being prepared at the quarry (1 Kings 6:7). Both were being prepared to be part of God’s house. The stones for Solomon’s temple were prepared on site at the quarry - right where they were dug out of the earth. The builders knew what each stone had to look like so that it would fit right into place in the temple. Similarly, each of us are being prepared on site in our lives, right where we are when God calls us. God doesn’t wait until the kingdom to knock all of our rough edges off so that we’ll fit into His plan. He’s doing it right now. God knows what we need to look like to fit into the place He’s prepared for us in His kingdom. God also knows that it works so much better to shape us and form us into the image of His Son right now, as much as possible, before He gets us to the building site, His kingdom. 

That’s incredibly encouraging to me. The sign that you see occasionally as a bummer stick or a t-shirt - Be patient. God’s not finished with me yet - is profoundly true. This life is about our preparation as His people for being placed in a specific position in His kingdom. The rough edges, the contours, the aspects of me which don’t quite fit are being chiseled away, formed into shape, smoothed and polished and perfected. 

Think about the work that God is doing in each of our lives so that we’ll be ready to be placed into His house. It’s a good thing to remember when we experience some growing pains, when we realize we’ve just gone through something to teach us a lesson, when we are being disciplined and discipled. None of those experiences are fun or easy; they are often painful. Nevertheless, the concrete realization that God is working in our lives should also bring the realization that we have to stop resisting Him, stop working against Him because of the pain and difficulty, stop struggling against the shaping that He’s employing to form us according to His plan. We have to learn to submit to His will, to acknowledge that He is sovereign, to accept His discipline. God is building His house. It’s going to be a magnificent house -  and you and I want to be part of it!

Sabbath, July 5th
That You May Know
that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no other. 1 Kings 8:60

What was it that God did for the Israelites that they, and the world, would know that the God we serve is God, the only God? If you didn’t know the scripture reference of 1 Kings 8:60, it could be any number of things because this phrase is repeated numerous times throughout the Bible. It’s found in Exodus chapters 6 through 18 numerous times when God sent the plagues on Egypt, redeeming His people from slavery, and drowning the Egyptian army in the Red Sea but saving the Israelites. He fed them with manna and quail. (Exodus 6:7; 7:5; 7:17; 8:10; 8:22; 9:14; 9:29; 10:2; 11:7; 14:4; 14:18; 16:6; 16:12; 18:11) This list is reiterated in Deuteronomy 4:32-39. All of these things God did that His people would know, that Pharaoh would know, that the world would know, that He alone is Jehovah!

Exodus 29:46 says that God dwelt among His people that they might know He was God.

Exodus 31:13 says that God commands us to observe the Sabbath, that we might know He is God.

1 Samuel 2:2 is Hannah’s prayer of thanksgiving to God for giving her a son. In it, she acknowledges that there is no one besides our God.

2 Kings 19:19 tells of Hezekiah’s prayer to God that He would deliver Judah from the Assyrians under Sennacherib - that all the kingdoms of the world would know that Jehovah is God!

Isaiah 43:10 relates God telling His people that they are His witnesses - that all may know that He is God.

Joshua 4:24 says that the Israelites passed over the Jordan dry shod so that all peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful.

Deuteronomy 29:6 says that their shoes and clothes didn’t wear out the 40 years they wandered in the wilderness, and they ate neither bread nor fermented wine (God fed them with manna) - that they might know that the LORD is God.

Even in 1 Samuel 17:46, David says that not just Goliath would fall, but the carcasses of the Philistine army would be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the field that the whole world would know that Jehovah is God.

And we could go on. Time and time again, God’s hand is evident in the lives of His people that they, the people around them, even the whole world, would know that the God we serve is God, the only God.

So. Do you know? Do you know in your heart, beyond any doubt, that the God we serve is the only God, that there is no other?

Your answer to that question determines all the actions in your life. If you know that God is God, and especially that you are not, then you treat Him as God. You acknowledge Him as sovereign. That means you do what He says. You don’t change His laws to suit yourself. You keep God’s laws because He says to.

And you trust Him - because He’s Sovereign, because He’s God, because He’s trustworthy.

Your actions demonstrate what you believe about who God is; your actions speak loudly about your relationship, or lack of relationship, with God. I believe that, if you have eyes to see, God is working in the lives of His people, even today.  I am confident that God’s hand works in our lives today that we may know that He is God; there is no other.


Sabbath, July 12th
Choose Wisely
For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. 1 Kings 11:4

One day almost ten years ago, I decided to take a short cut to St. Clair. At least, that’s what I told the kids I was doing when they asked why I was going the wrong way. We hadn’t lived here very long, and truthfully, I was exploring - but thought that perhaps the road I was taking would end up being an alternate route to where I wanted to go. It wasn’t a short cut. When we did finally meander our way back to St. Clair, Jonathan called it a “long cut,” and it was! We saw some beautiful country, however, and we did, eventually, end up where we had wanted to go. But it doesn’t always work out that way.

Solomon married 700 wives and had 300 concubines. That’s not only not a good idea, it’s against God’s perfect will! But Solomon went farther than that. Some of the wives that he married were from foreign countries, worshipped pagan gods, and, according to 1 Kings 11:4, when he was old, they turned Solomon’s heart away from the one true God.

The choices we make have far-reaching consequences - and we rarely recognize the full extent of the effects. When Christopher broke his jaw, I thought that was a terrible time in our lives. And it was. But I thought that when the wires came off, it would be over; it’d be in the past. I never figured on braces. And I never figured on having to move one molar just to end up having to pull it because it was so damaged, which led to having to have braces again for another round of 18 - 21 months.

But that’s the way life is. One little choice here, today, can start a chain reaction that has enormous impact on the direction your life goes.

So why doesn’t God stop us in the beginning of making those wrong choices - before we’re too far down the wrong road? I believe that God does lead us. I believe that He gives us direction, if we are only attentive enough to heed it. I don’t mean an audible voice, at least, I’ve never heard an audible voice that I knew was God’s. But the Holy Spirit in our lives can guide us. Sometimes we call it our conscience. Sometimes we call it coincidence. Sometimes we get advice from a friend or relative that changes our direction - and they were used by God. But there’s another reason, I think, that God doesn’t just stop us in our tracks when we start the go wrong. I think, He wants to see what we’re going to do. When we realize we’re on the wrong path, what do we do? 

When I was taking that long-cut to St. Clair, I started thinking about turning around. I was becoming more aware of how easily I could get lost. But as long as I knew how to get back to my starting point, I was willing to go a little farther to see where the road would lead. Eventually, we ended up in the right place. It took more time, more gas, and more wear and tear on the van to get to where we should have been, but we didn’t stay lost. However, taking that long-cut wasn’t a decision that was contrary to God’s word - as Solomon’s decision to marry foreign wives was. There was no sin involved in me traveling that alternative route. But Solomon’s route was sinful. Nevertheless, I could have become very lost, and Solomon was, at least for a time, very lost. His wives turned his heart away from God. He was worshiping pagan deities! Nevertheless, I think that it’s possible that Ecclesiastes is Solomon’s book of repentance, that he came to believe that this world is vanity. Only God, and having a relationship with Him, matters. 

I don’t recommend taking long-cuts to where you need to go; you can waste a lot of time. And I very much counsel against going contrary to God’s ways; you can find yourself in a place you don’t want to be - outside of God’s will and with a serious breach in your relationship with Him. Make wise choices. Stay on the right path. Choose God’s ways always. Seek God with all your heart. Choose wisely.



Sabbath, July 19th
Elijah!
You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there. 1 Kings 17:4

When you think of the prophets of the Old Testament, Elijah is likely one of the first to come to mind. After all, Jesus said that Elijah had already come, speaking of John the Baptist (Matthew 17:12-13). Furthermore, the last two verses in the Old Testament say, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” 

And then there are the acts of Elijah himself.

We’re first introduced to Elijah during the reign of Ahab. Ahab, king of Israel, “did evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before him. And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took for his wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him” (1 Kings 16:30-31). 

It’s against this backdrop that we are introduced to Elijah. Do you know what Elijah’s first recorded act was? He called for drought. “Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, ‘As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.’ ” 

Then God told Elijah to leave, to hide himself, and here’s where we find this verse: “You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there” (1 Kings 17:4).

Isn’t it interesting that God would send ravens to bring meat and bread to Elijah morning and evening, and to specify which brook Elijah was to drink from? For a period of time, until the brook dried up because of the drought, God provided daily sustenance for Elijah’s existence. Morning and evening, every day, Elijah was given the opportunity to solidify his reliance totally, exclusively, on God. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s not normal behavior for ravens to bring bread and meat morning and night to a specific person, or to any person. This was totally God’s provision, and eventually Elijah would have had no doubt about God’s provision for him. 

We don’t know how long it took, but eventually, the brook did dry up. God told Elijah to go to Zarephath, that God had commanded a widow to feed him. The widow had little flour and oil left. In fact, when Elijah met her, she was gathering sticks to build a fire over which to bake the last of the flour and oil into bread after which she and her son would starve to death. Elijah told her to use the flour and oil to make something for him to eat first, and then to feed her son and herself, that the flour and the oil would continue until the drought was over. Elijah had total confidence that God would provide, daily, miraculously, the sustenance they needed to survive.

“After this,” the author of 1 Kings records, so we’re not told how long the flour and oil had been continuing daily, the widow’s son died. Elijah took the child to his upstairs room, lay him on his bed, stretched himself on the child three times, and prayed to God to give the child back his life. God heard Elijah, and Elijah carried the resurrected child back to his mother.

In this short chapter, 1 Kings 17, we have very powerful witness to God’s provision and power over life and death. God is sovereign. He alone is God.

It’s also an illuminating description of how God prepares someone for His service. God didn’t immediately put Elijah into the position of asking for a resurrection. God taught Elijah in two very different ways that He is the One who provides. The ravens obeyed God. The flour and the oil were miraculously multiplied. God is the One who can do all things. 1 Kings 17:24 records, “And the woman said to Elijah, ‘Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth.’ ”  So our first question is, “What? The multiplying of the flour and oil wasn’t enough? She had to see someone raised from the dead before she believed?”

But we aren’t too different from the widow of Zarephath. We, too, have to learn the lesson of depending on God for His provision. And God knows our heart. Once we’ve learned that lesson, He can build on it. He can continue to put instances in our lives to grow us, to show us who He is, that we can have the faith to serve Him with wholeness of heart.

So think about what God has done in your life. Think about His provision and the things He has shown you, that you might know that He alone is God, that you might know that He is sovereign. Have eyes to see that the provision of what you have comes from God. Learn those lessons. Then once you’re solidified in your belief of God and your relationship with Him, He can use you for greater works, to show His glory, to manifest who He is to others around you.


Sabbath, July 26th
Don’t Sit on the Fence 
And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” And the people did not answer him a word. 1 Kings 18:21

When I was lifeguarding for the Sioux City municipal pools, I would occasionally see a kid who was just learning to dive. He would stand in line to go off the diving board all afternoon. First he’d jump off, feet first. Then he’d dive. Eventually, exhausted, but unwilling to do something else, he’d run to the end of the diving board and do what looked to be a combination of diving and jumping: his body was shaped in an upside-down U, committing neither hands nor feet to being first, which resulted in a painful belly flop.  He had halted between two opinions. He had not fully committed to a dive or to a jump, and the consequence was enough to make him stop going off the board for the rest of the day.

The people of Israel, to whom Elijah was speaking that day on Mt. Carmel, were similarly conflicted. They were trying to serve the Eternal while simultaneously serving Baal. Elijah told them they couldn’t do that. The first of the Ten Commandments says, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:2-3). Maybe the people knew that; maybe they just thought that our God and Baal could be served equally.

But Deuteronomy 6:4-5 says, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Loving God with everything you have and everything you are leaves no room for another pagan, false god alongside! The people should have known better.

We know better.  We often make intelligent evaluations . . . when looking at the situation, actions, and choices of others. But, unfortunately, when it’s our choices, our actions, our situation, we have a harder time making an intelligent call. Oh, we may not be serving Baal, but we pander to others gods: ourselves, money/possessions, or anything else which we set up in importance before the only true God. Think about it: you know what you’re supposed to do to follow God and to serve Him only, but you sometimes choose differently. Why? We have all these excuses: It’s not convenient. It’s not comfortable. God understands. It’s just a little thing. I’ll only do it once. 

Calling ourselves a Christian, when we excuse ourselves from doing what we know God has said we should do, with any of these reasons or the myriad of other reasons which we invent spontaneously to fit the situation, we have, in essence, done a huge belly flop. We haven’t whole-heartedly served our God. We haven’t submitted our will completely to Him. We haven’t truly acknowledged Him as Sovereign, as the Lord of our lives. We’ve tried to put one foot into a relationship with God and leave one foot in the world. That doesn’t work any better for the Christian than it does for the kid who tried to do a dive and a jump simultaneously, or for the person who tries to put only one foot on the elevator.

You can’t halt between two opinions. You can’t do a dive and a jump. You can’t put only one foot on the elevator. You are either wholly devoted to God or you’re not. Here’s what Jesus said, “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation. I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:14-16). God’s reaction to not being wholly committed to Him is pretty definite: He will spit you out! You have to be wholly devoted to God; that’s our reasonable worship!

Here’s another idiomatic expression to encourage us to make a decision and then live that decision: Don’t sit on the fence.  During the Revolutionary War, a prominent New Jersey jurist, Judge Imlay, hadn’t yet committed to either the revolutionaries or the loyalists. So when Washington encountered one of Imlay’s slaves he asked him which way the judge was leaning. Washington was so amused by the response that he retold it enough times for it to become part of our language. He said, “Until my master knows which is the strongest group, he’s staying on the fence.” (superbeefy.com)

Don’t go limping between two opinions. Serve God only. Don’t belly flop. Be wholly devoted to God. Don’t sit on the fence.

Sabbath, August 2nd
Greater
He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 2 Kings 6:16

There’s a scene in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe where the Narnians are dismayed by the enormous army coming against them. The centaur sternly says, “Numbers do not win a battle.” Peter response, “I’ll bet they help.”

I never hear that line without thinking of this instance in 2 Kings 6. Elisha had told the king of Israel where to move to avoid the king of Syria. After the king of Israel had changed his plans a couple of times, the king of Syria was sure there was a traitor in their midst. But one of the servants - of the king of Syria - said, “but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.” The king  of Syria thought he should do something about that; he sent his army to surround the city of Dothan by night. The next morning Elisha’s servant looked out to see this vast army of horses and chariots all around the city. He asked Elisha, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”  Here’s where we get this verse: “He said, ‘Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.’ “

Then Elisha prayed that the young man’s eyes would be opened. Do you know what he saw? He saw angelic armies, the army of the Lord, all around Elisha. Elisha knew they were there, but his servant had not been able to see them. 

I love this story. I love that Elisha had the confidence to know that God was with him, and more than that, the implication is that Elisha had the eyes to see that God was with him. A great sense of peace washes over me as I put myself in the place of Elisha’s servant. 

In a very similar way, we are surrounded by hordes who would destroy us. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12). Sometimes we see the evil forces arraying themselves against us - in society, as we’re going about our daily activities - and we feel that dismay. We see the giants in the land that we are to take, and we are afraid. We need a reminder, like Elisha’s servant needed a reminder: “He said, ‘Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.’ ” That’s one of the reasons I really like Mercy Me’s “Greater.”

"Greater"

Bring your tired
Bring your shame
Bring your guilt
Bring your pain
Don’t you know that’s not your name
You will always be much more to me

Every day I wrestle with the voices
That keep telling me I’m not right
But that’s alright

‘Cause I hear a voice and He calls me redeemed
When others say I’ll never be enough
And greater is the One living inside of me
Than he who is living in the world
In the world
In the world
And greater is the One living inside of me
Than he who is living in the world

Bring your doubts
Bring your fears
Bring your hurt
Bring your tears
There’ll be no condemnation here
You are holy, righteous and redeemed

Every time I fall
There’ll be those who will call me
A mistake
Well that’s ok

There’ll be days I lose the battle
Grace says that it doesn’t matter
‘Cause the cross already won the war
He’s Greater
He’s Greater

I am learning to run freely
Understanding just how He sees me
And it makes me love Him more and more
He’s Greater
He’s Greater

It’s such a great song to remind us to open our eyes to see God’s greatness, to hear His voice among all of those who would say that “I”ll never be enough.”

There’s just one other distinction that we need to emphasize. It isn’t that we’re in a battle against the enemy and God’s on our side. Rather, we’re in a battle with the enemy and we need to be very sure that we’re on God’s side. Do you remember when Joshua came face to face with the commander of the armies of the LORD and asked him if he were for the Israelites or for their adversaries? He was for neither side; he was the commander of the armies of the LORD. 

At one point in the Civil War, a minister commented to Abraham Lincoln that he hoped God was on the side of the North. Abraham Lincoln responded,

 “Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right.”

There is a battle raging all around us, and the adversaries are fighting more fiercely because their time is short. Don’t be afraid. God will win. Let’s just strive to make sure we’re fighting on God’s side.


Sabbath, August 9th
What He Says We Will Do
Then take the flask of oil and pour it on his head and say, “Thus says the LORD, ‘I anoint you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and flee; do not linger.” 2 Kings 9:3

We sing the hymn, “God Will Take Care of You:” Be not dismayed at whate’er betide; God will take care of you.

 We sing songs based on Psalm 91. He’ll lift you up on eagles’ wings . . . You need not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day; though thousands fall about you, near you it shall not come. I know of four songs that are based on Psalm 91 - and there are probably more.

As we sing these songs, we can gain the impression that God grants His people unconditional security and safety. Many Christians believe this. I’ve heard stories of the situations people have placed themselves in because they believed God would not let them be hurt.

But the incident in 2 Kings 9 would indicate that unconditional security for those who belong to God is not necessarily so, at least not in the temporary and the physical. In 2 Kings 9, Elisha sends a son of the prophets to anoint Jehu king over Israel. This is going to initiate a bloodbath of those who are part of the house of Ahab and of those who serve Baal. You get an idea of the violence and extreme danger associated with Jehu’s rule by Elisha’s statement to the messenger: Then take the flask of oil and pour it on his head and say, “Thus says the LORD, ‘I anoint you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and flee; do not linger.”

 This is not a situation where he was to casually saunter in, joke and fellowship with those assembled there, have a meal and stay overnight. The messenger went into an inner room with Jehu, did what Elisha said, and got out of Dodge.

What would have happened if he had delayed? We don’t know. But we do have the scriptural record of what happened to the prophet who went to Jeroboam in 1 Kings 13. He was told what to say to Jeroboam, then to leave, not to stay or to eat anything while he was there, and he was to leave by a different route from which he arrived. His prophecy against Jeroboam came true. But when he disobeyed God, a lion tore him apart. God hadn’t just made a suggestion; He commanded the prophet to act in a certain way. When the prophet disobeyed, there were serious consequences. 

We need to wrap our minds around several important facts: 

1. God loves us. He loves us so much He sent His Son to die for us, while we were yet sinners, so that we might be reconciled to Him, be adopted into the very family of God, and have eternal life.

2)  God expects to be obeyed. There are more references to God’s judgement in the Bible than there are references to His love. But as the Righteous God dealing with sinful man, you would hardly expect anything different. God doesn’t give out second chances; He doesn’t say, “Oh you didn’t obey Me, but decided to stop and have something to eat when I told you not to. Well, that’s o.k. Maybe you’ll listen next time.” God doesn’t say, “I want you to go to Nineveh. Oh, you don’t want to. O.K. Maybe after you get done in sailing around you’ll be ready to come do what I want you to.” He doesn’t excuse us, “Oh, you want to worship me by making a golden calf. I know your heart so building a golden calf is a good idea.” When we look at these examples, we see how ludicrous they are, and yet, we sometimes have a hard time applying that in our own lives, being very careful to obey exactly what God says. Sometimes it’s hard to do exactly what God says. It’s not convenient. It’s not popular with people around us. It’s not the easiest path; it’s a whole lot easier to walk than to run. But obeying God means submitting our wills to His, doing what He wants instead of doing what we want - no matter what. Think about it: you don’t even want to do what your mom or dad says sometimes. God gives us the physical to help us understand the spiritual. When you can learn to submit to your parents’ will (as long as they are obeying God), you are learning the principle of submitting to God’s will.

3) As Christians, we are not automatically given immunity or exemption from pain and problems.  Sometimes the pain and problems are for our growth. Sometimes they are so that we can glorify God anyway. Sometimes they are so that we can empathize and encourage someone else who’s going through something similar. Sometimes the pain and problems are because we sinned; we did not obey God whole-heartedly. So if disobedience is one of the reasons we have pain and problems, then we can minimize the pain and problems in our lives if we obey God. We have this example in 2 Kings 9 to remind us. I don’t think the son of the prophets who anointed Jehu wanted to find out what was going to happen if he didn’t run for his life. Similarly, the prophet who went to Jeroboam (1 Kings 13) probably wouldn’t have been killed by a lion, if he had obeyed God. Jonah might not have had to spend three nights in the belly of a great fish, if he had gone to Nineveh as God had said.

I like the hymns “God Will Take Care of You” and “On Eagles’ Wings.” I still sing them. But there’s another song which really resonates with me: “Trust and Obey,” especially the last verse: “Then in fellowship sweet, we will sit at His feet, or we’ll walk by His side in the way; What He says we will do, where He sends we will go; never fear, only trust and obey. Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”  When our relationship is right with God, we do what He says and we go where He says to go. We do it whole-heartedly, trusting and obeying Him. For there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus! Trust and obey!


Sabbath, August 16th
That You May Have Life
And as a man was being buried, behold, a marauding band was seen and the man was thrown into the grave of Elisha, and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet. 2 Kings 13:21

Can you imagine the scene? You have to bury this dead man, but you look up and see your enemies coming. You have to just toss him in the grave. You turn to leave and you feel the proverbial tap on your shoulder. “What’re you doing? Why are we in this grave? Why do you have shovels? Hey, where are you going? Wait for me!” The people who had come to bury him would have had an incredible mix of emotions: joy, fear, shock, fear. They would have been afraid of the marauding band coming. They would have been overjoyed at seeing the man alive. They would have been shocked almost beyond belief that he was alive - once they got over being scared out of their skins when he stood up behind them.

As interesting as these two verses are, what’s not here is extremely interesting too. Did you notice: we’re never told the man’s name. Then, we’re never told what happened to him after that. These two verses about this resurrection are like a side note in the story of Syria’s oppression of Israel during the reign of Joash, king of Israel.

So, why did the author include them? What’s their purpose?

John 6:63 (NASB) says, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.” The goal of our lives is not about what we can accumulate or achieve for right now; our goal is the kingdom of God. This life and all our activity in it is temporary - and meaningless if we don’t have a relationship with God.

Perhaps the author of 2 Kings wanted to emphasize the downward spiral, the hopelessness of Israel’s existence apart from God versus the possibilities, the hope inherent in being close to God, having a double portion of the Spirit of God (2 Kings 2:9). Israel’s apostasy only brought pain and death; obedience to and reliance on God would have meant peace and prosperity and life. After all, all the man did was touch Elisha’s bones, and he was resurrected - and he didn’t even do it on purpose; he was dead! God’s power is so great!

So many people in our world today reject God and His ways. They want to live life on their terms. They are on a downward, hopeless spiral. This life is temporary! Choosing to live life apart from God just ensures that you’ll do it wrong, suffer pain and sickness and trouble  - with no hope. Those who follow Christ, who belong to Him, still suffer pain, sickness, and trouble at times, but the difference is that they have hope!! We know this life is not all there is.

God, in His mercy, highlights the hope that we can have if we belong to Him: He has resurrected people to physical life, raised them from the dead, so that we can know that it’s possible. In seeing the miracle, we believe (John 11:15)!!

• The widow at Zarephath (Elijah) 1 Kings 17:17-24
• The Shunammite woman’s son (Elisha) 2 Kings 4:18-37
• This unnamed man (Elisha) 2 Kings 13:21
• Jarius’ daughter (Jesus) Matthew 9:23-24; Mark 5:22-43; Luke  8:41
• Widow of Nain’s son (Jesus) Luke 7:12-15
• Lazarus (Jesus) John 11:1-44
• Dorcas in Joppa (Peter) Acts 9:36-42
• Eutychus in Troas (Paul) Acts 20:9-10 (It’s not clear whether this is a resurrection or not; I’ve included it in the list, but please note that we don’t have enough information to know one way or the other.)

It’s extremely interesting that there are seven clear resurrections foreshadowing Jesus’ resurrection. God made it abundantly clear that He has the power over life and death; He can bring the dead back to life. 

We don’t know what happened to any of these seven people after they were resurrected. Their resurrection is the point, an illustration of God’s power for our benefit. Their physical resurrections were, and are, an undeniable testimony to God’s power to raise Jesus Christ from the dead, and then, because of Jesus’ resurrection, we too have that hope.

 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” 1 Peter 1:3

Furthermore, this particular resurrection in 2 Kings 13 strongly foreshadows Jesus’ death and resurrection. Just as one man was resurrected when he touched Elisha’s bones, so many people will be resurrected through touching Jesus.

We don’t want to be like the Israelites of old who walked contrary to God’s law, who didn’t rely on Him or seek Him with their whole heart. Rather, in the words of Paul in Philippians 3:10-11, “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”

There’s only one way to be resurrected from the dead and to gain eternal life. It’s through the acceptance of Jesus Christ, who died and rose again, as your personal Savior. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). There’s no other way to be resurrected to eternal life - not even if you were thrown onto the bones of Elisha.


Sabbath, August 23rd
Beans in Your Ears
But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the LORD their God. 2 Kings 17:14

There was a comic strip years ago: The owner was calling his dog. Here, Rover. Come here, Rover. The dog paid absolutely no attention, but kept wandering farther from his owner. In the last block, the dog thinks, “It’s amazing how well sound travels on a clear day.”

Did you notice? It wasn’t that the dog couldn’t hear his owner; he just didn’t want to listen to his owner and obey him.

But it’s not just dogs who have this problem. Have you ever heard your mom say, “Listen to me. Stop that”? You likely don’t have a hearing problem; you have a listening and obeying problem.

The listening  problem is not limited to kids and dogs. There’s an old song called “Beans In My Ears.”

My mommy said not to put beans in my ears
Beans in my ears, beans in my ears

Now why would I want to put beans in my ears
Beans in my ears, beans in my ears

You can't hear the teacher with beans in your ears,
Beans in your ears, beans in your ears

What's that you say, let's put beans in our ears
Beans in our ears, beans in our ears

You'll have to speak up I got beans in my ears
Beans in my ears, beans in my ears

Say mommy we've gone and put beans in our ears
Beans in our ears, beans in our ears

That's nice boys just don't put those beans in your ears
Beans in our ears, beans in our ears

I think that all grown ups have beans in their ears
Beans in their ears, beans in their ears

The author’s point is that most people listen very poorly; they may as well have beans in their ears.

That’s the connotation of this verse in 2 Kings 17 as well. But they would not listen, but were stubborn. That indicates Israel knew what God wanted them to do; they just didn’t want to do it.

Why don’t people listen well? Why didn’t that dog come when he was called? Why don’t children listen to their parents? Why didn’t Israel listen to God? Why does everyone put beans in their ears?

It’s right here in the second half of the verse: they did not believe in the LORD their God. Believing in God is more than just affirming that God exists. The dog knows his master exists. Children know their parents exist. Israel knew that God exists. 

Believing the LORD their God means they believed God would do what He said. It means they trusted in God with all their heart. It means they had the relationship, the love in every part of their being, the complete devotion, to listen to and obey God no matter what.

Think about what would have happened if the dog in the comic strip had thought the owner could come make him obey. What if the dog trusted and loved the owner for more than just the dog treats he’d get? The dog would obey because he loved his owner.

Think about kids. Children who obey their mom the first time she says something probably have had some negative consequences applied to the seat of their pants a few times. They know that Mom means what she says. They trust her, and eventually, as they keep growing, the relationship develops to the point where the child obeys because he doesn’t want to impair the relationship. It’s not about getting a spanking any more; it’s about not disappointing Mom.

That was Israel’s problem: they knew God existed. But they didn’t believe that He was going to punish them for disobeying Him, and even that God was corrupt and evil like they were. (Psalm 50:21) They made God in their image. We read the history and we are appalled and amazed that they turned away from seeking the one true God, chose to serve false idols, and abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God (2 Kings 17:15-17). Looking back in history, we can see it so clearly. But the question is: if the people of Israel didn’t listen, if the dog doesn’t listen, if children don’t listen, what about us? How well do you listen to God? How well do you hear and obey what He says to do? Do you truly believe in God? Do your actions prove that you believe God? Or are you walking around, doing whatever strikes your fancy because you have beans in your ears?

Sabbath, August 30th
Innocent Blood
And also for the innocent blood that he had shed. For he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD would not pardon. 2 Kings 24:4

I once knew a man who bought several trees from a small, family nursery. The owner quoted a price for each tree and then calculated the total price in his head. When the owner told the buyer how much he owed, he had made a $20.00 error in adding it all up. The buyer knew it, but  he figured it was the owner’s error. He figured he was getting a really good deal. The problem was, however, the buyer had agreed to pay a certain price for those trees. In knowingly allowing the nursery owner’s mistake, he was stealing from him.

A short time later, my sister, my brother-in-law, and I checked into a motel in Reno, NV late at night after flying from Cedar Rapids, IA  on our way to the Feast of Tabernacles in Lake Tahoe. We were staying overnight, waiting for Mom and Dad to pick us up there for the last leg of the trip over the mountain. It was late. The motel clerk was tired. When he gave us our change after we paid for the motel, he gave us back $20.00 too much. Dave never hesitated. He immediately pointed out the error and handed the money back to the clerk. The clerk was very grateful. He knew how much trouble he could be in if he didn’t have the right amount of money in his cash register at the end of the night.

Do you think God cares about justice, about being honest, doing what is right, protecting the innocent?

Micah 6:8 - 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?

Genesis 18:19 - For I have chosen [Abraham], that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, . . .

God drove out the people who lived in the Promised Land because they became so wicked (Genesis 15:16; Deuteronomy 18:9-14). God gave the Promised Land to the descendants of Abraham, with the caution that they should obey God’s commandments and not follow the ways of the nations who lived there before them. But eventually, Manasseh, king of Judah, did the very same things which caused God to drive out the nations before the people of Israel (2 Kings 21:2-9) In fact, God said that what Manasseh had done was more evil than all the Amorites who were before him (2 Kings 21:10-11).

Twice God states that Manasseh shed innocent blood (2 Kings 21:16, 2 Kings 24:4). What does it mean to shed innocent blood? It means putting people to death who have done no wrong deserving that death. It means convicting someone of a crime they didn’t commit and punishing them with death. It means sacrificing your own children as a burnt offering to a false god (2 Kings 21:6). It means not doing justly, as God commands.


Our God, who is righteous and just and good, cannot allow people, especially people who are called by His name, to conduct themselves in that way. Manasseh’s actions were soiling God’s reputation.Think about it. The nations around Israel associated Israel with the one true God (2 Kings 17:27). God could not allow the wickedness to continue (2 Kings 17:18-20; Deuteronomy 28:62-63). Our righteous God could not allow sin to continue. Not then and not now.

So here we are today. Do you wonder if you’re living a life that will be blessed by God? Look at Micah 6:8 again, and apply it to yourself. Do you act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God? 

Walk humbly with your God: Do you acknowledge that He is Sovereign. He gets to decide what’s right and wrong because He’s God. He gets to determine the direction of your life and what happens to you because He’s your God and He cares for you. Do you take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ? (2 Corinthians 10:5) Is He truly Sovereign in your life?

Love mercy: Do you give people the benefit of the doubt, to forgive people for wrongs they’ve committed against you? Do you hold grudges and want to get even? Think carefully. Sometimes it’s harder to show mercy to those who are closest to you - like your older brother or your sister. Do you love mercy? 

Do justly: If order for you to love mercy, you have to do justly. Without justice, there can be no mercy. There has to be a standard of right and wrong (God’s standard of right and wrong) and recognized, corresponding rewards and punishments for adhering to or for transgressing those standards. Doing justly means doing what is right according to what God has decreed - because He’s Sovereign; He gets to decide what’s right and what’s wrong. Doing justly also means that you share with others what God’s standards are. If people around you know that you believe in God and yet you approve of ungodly things, then you are doing what Manasseh did: you soil God’s reputation. You give the impression that God would approve of something that He has condemned.

When the opportunity arises, if you call yourself a disciple of Christ, a Christian, then you have to tell people that the shedding of innocent blood is wrong. You have to tell them that abortion is wrong. You have to tell them that worshipping false gods or worshipping God however they want to (rather than the way God has decreed) is wrong. You have to tell them that God has a set standard. God gets to decide what is right and wrong; He doesn’t leave it up to each individual person. And you have to give $20.00 back to the motel clerk and to the nursery owner when they make a mistake. It’s not free money for you. It’s a manner of doing justly and not shedding innocent blood.

Sabbath, September 6th
Cake
He did not seek guidance from the LORD. Therefore the LORD put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse. 1 Chronicles 10:14

Let’s suppose, just for a minute, that your mom has made a scrumptious, towering, chocolate layer cake. You know she’s taking it to the neighbors’ house. But it looks so delectable. You want just a little taste. You also know that your mom is in the shower, but you conveniently tuck that fact away in a dark recess of your mind. Then you call, “Hey, Mom, can I have a little taste of this cake?” She doesn’t answer. So you call a little softer. If anyone asks, you can tell them you called a couple of times and there wasn’t any answer and there’s a rule: silence gives consent. So you cheerfully find the big cake knife, a plate, and a fork, and you cut yourself a generous slice. When your mom walks into the kitchen from her shower and sees the cake missing a huge piece or two, your face covered in chocolate, and the implements of your disobedience in your hand, she is not going to be happy. You knew better. You’re in big trouble. I don’t care how you try to reason your way out of it. You’re in big trouble.

Saul, the first king of Israel, also got into big trouble over the things that he knew he should not do. The Chronicler simply states, in 1 Chronicles 10:13-14, So Saul died for his breach of faith. He broke faith with the LORD in that he did not keep the command of the LORD, and also consulted a medium, seeking guidance. He did not seek guidance from the LORD. Therefore the LORD put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse.

Do you know what a medium is? It’s a person who uses demonic influences or witchcraft to contact spirits for guidance. Do you remember the instance when Saul went to the witch of Endor (1 Samuel 28)? He wanted to know if God would be with him and give him the victory over the Philistines who were arrayed against him. So he went to the witch of Endor and told her to consult Samuel, who was dead. Perhaps you’re thinking, why didn’t he just ask God. Saul did (1 Samuel 28:6). But God was silent. Since God didn’t answer Saul, he figured he’d find the answer another way. But, like cutting into the chocolate cake, Saul knew better. 

God had given instructions to Israel for the time when they would choose a king to rule over them. He specifically told Israel, “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, . . .” (Deuteronomy 17:18-19) Saul, as Israel’s first king, certainly would have known to write the law and obey it.

One of the things written in God’s law (that God’s people were never to do) was to consult a medium. Deuteronomy 18:10-12 says, “There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD. . . .

Saul should never have gone to the witch of Endor to consult Samuel, who was dead!, hoping to hear a word from God. But why didn’t God answer Saul. It goes back much farther than just consulting a medium. Remember in 1 Chronicles 10:13, it says that Saul died for his breach of faith. He broke faith with the LORD in that he did not keep the command of the LORD. This goes all the way back to 1 Samuel 13-15. 1 Samuel 13 records Saul not waiting for Samuel to offer the sacrifice - as he’d been told. 1 Samuel 14 records Saul’s vow that the person who ate anything would die. He would’ve put his own son Jonathan to death if the people hadn’t ransomed him. Then in 1 Samuel 15 Saul was specifically told to strike Amalek, devoting to destruction all the people and all their possessions. When Samuel arrived after the battle, Saul said, “I’ve done what you told me to do.” Then Samuel says (1 Samuel 15:14), “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?” Saul had not obeyed God’s commandment. He was not reigning with a heart that was completely devoted to God. God said (1 Samuel 15:11), “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.”

Like the piece of chocolate cake that the kid wanted to eat, Saul repeatedly did what he wanted to do regardless of the instructions from God to do differently. And as for 1 Samuel 28 recording that he’d gone to God for guidance first before inquiring from the medium, it’s like the kid calling for his mom when he knows she’s in the shower. The kid knew the mom was not going to answer. She probably couldn’t even hear him. God heard Saul, but the relationship was so badly damaged by this time, God wasn’t going to answer. So Saul tried to get his answer by doing something he knew was displeasing to God. How do you think that’s going to work out?

What you do matters. The way you live your life in service to God matters. How you observe God’s commandments matters. You can’t serve God and do what you want when it’s contrary to what He wants. In a word, you can’t have your cake and eat it too.


Sabbath, September 13th
Seek God
Now set your mind and heart to seek the Lord your God.   1 Chronicles 22:19a

What does it mean to seek? It means to look for something with the desire to find it. Having the desire to actually find it is an important part of the definition. I can look for snakes while I’m out in the garden, but I really hope I don’t find one. You can look for your missing math book, but really hope that you can’t find it. You can look for evidence that the dog has eaten your breakfast, but not really want it to be true. So when we’re talking about seeking God, there is an implication that we want to find Him.

There are some wonderful verses about seeking God.

Deut. 4:29: But from there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

1 Chronicles 28:9b:  If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.

2 Chronicles 15:2: The LORD is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.

Psalm 34:10: The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

Psalm 105:4:  Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually!

Psalm 119:2: Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart,

Proverbs 8:17:  I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.

Proverbs 28:5: Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the LORD understand it completely.

Isaiah 55:6: “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;

Jeremiah 29:13:  You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Amos 5:4:  For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel: “Seek me and live;

Zephaniah 2:3: Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, who do his just commands; seek righteousness; seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the anger of the LORD.

Matt 6:33:  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Matthew 7:7: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

Hebrews 11:6: And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

1 Peter 3:10-11:  For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it.

Over and over the Bible, the word of God, exhorts its readers, you and me, to seek God with all of our hearts, to greatly desire to find God. Implicit in that is the idea that once you find God, you never let go. You continue to seek His ways, to live your life worthy of the calling you’ve received by obeying God’s commands. Seeking God will last your whole life, if you really belong to Him. And seeking Him is more than just a worthwhile goal; it’s the only thing that matters - and it has eternal consequences. Too often when mom walks into the room and asks the kids what they’re doing, they say, “Nothing,” or “We’re playing MineCraft.” Wouldn’t it be wonderful to walk into a room, ask people what they are doing, and hear, “We’re seeking God with our whole heart.”

I left one of my favorite “seek” verses ‘til last. Hosea 10:12 says,  Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.

With everything that we are, our hearts and minds, it’s time to seek the LORD.

September 20th
Your Whole Life Long
If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever. 1 Chronicles 28:9b

Have you ever heard an adult say to himself, “Now, how do I do this?” You are amused that he has apparently forgotten how to do something he once knew how to do, and you think, “Well, memory is the first thing to go.” But it’s not just aging that has caused the memory loss. It is the continuous doing of a task that keeps the knowledge of how to do it fresh in your memory banks. That’s why your teacher can set a math problem in front of you on the first day of school - after a long summer break - and you ask, “Now, how do I do this again?” You haven’t been doing that task all summer, and you can’t quite remember what it is your teacher wants you to do.

As you get older, you’ll find yourself in this predicament over and over. 

• At the beginning of the canning season, you’ll get out the canning book to remind yourself of how many minutes and at how many pounds of pressure you have to can tomatoes. 
• You’ll have practiced a hymn on the piano over and over, until everyone in the house is sick of it. Then, after a hiatus of several months, you’ll decide to go play that hymn and it’ll be just on the edge of your consciousness, where you can’t quite remember how to play it. 
• You’ll have read a book. Perhaps you like it so well that as soon as you finish it, you start at the beginning and read it all the way through again. But then, months later when you’re talking about it with a friend, you can’t remember the hero’s name.
• You’ll have a favorite song. You sing it every day. Eventually, you find another song that you are singing all the time. The first song comes to mind, but you can’t remember all of the words anymore.
• Seeking God is like this too. Remember, we talked about seeking God implies an intent to find Him. We also talked about how important it is to continue seeking Him; that it has eternal consequences. Seeking God has to become part of who you are. It has to become something you do every day for your whole life. If you don’t make seeking God part of your daily routine, pretty soon you won’t be seeking Him at all. There are too many other distractions crowding into our lives. Then eventually, you will have forgotten God’s ways. You’ll no longer remember what the Bible says, how to defend what you believe, and even what you used to believe about God.
  

So, what does seeking God look like? It means, first, obedience to God. The first act of obedience to God is baptism. God has brought you to repentance. Now you need to make a public confession of who you are and your need for the Savior. Then you need to continue reading the Bible, praying to God every day, fellowshipping with believers, and obeying God’s Word. It’s life-changing. You cannot seek God and stay the same. As you seek Him, He will bit by bit change you into the image of Jesus Christ. That’s a very good thing. It’s much better than ending your life trying to remember what God had once shown you and you’ve now forgotten. 

So seek God. Seek Him every day. Make Him the priority in your life. Seek God your whole life long.


Trumpets, September 26th
A Very Great Assembly
At that time Solomon held the feast for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt.  2 Chronicles 7:8 

I love maps. I love getting an idea of the area we’re talking about. In this particular case, the entire land of Israel was celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles. The whole land, about 270 miles from the Brook of Egypt all the way the Lebo-Hamath in the north, celebrated this seven-day festival. Can you imagine everyone, literally everyone, around you celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles? 

There have been Feast sites where 12,000 people gathered to worship God. That’s almost more than our minds can comprehend - that many people all singing praises to God and worshipping Him for seven days! On the other hand, now there are little groups all over the United States (and around the world) where people are worshipping God during the Feast of Tabernacles. There might be 100 here, 35 over there, 650 up north, and 300 out west. Some people camp. Some people stay together in a resort setting. Some people book the entire hotel. Other people just find rental vacation homes and meet in a central location every day. But some day, some day, we will get to experience both a huge congregation of people meeting together and holy day services being everywhere - because everyone will be celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles. That will truly be a very great assembly!! I can hardly wait!!

But when will this very great assembly happen? Zechariah 14:16 says, “Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, The LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths.” 

Did you get that? After the return of Jesus Christ, the Feast of Tabernacles will be celebrated. Only then, it won’t just be God’s people (those who are wholly devoted to Him); it will be the whole earth - because Jesus Christ will reign over the whole earth. When He is King, everyone will be celebrating His Holy Days.

So when will Jesus Christ return? The Bible seems to strongly indicate that it will be on the Feast of Trumpets. Numbers 10 talks about the uses for the silver trumpets. They were sounded to 1) gather the people together, 2) to move out, 3) during war when the people wanted to be remembered by the LORD and wanted to be saved from their enemies, and 4) at the appointed feasts and at the beginning of months.

Leviticus 23:24 says, “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation.”

I Corinthians 15:51-52 says, “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.”

1 Thessalonians 4:14-16 says, “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.”

So we celebrate the Feast of Trumpets, looking forward to that day when Jesus Christ will come back with the trumpet call of God. It’s the day when God’s people are clothed in immortality, changed in the twinkling of an eye. It’s the start of the reign of Christ. The trumpet call will gather all people together, ready to march to the orders of the King. It will signal an end to anyone who is rebelling against the return of Christ, for God will win the battle. The Feast of Trumpets will be a time of great rejoicing for the people of God. And finally, it ushers in that time when all people everywhere will be celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles in a very great assembly! 


Sabbath, September 27th
Dedication
At that time Solomon held the feast for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt.  2 Chronicles 7:8

So why were all of Israel assembled to keep the Feast with Solomon that particular year? What made this year different from all other years? It was the dedication of the temple. This was the celebration of the completion of seven years of work to build a house for God (1 Kings 6:38). However, Solomon never intended this to be a house to contain God; rather, Solomon knew that even the highest heavens could not contain God (2 Chronicles 6:18). It was a place for God to meet with His people.

What an incredible thing! To know that God is present - with you! 2 Chronicles 7:1-2 tells what happened once Solomon finished his prayer of dedication of the temple: fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. Can you imagine this scene? Fire shooting down from heaven, burnt offerings being instantly incinerated and consumed, and the glory of the LORD being so powerful that the priests could not even enter the temple!! No wonder the people fell on their faces and worshipped the LORD! What an amazing display of both power and acceptance from the Great God of the Universe!!

It’s a nice story. It’s an amazing story. And it really has more to do with you than you might think. We sing a song called “Sanctuary.”

Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary, pure and holy, tried and true;
With thanksgiving, I’ll be a living sanctuary for You.

But is this Biblical? 1 Corinthians 6:19 says that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit within us.  1 Corinthians 3:16 says that we are God’s temple.  2 Corinthians 6:16 says we are the temple of the living God. Ephesians 2:22 says that we all, God’s church, are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. 1 Peter 2:5 says that we are like living stones being built up as a spiritual house.

O.K. But if we are the temple of the living God, when will that spiritual house, that sanctuary, that temple be finished? Well, first it has to be prepared and purified. Titus 2:14 says that Jesus Christ gave himself to us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession. Ephesians 5:25-27 says that Jesus Christ cleansed the church that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot of wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

While it is true that we are saved through the blood of the Lamb, we must go onto perfection. James 1:2-4 indicates that it is a process, that we should “count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 2 Peter 1:5 says to “make every effort to supplement our faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly love with love.” There is a process of sanctification, a process of being made holy (1 Thessalonians 4:3). It is the building of the temple of the living God - making a perfect dwelling place, holy and without blemish.

But, again, when will this dwelling place, the temple of the living God, be finished? 1 John 3:2 says, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”

Did you get that? When Jesus Christ comes back, we’ll be like Him. We will be done with carnal nature. We will be done with sinning forever. We will, as 1 Corinthians 15:52 says, be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. That’s when the house of God will be ready. It will be time for a dedication for the temple of the living God - much like that dedication of Solomon’s temple which happened so long ago.

I don’t think it was just a coincidence that the dedication of Solomon’s temple happened during the Feast of Tabernacles. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Paul and Peter repeated spoke of God’s people in terms of a living, spiritual temple. I think it was all part of God’s plan - to show us what God has in store for those who serve Him now wholeheartedly. I think that after Jesus Christ returns on the Feast of Trumpets, at some point in the future, there will be a dedication of us - as the temple of God - during that Feast of Tabernacles. We will truly, joyously, wholeheartedly be singing “I am a living sanctuary for You.”

Sabbath, October 4th
Going Through the Motions
For the Levites left their common lands and their holdings and came to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons cast them out from serving as priests of the Lord,  2 Chronicles 11:14

When I think of Jeroboam, I think of the two golden calves he made. I think of him changing the time for the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles to the eighth month. But I don’t usually think of him ousting the Levitical priesthood. And yet, he did! Think about the implications: first, he fashioned idols for Israel to worship - telling the people that these were the gods which brought them up out of Egypt (1 Kings 12). He set them in Bethel and in Dan, telling the people that Jerusalem was too far for them to go worship God. Then he changed the Feast of Tabernacles celebration to the eighth month, instead of the seventh, so that it’d be more convenient for the people and further distance them from the right time to celebrate. Then, to cap it all off, he got rid of the authorized priesthood, those who knew very well what he was doing was wrong, and he replaced them with anyone who wanted to be priest (1 Kings 13:33). It was so incredibly senseless. God had told Jeroboam that if he would serve Him faithfully that God would establish his kingdom (1 Kings 1:38). It seems the Jeroboam didn’t trust God to deliver on that promise!  So he went through the motions of serving God, but it was only skin deep.

It reminds me of the passage in 2 Timothy 3:5. At the end of this list of vile conduct characterizing the end times is this phrase: having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.  The note in the ESV study Bible says: Godliness (the Greek eusebeia) means genuine piety, including holiness, reverence, faith, and love and devotion to God. Jeroboam’s actions did not show godliness by any stretch of the imagination. He didn’t have even one of those characteristics listed!

So what about us? Do we obey God’s law? (It’s not a matter of salvation; that’s only available to us through the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ.) Our obedience to God’s law demonstrates our devotion to Him. Are we going to do what He says? Is He our King and Savior or not? There’s not some fine print at the bottom of the covenant with God which gives us an out, saying that we don’t have to obey God if we don’t understand why He’s commanding us to do something. Why am I bringing this up today? One of the hardest things that we intentionally do every year is a complete fast for twenty-four hours on the Day of Atonement. It’s not one of those days that we look forward to. But God commands us to afflict our souls, and there’s enough evidence throughout the Bible to indicate that this means fasting. (Obviously, if there are serious health issues, fasting is not possible, and perhaps that’s why it says to afflict yourself instead of blunting stating that you must fast.)

Fasting is an intentional act, an act of humility, an act of obedience before God. 

Fasting is also a very physical object lesson. It is so tangible. We physically experience the reality of subjecting our will in reverence to God’s will. It helps us to understand how very much more difficult it may be to completely bring every thought into submission to Jesus Christ. That’s our goal. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5. That’s the object lesson we learn in Atonement. Because really, Jesus Christ is the only One who can make propitiation for our sins. We cannot repair that relationship with the Father. We have to give up our will and become a living sacrifice to God (Romans 12:1-2); that’s our reasonable service to God, the One who redeemed us by His blood!

It did not work out very well for Jeroboam to go through the motions of serving God. And it won’t work out very well for us either. 

Matthew West’s song, “The Motions,” expresses this very well:

"The Motions"

This might hurt, it's not safe
But I know that I've gotta make a change
I don't care if I break
At least I'll be feeling something

‘Cause just okay is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of life

I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
Without Your all consuming passion inside of me

I don't wanna spend my whole life asking
What if I had given everything 
Instead of going through the motions?

No regrets, not this time
I'm gonna let my heart defeat my mind 
Let Your love make me whole
I think I'm finally feeling something  (Chorus)

Bridge:
Take me all the way
(Take me all the way)
Take me all the way
(‘Cause I don't wanna go through the motions)
Take me all the way
(Lord, I'm finally feeling something real)
Take me all the way (Chorus twice)


Atonement, Monday, October 6th

One Way, One Atonement, One High Priest
For the Levites left their common lands and their holdings and came to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons cast them out from serving as priests of the LORD.  2 Chronicles 11:14

Let’s consider two pertinent facts that Jeroboam should have considered before casting out the Levites from serving as priests of the LORD:

1. The priesthood belonged to Aaron and his descendants forever by a statute of God. (Exodus 29:9; Numbers 18:7) Anyone else who came within the veil was put to death.
2. It was only the high priest who could go into the Holy of Holies to make atonement for the holy place - and then only once a year. (Leviticus 16:16, 20; Hebrews 9:6-7)

Jeroboam backed himself into an inescapable corner. He had no way to be reconciled to God. He couldn’t go into the Holy of Holies. He couldn’t be reconciled by one of the people he appointed to be a priest; they were not acceptable before God. This is the quintessential example of Robert Burn’s line, “The best laid schemes of mice and men, often go awry.” Jeroboam thought to solidify the northern kingdom of Israel in his hand and in that of his descendants. He should have spent more time thinking of Israel’s history. When Nadab and Abihu offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, fire came out from before the LORD and consumed them (Leviticus 10:1-3). Jeroboam could also have thought about Korah’s rebellion (Numbers 16:3), when Korah and 250 leaders challenged Moses’ authority, the position that God had put Moses in. Korah and those with him were devoured by an earthquake. The incidents with Nadab, Abihu, and Korah highlight that God has the right to choose who will serve before Him; you cannot choose to serve God that way just because you want to (Hebrews  5:4). God chose Aaron and his descendants; no one else was acceptable.

Why?

The Aaronic line typified Jesus Christ, who is our High Priest (Hebrews 5:5). Jesus Christ is the only one who is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them (Hebrews 7:25).

Jesus Christ is the only one able, as High Priest, to enter into the Holy of Holies (not the physical tabernacle, but the throne room of God) to make atonement for us, not with the blood of goats, but with His own blood (Hebrews 9:11-12).

Jesus is the propitiation for our sins (1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:10; Romans 3:25). It’s not only paying the price for our sins; it’s also the restoration of the relationship with the Father. God the Father, in His great mercy, gave His own Son to reconcile us to Himself. 

John 14:6 says that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life. Acts 4:12 says there is no other name under heaven by which we may be saved.

Revelation 5:9 says the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders sing a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. . .”  And thousands and thousands and myriads and myriads of angels respond, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”

The institution of the worship of the golden calves in Dan and Bethel is synonymous with Jeroboam’s rule. And we often think of how he changed the time of the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles to the eighth month. But the ousting of the Levitical priests from serving the LORD under Jeroboam’s reign is likewise profoundly significant. God does not consider it a small thing to break the type. [Just think about Moses striking the rock (Numbers 20:8-13, 1 Corinthians 10:4, Exodus 17:6) and being subsequently prohibited from entering the Promised Land.]

It cannot be too strongly emphasized that we must obey God. If He is truly our God, then we must show that reality by doing what He says - regardless of how difficult it is, even if we don’t understand why - and we must obey with our whole heart. That’s what it means to be in a covenant with God where He affirms that He is our God and we are His people. There is One Way, One Atonement, One High Priest.

Sabbath, November 1st
The Joy of the LORD
for the joy of the LORD is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10b

This is one of those Biblical phrases which finds it way onto coffee mugs, wall hangings, and embroidered pillows. But over the years, I’ve looked at it and thought, “What does it mean? What is the joy of the LORD?” 

Why were the people grieved? They had assembled to celebrate the Feast of Trumpets. Nehemiah, Ezra, and the Levites were reading the Book of the Law to them and explaining its meaning. The people were so convicted of their sin. They, as a people, had just come back from captivity because of their sin. They must have felt that there were so many things in God’s law that they were not doing; it was overwhelming. And they wept.

But Ezra, Nehemiah, and the Levites told the people not to weep, not to grieve. Why? Was their sin no big deal? Were they just to shrug it off as of no account? No. Nehemiah 9:1 completely repudiates that idea. Just as soon as the holy days were over, the people assembled in sackcloth, fasting because of their sins. So why were they not to weep and grieve at this time? The people were told, “This day is holy to the Lord your God” and “the joy of the LORD is your strength.” 

What is the joy of the LORD?

Zephaniah 3:17 is a great companion scripture to Nehemiah 3:17:

The LORD your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with  loud singing.

We are given a parable, a picture, of what this might look like in the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-21. Specifically in verse 20, we see the father having compassion on his approaching prodigal, running to greet him, embracing him, and kissing him. So with that picture in mind, read Zephaniah 3:17 again.

The LORD your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with  loud singing.

God is mighty to save - but save from what? God will quiet you by his love - how did God show His love for us? God saved us from our sin - because He so loved us that He gave His Son for us (John 3:16).

And we look forward to that day, when our faith that God has saved us is made sight. What day is that? It is when Jesus Christ returns. What day will He return? The Feast of Trumpets.

Wait a minute! What day is it in Nehemiah 8:10 that they were no to grieve on because it was a day holy to the Lord? It was the first day of the seventh month, the Feast of Trumpets. They were no to grieve on this day because it foreshadows the Feast of Trumpets when Jesus comes back to save once and for all those who are His. On that day, according to 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, we’re changed from this carnal, perishable nature to spiritual, imperishable life, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump.

And then, on that day, we will say:

The LORD your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with  loud singing.

and we will weep and grieve no more. Our sin is gone. Our God has saved us. The joy of the LORD is our strength.


Sabbath, November 8th
Survive or Thrive
“. . . And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”  Esther 4:14

My mom had a hoya vine as far back as I can remember. It was in a pot in the corner, with its own trellis to climb. Then, in the summer of 1976, my dad took out the wall between the garage and the living room, more than doubling the size of the living room. He built a huge, beautiful fireplace in one corner and in the opposite end, with the leftover bricks, he built a planter for the hoya vine. That vine loved it. Not only did it spread out, it started blooming. The hoya vine has the most beautiful  flower clusters. It really responded to being planted in a new place.

I couldn’t help thinking about Mom’s hoya vine as we read through the book of Esther this week. Because of Esther’s natural beauty she was given the opportunity to be queen. Because of her graciousness and sweetness, she won the favor of the people around her. But it was because of God’s grace that she actually became queen. Once in that position, she was faced with a choice. When Haman’s plot to destroy the Jews became known, she could have stayed quiet. No one knew her ancestry. But Mordacai pointed out that it could have been just for this reason that God made her queen. “. . . And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14)

What incredible implications this has! There were enemies of the Jews. The Jews were in danger of being destroyed in the Persian kingdom. Nevertheless, our Sovereign God had made a way for them to be saved - through Esther’s position as queen. But she still had to step out in faith and say something. It wasn’t enough that she was queen; she had to take action.

The ramifications of this reverberate in our lives as well. Like Esther, some of the people around us may not know what we believe about God. Again like Esther, it might be more advantageous to us in the short term to be quiet about those beliefs. It might mean that we’re accepted by our peers; we keep our job; we are promoted; it could even mean that we save our lives. But that’s all short term. In the long run, it may be that we’ll find out that God put us where we are so that we could take a stand for Him, so that we could be a light in a darkened world, so that we could witness to someone who needs to know Christ and be saved. Who knows why we were put into the position we now occupy? Perhaps it was for such a time as this.

There’s a song Casting Crowns sings called “Thrive.” 

Here in this worn and weary land
Where many a dream has died
Like a tree planted by the water
We never will run dry (chorus)

So living water flowing through
God we thirst for more of You
Fill our hearts and flood our souls
With one desire

Just to know You and
To make You known
We lift Your name on High
Shine like the sun, make darkness run and hide
We know we were made for so much more
Than ordinary lives
It's time for us to more than just survive
We were made to thrive

Into Your word we're digging deep
To know our Father's heart
Into the world we're reaching out
To show them who You are (chorus)

Joy Unspeakable, Faith Unsinkable, Love Unstoppable, Anything is possible (chorus)

We were planted in a worn and weary land, much like Esther was. Because of her relationship to God, she was in a position to save her people. She was like Mom’s hoya vine that bloomed where it was planted.  Esther had the option of being quiet and just surviving the danger. She had the courage and faith in God to step forward and do more than just survive. She thrived.

What about us? God has planted you in a special place. Are you blooming, or are you just quietly killing time until Jesus returns? As Casting Crowns sings, “It’s time for us to more than just survive; we were made to thrive.”


Sabbath, November 15th
God’s Sovereignty
He makes nations great, and he destroys them; he enlarges nations, and leads them away. Job 12:23

As we study ancient history, we talk about the ebb and flow of different nations. They become dominant, and then sometimes they disappear from history. But we study history from the archaeological evidence left behind, perhaps some scrolls or cuneiform tablets, and from stories which have been passed down through the centuries. We don’t have a lot of details about the decisions they made or their attitude towards God. The supposition for the eventual fall of the Egyptian empire was their lack of iron. But Job says that it is God who makes nations great. It is God who destroys them. Likewise, Paul says, “For their is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God” (Romans 13:1).

Can you think of any nations which were destroyed, or lead away, by God? The obvious one is found in Exodus 5 - 14. It is the deliverance of the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt. The Hebrews did not fight their way out of Egypt with swords and spears. Egypt drove them out after the nation, and its gods, had been destroyed by ten plagues from God.

The other nation was Israel. Because of their apostasy towards God, God sent them into captivity at the hands of the Assyrians. 2 Kings 18:11 says that the king of Assyria led the Israelites away, but he was merely the tool God used to execute judgment on His faithless people.

So, if nations are in God’s hand, if He controls their destiny, then what should we do? Some take a fatalistic view; they shrug and figure that God’s going to work things out the way He wants them to anyway. They figure it doesn’t really matter what they do. But that’s not Biblical. Deuteronomy 17:14-20 talks specifically about when the Israelites would go into the promised land and eventually would want a king. They were not to choose a king who was a foreigner. Furthermore, the king was not to acquire many horses, many wives, or excessive silver and gold. The king had to write for himself a copy of the law, approved by the Levitical priests, and he was to read it all the days of his life. He was to obey God - if he wanted to continue long in his kingdom. 

There are many interesting details here. First, it matters who you put over you. If you have the ability to choose, if you don’t live in a dictatorship, then you have a responsibility to choose wisely. A wise choice starts with not choosing to put a foreigner over you. Someone who is not of your country is definitely not going to have your best interest at heart!  Implicit in this directive is the idea that you have to choose the best person for the job. You don’t choose the most popular guy or the one you think can win. You don’t even choose the one who sounds like he’s going to give you the most money - because politicians will do that. You choose the one who loves God and follows Him. Yes! You have to look at the values and actions of a person and judge how they line up against what God says is right and wrong. God has the right to set the standard. Deuteronomy 17:20 says that if the ruler doesn’t love God and doesn’t obey God, his reign will not continue.

Secondly, the ruler over you is not to acquire many horses - which is like amassing war machines to depend upon his own strength in battle instead of depending upon God. He is not to acquire many wives because they can lead his heart away from serving God. Thirdly, the ruler was not to accumulate much wealth for himself. He’s not supposed to be in that position for himself, for what he can get, to show people how important he is; he’s supposed to be the ruler of God’s people to lead them in a godly way.

If the ruler doesn’t follow God with all of his heart, Deuteronomy 17 says, then his kingdom will not continue long. Think about that. If the ruler is deposed, many times it means someone has to depose him. Whether it’s internal revolt or external conflict, it causes trouble for the people who live in that nation. There’s going to be unrest, economic turmoil, and problems for everyone who lives in that nation (2 Kings 21:10-15). There can be a lot of turmoil involved in a nation’s decline: Egypt is Exhibit A. So it matters enormously who the leader of the country is!

Another point to glean from this verse in Job is the concept that God is in control. If you live in an ungodly nation, you are fighting against the ungodliness around you, you are seeking God with all of your heart and what is right in His sight, then you can take heart. The ungodly rule over you will not last long. Now we know that the definition of “long” can vary. For instance, the son of Hezekiah, Manasseh, was the worst king in Judah (at least until the end), and he reigned for 55 years. He was so bad that God had him captured with hooks, bound in chains, and taken captive to Assyria. But once in Assyria, Manasseh repented and God restored him to his throne in Judah (2 Chronicles 33:10-17).

What you do matters. What a country’s leader does matters. But ultimately, God is in control. He is sovereign. God has a plan, and He working things out for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

Sabbath, November 22nd
I Know That My Redeemer Liveth
For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.” Job 19:25

Do you know this hymn: Redeemed! How I love to proclaim it!

We sing this song joyfully, triumphantly - at least that’s the mood, the emotion, portrayed by the music. But why? Why are we joyful? What does it mean to be redeemed?

You can redeem stamps at the store. One of the area grocery stores is doing a stamp collection/redemption promotion for cookware. Or you can redeem a coupon. If you give them a coupon, the store will take so much off your purchase. Or you can redeem a treasure note. If you take the treasury note to the bank, they’ll redeem it for its current accumulated value from the U.S. government.

Redeem means to buy back. When we’re talking of human beings in a spiritual sense, we’re talking about buying back from sin and from the penalty of sin, death.

Romans 6:16 . . . you are slaves of the one whom you obey . . .

Romans 6:18 . . . having been set free from sin . . .

Romans 6:22 . . . now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God . . .

Titus 2:14  . . . to redeem us from all unrighteousness . . .

Psalm 130: 8  . . . and he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

Revelation 1:5 . . .  who freed us from our sins . . .

Galatians 3:13  . . . Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law . . .(The law is not the curse!! The penalty of breaking the law is death, which is the curse of the law.)

Still, this spiritual concept can be beyond our ability to grasp and understand. So God, in His mercy, gave us the physical to help us to begin to comprehend what an incredible thing it is that He has done for us. It’s found  in Leviticus 25. If a person became very poor, sold their inheritance, but still was so poor that they had to sell themselves, there was still hope. In the year of Jubilee, the 50th year, all debts were canceled; the land inheritance reverted  to the original owner (in most cases - see Leviticus 25:29-30), and the people were released from their debts. But if you had to sell yourself at the start of that 50-year cycle, the Jubilee could see like a long ways away! However, there was another way to be released. God provided for the kinsman-redeemer, the relative closest to that person, to have the option to buy him back, to pay his debt - either for the land or for the person - so that he didn’t have to work as a slave. 

In Ruth’s case, Boaz acquired, as a kinsman-redeemer, the property of Ruth’s dead husband, his inheritance in Israel, and Ruth as well. It was truly a rescue for Ruth and Naomi because being a poor widow in Israel was often a dire life.

With this physical example to draw on, God tells us that Jesus Christ, the Holy One of Israel, is our Redeemer (Isaiah 54:5) and our Jubilee (Israel 61, Luke 4:18-19), redeeming us with His blood (1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 1 Corinthians 7:22-23; 1 Corinthians 1:31). Jesus, through His death and resurrection, has released us from the penalty we incurred when we sinned. We were slaves to sin, just like the person who sold themselves into bondage. We had to serve our sinful nature because we had no other recourse (Romans 5:12-21). But Jesus Christ bought us back from sin with His blood, that we might consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:11). Because of that, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:12).

But think about where this whole discussion started today. It started with Job and his statement to his three friends, those miserable comforters:

For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and at the last he will stand upon the earth.
And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
yet in my flesh I shall see God. (Job 19:25-26)

Job knew that His Redeemer lives, that he would stand again on the last day on the earth!

Zechariah 14:4   On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives  . . . and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two.

1 Thessalonians 1:10   . . . “ wait for his Son from heaven, . . . Jesus who delivers us fromt he wrath to come.

Job knew that after his skin was destroyed, yet in his flesh (at the resurrection) he would see God

1 John 3:2   . . . we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

1 Corinthians 15:42, 51-54  . . .What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. . . We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory.

I love the hymn, 

Redeemed! How I love to proclaim it!
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.
Redeemed through His infinite mercy.
His child and forever I am.

But there’s another hymn that I love. It speaks of my Redeemer, who ever lives to make intercession for me (Hebrews 7:25), who is seated at the right hand of God  (Hebrews 8:1).

 I know that my Redeemer liveth
and on the earth again will stand.
I know eternal life He giveth,
that grace and power are in His hand.

I know His promise never faileth,
the word He speaks, it cannot die;
Tho’ cruel death my flesh assaulted, 
Yet I shall see Him by and by.

I know my mansion He prepareth,
That where He is there I may be.
O wondrous thought, for me He careth,
And He at last will come for me.

I love knowing that Job had this knowledge. I love knowing that in the face of the suffering he was enduring, he still had the faith to believe, to have that blessed assurance of the Redeemer and the resurrection. 

Sabbath, November 29th
Darken Counsel
“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” Job 38:2

From “Kids Say the Darndest Things” (buzzfeed.com):
Q: Who was George Washington’s wife? A. Miss America

Q: Whatever happened to Adam and Eve? A. He sent them to Hell and then transferred them to Los Angeles.

Q: What do we learn from the story of Jesus turning the water into wine? A: The more wine we get, the better the wedding is.

From “Advice on Marriage from Kids” (wilk4.com):
"Marriage is when you get to keep your girl and don't have to give her back to her parents." -Eric, Age 6

How Does a Person Decide Whom to Marry??
"You flip a nickel, and heads means you stay with him and tails means you try the next one." -Kelly, Age 9

"No person really decides before they grow up who they're going to marry. God decides it all way before, and you get to find out later who you're stuck with." -Kirsten, age 10

Concerning the Proper Age to Get Married
"Once I'm done with kindergarten, I'm going to find me a wife." -Bert, Age 5

"No age is good to get married at. You got to be a fool to get married." -Freddie, age 6

What Do Most People do on a Date?
"On the first date, they just tell each other lies, and that usually gets them interested enough to go for a second date." -Martin, Age 10

"Dates are for having fun, and people should use them to get to know each other. Even boys have something to say if you listen long enough. -Lynnette, age 8.

When is it OK to Kiss Someone?
"You should never kiss a girl unless you have enough bucks to buy her a ring and her own VCR, cause she'll want to have videos of the wedding." -Allan, Age 10

"It's never okay to kiss a boy. They always slobber all over you...that's why I stopped doing it." -Jean, Age 10

"The law says you have to be eighteen, so I wouldn't want to mess with that." -Curt, age 7

The Great Debate: Is it Better to be Single or Married?
"It gives me a headache to think about that stuff. I'm just a kid. I don't need that kind of trouble." -Will, Age 7

Concerning why Love Happens Between Two Particular People:
"No one is sure why it happens, but I heard it has something to do with how you smell. That's why perfume and deodorant are so popular." -Jan, Age 9

"I think you're supposed to get shot with an arrow or something, but the rest of it isn't supposed to be so painful." -Harlen, Age 8

How Can a Stranger Tell If Two People are Married?
"Married people usually look happy to talk to other people." -Eddie, 6

"You might have to guess, based on whether they seem to be yelling at the same kids." -Derrick, age 8

What Do You Think Your Mom and Dad Have in Common?
"Both don't want no more kids." -Lori, age 8

What Would You Do on a First Date That Was Turning Sour?
"I'd run home and play dead. The next day I would call all the newspapers to make sure they wrote about me in all the dead columns." -Craig, age 9

On What Falling in Love is Like:
"Like an avalanche where you have to run for your life." -Roger, Age 9

"If falling in love is anything like learning how to spell, I don't want to do it. It takes too long." -Leo, Age 7

Concerning Why Lovers Often Hold Hands:
"They want to make sure their rings don't fall off because they paid good money for them." -Dave, Age 8

Confidential Opinions About Love:
"I'm in favor of love as long as it doesn't happen when The Simpsons' is on television." -Anita, Age 6

"Love will find you, even if you are trying to hide from it. I have been trying to hide from it since I was five, but the girls keep finding me." -Bobby, Age 8

"I'm not rushing into being in love. I'm finding fourth grade hard enough." -Regina, Age 10

The Personal Qualities Necessary to be a Good Lover:
"One of you should know how to write a check. Because even if you have tons of love, there is still going to be a lot of bills." -Ava, Age 8

Some Surefire ways to Make a Person Fall in Love with You:
"Tell them that you own a whole bunch of candy stores." -Del, Age 6

"Don't do things like have smelly, green sneakers. You might get attention, but attention ain't the same thing as love." -Alonzo, Age 9

"One way is to take the girl out to eat. Make sure it's something she likes to eat. French fries usually work for me." -Bart, Age 9

How can You Tell if Two Adults Eating Dinner at a Restaurant are in Love?
"Just see if the man picks up the check. That's how you can tell if he's in love." -John, Age 9

"Lovers will just be staring at each other and their food will get cold. Other people care more about the food." -Brad, Age 8

"It's love if they order one of those desserts that are on fire. They like to order those because it's just like how their hearts are on fire." -Christine, Age 9

What Most People Are Thinking When They Say "I Love You"
"The person is thinking, Yeah, I really do love him. But I hope he showers at least once a day." -Michelle, Age 9

How a Person Learns to Kiss:
"You learn it right on the spot when the gooshy feelings get the best of you." -Doug, Age 7

"It might help to watch soap operas all day." -Carin, Age 9

How to Make Love Endure:
"Tell your wife that she looks pretty even if she looks like a truck." -Ricky, age 10

"Be a good kisser. It might make your wife forget that you never take out the trash." -Randy, Age 8


We  laugh at the funny things that kids say and their perspective on life. The really funny thing is that sometimes we adults say things that are incredibly ridiculous and likewise showcase our limited perspective on life. But while the misguided confidence of a small child can be so cute, the same misguided confidence in an adult is viewed as disgusting arrogant ignorance.

Imagine how Job, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, and Elihu felt when God started His discourse to them by saying: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” (Job 38:2) Theologians have debated and disagreed over just whom God is addressing. But the reality is: No one has the understanding, knowledge, and wisdom of our God. No one can even approach it.

It’s a good thing to keep in mind the next time you find yourself embroiled in a controversial discussion. 

James 3:1 says that we are not to be many teachers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

Proverbs 18:7 says, a fool’s mouth is his ruin, and his lips are a snare to his soul.

Psalm 64:8 [The wicked] are brought to ruin, with their own tongues turned against them; 

Proverbs 17:28 Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent. (It’s the foundation for the contemporary maxim: it’s better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.)

But, in my opinion, Ecclesiastes 5:2 says it best: Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.

I don’t want to be considered a fool. I don’t want to be brought to ruin by my words. I certainly don’t want to be on the receiving end when God says, “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” I think I will try to do a better job of not being hasty with my mouth. I’m not seven years old, and it’s not cute.

Sabbath, December 6th
A Shield,  My Glory, and the Lifter of My Head
But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. Psalm 3:3

English is a funny language. For instance, “lifter of my head” seems to be very similar to “lifter of my hair.” But the reality is: they are much different. Lifting someone’s hair meant someone was going to be scalped - which usually meant death to that individual. Whereas lifting your hair is a negative thing, lifting your head can be a very positive thing. It means to be encouraged. It means to be empowered and strengthened. It has the connotation of giving hope to the hopeless. (Psalm 27:5-6)

Another piece of this verse is “my glory.” What is glory? According to the dictionary, it’s “high renown or honor” usually because of some great feat. So we say things like, “He just wanted all the glory for himself.” In other words, that person wanted the recognition that he was something special because he’d been able to do something extraordinary. He wanted to pat himself on the back - and everyone else to pat him on the back too.

The next piece of this verse, as we’re working backwards, is the shield. Some of the most powerful pictures in my mind, when I think of “shield,”  are the battle scenes in the Narnia movies. Those shields are not just dead weight. They are not just decoration.  They serve a crucial role, a first line of defense when attacked by an enemy force. A shield is an indispensable tool when you know you’re going into battle.

I love that David used such vivid images to depict who God is to us - when we have a relationship with Him. For where do you get your shield? Do you rely on your own strength? Do you count on the craftsmanship of the “shield” you have constructed for your defense? Or do you rely on God to be your shield? Nothing could possibly penetrate the shield of the Almighty! 

And where do you obtain glory? If you get honor through the things that you do, it counts for nothing. In less years that you would even imagine, the great things that you have done will be forgotten. So much for gaining glory. But the glory that is yours through a relationship with God is everlasting. Because you belong to Him, you are special; you have received His glory, which will never be tarnished or grow dim. Do you want high renown or honor or glory? Seek God first. Put His objectives and goals and agenda first in your life. Bring every thought into submission to Him. Humble yourself before the Lord and He will lift you up (1 Peter 5:6).

That brings us to “lifter of my head.” It’s so sad to see people who have no hope, who seek encouragement through material possessions only to find them meaningless in the end, or who are strengthened through drugs, alcohol, or the adulation of the people around them. Their heads are lifted up momentarily. Their encouragement is just a mirage. When God strengthens us and encourages us, we are filled with the courage and strength to accomplish His purpose in our lives.

The bottom line is this: If you have an intimate relationship with the God of the universe through His Son Jesus Christ, then you have a shield that is impenetrable, a glory that will endure, and hope that will lift your head with courage for the days ahead. If you don’t have a relationship with God, then you have a shield that will fail, glory that will  pass away, and you might want to hold onto your hair because that is seriously in danger of being the only thing on your head that will be lifted.

Sabbath, December 13th
Are You Listening?
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Psalm 19:1

Listen. Seriously. Close your eyes and  just listen for a minute. (Do it!!) What do you hear? When you pay attention to the noises around you, it’s amazing how much noise there is - most of which you just normally ignore.

But we’re not much better with our other senses. Think about someone around you right now. Don’t look at them. What color shirt are they wearing?

There is a pandemic of non-attentiveness in our world today and it’s getting worse. In our family, there has been a running joke about Mom rearranging things and Dad not noticing. But it happens to us all. Think about it. Have you ever been riding with someone and they miss their exit because they were so busy talking to  the passengers? Have you ever known anyone who drove right through a stop sign? They saw the sign; it just didn’t penetrate the conscious thought processes  enough to engage a different action. I know that for people who drive the same long route repeatedly,  they can start thinking about something and then suddenly shake themselves and think, “Wow! How did I get here? I don’t remember passing [whatever landmark comes to mind].” 

But the inattentiveness has deeper consequences. For instance, not only can you not think of what the last song was that we sang in the song service, but when we were singing it, you likely were singing the words without listening to yourself. You heard the words with half your brain, so to speak, and their message didn’t make it into your brain at all.

There are books designed to help you become more visually attentive - the hidden treasure books. But the reality is that life around, the heavens, and even the sky above is much more complex than even the hidden treasure books. That’s part of the message of Psalm 19:1 - The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.  We know that all of creation reflects how great our God is, how mighty He is, how fantastically awesome He is. His creative abilities are so expansive! He doesn’t sit down at a drawing board and try to figure out how to design a hummingbird or a blue whale. He speaks it into creation - and it’s good, very good, the first time. It’s not that He just gets the big details worked out and figures the little details will fall into place. The work “handiwork” in this verse means “fingerwork;” that is, the smallest details are not left to chance. God purposely attended to every detail. From galaxies to atoms, God designed them all.

But we humans blithely bumble through our lives and we don’t pay attention. We’re like Alec in The Phantom Tollbooth; we’d rather live in Illusions (what we’ve made up in our imagination) than in Reality. So we miss what all of creation around us is telling us about our great God.

But it’s really even more than just our inattentiveness. It’s more than the vast complexity laid out before us. It’s that we don’t know what we’re seeing. When my college choir went on tour to Switzerland my senior year, it was fun to stop at a McDonalds in Lucerne, Switzerland and see how something familiar could be so different in a foreign country. One of the freshman came back to the hotel, elated that he’d learned his first French word on the trip; he’d learned the word for “trash.” He knew it was the French word for trash because it was printed on the trash can in McDonalds. We laughed at him. The word was “merci.” Because it had been printed on the trash can, he assumed it meant “trash” instead of “thank you.” On a much grander scale, we can look at creation, at the heavens, and the sky above and completely not understand what they are saying to us about who God is, His greatness and majesty. We need a teacher, the Teacher, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, to make it clear to us.

We can spend our whole lives studying what creation tells us about God and still not have even scratched the surface of who God is and how great He is. But it would help if we’d start being a little more attentive today to the environment around us. We’d be easier to teach if we’d pay attention.


Sabbath, December 20th
Blessed!
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!  Psalm 33:12

When you think of God, our God, the God of the Bible, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Jehovah, what comes to mind? Do you think of creation? Do you think of flinging the stars to the far most corners of the night? Do you think of the platypus or the giraffe? Perhaps you think of a specific Bible story which displays God’s powers: Jonah in the belly of the great fish, Daniel in the lions’ den, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace, David and Goliath, Noah’s ark, or Elijah  on Mount Carmel. The Bible is full of history of God’s interaction with His people and His incredible power and majesty! I particularly like 1 Kings 18:20-40: Elijah’s confrontation of the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel. Elijah says to all the people, “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him” (1 Kings 18: 21). There was no doubt in the people’s minds who was God after “the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench” (1 Kings 18:38). The people’s response? They fell on their faces and said, “The LORD, he is God; the LORD,  he is God.” 

Is this the God you believe in? Do you believe that He exists and works  in the lives of people? Do you believe that He created everything around us? If you do, then this is an incredible blessing that is not given to all people. John 6:44 says that we don’t come to  God on our own; He draws us. Psalm 33:12 says that God is the One Who does the choosing. Our carnal mind is enmity towards God (Romans 8:7); we won’t choose God. It’s an act of God which brings us into a relationship with Him.

But God doesn’t just choose individuals. The Old Testament is the story of God’s interaction with one man, Abraham, who became a great nation. Because of the promise God made to Abraham, He saved Israel from Egypt. God brought them out of slavery and oppression to the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey. But it wasn’t because they were such a great people. Deuteronomy 9:6 says, “Know, therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people.” Israel’s rebellion and unbelief in Jehovah amazes us as we read the stories today! We wonder how anyone could see the ten plagues in Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea, the manna, and the water in the desert, and still continue to not be wholly devoted to God.

But the reality is that human beings, fallen, carnal humans are unwilling and unable to serve  God wholeheartedly. So God made another way. He sent His Son to die for those who would believe.  Jesus’ coming made it possible for us to be reconciled to God, and to receive the indwelling of the  Holy Spirit, changing us into new creatures. God chose us to follow Him. When we confess Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, and go  under the waters of baptism, we now have the power, through the Holy Spirit, to choose to follow God with all of our hearts. We are so incredibly blessed!

Sometimes we are hesitant to talk about the great things that God has done for us.  Sometimes we think that perhaps it’s going to sound like we’re exalting ourselves, that it will sound like we’re saying we’re really important so this is why God has done this for us. Sometimes we think that it’s not really provable; people will just think we’re making it up. But there are events which have happened in the lives of believers which cannot be explained any other way: God is actively working in the lives of those whom He has chosen. And we are incredibly blessed because of it!

Psalm 37:23-24 says, “The steps of a man are established by the LORD, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the LORD upholds his hand.” I like these verses. I like the assurance of knowing that even if I have difficulties and troubles in this life, God will not let me be as hurt as I would have been if He hadn’t been holding my hand. We see God’s people in difficulties all around us. We know that just being baptized is not a guarantee of a carefree, pain-free life. But we can’t let the trials and tribulations we experience cause us to forget that we are so blessed. We can’t let the pain and trouble cause us to doubt that God is with us through it all, upholding us with His hand. We can’t forget that we serve God, the Creator of the Universe, the One who can do anything - and that we are so very blessed to be God’s heritage, His possession, to belong to Him. I like how Jonah warns us from the belly of the great fish: “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs” (Jonah 2:8, NIV).



Sabbath, December 27th
A Clean Heart and a Right Spirit
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.  Psalm 51:10

How do you clean? Well, first you gather your cleaning tools together: Comet, Windex, Lysol, lemon juice, baking soda, soap, a scrubbing pad, a cloth, water, a bucket, or maybe a broom. The list goes on and on. Different dirt responds better to different cleansers. Sometimes, though, the stain is so bad, you decide it’s better to just cover it up. That’s when you paint over the walls, recover the chair, put down new linoleum. 

But what do you do when your heart is dirty, when it’s unclean? You can’t really use one of these cleansers because we’re not talking about the heart being physically dirty. We’re talking about a person who has not been faithful to God’s ways, who, in a word, has sinned and who is a sinner. Many people try to clean up the heart by changing their behavior. That’s kind of like painting over a pile of dog poop. It might look nice on the outside, but inside, it’s still dog poop. Nothing has changed. It has just been covered over. So what do you do to clean up the heart?

You can’t. But thankfully God doesn’t want a cleaned up heart. He wants a new heart. Why does it have to be a new heart? Jeremiah 17:9 says the heart is “deceitful above all things and desperately sick.” It can’t be just cleaned up; it needs to be new. David knew that. Look at how he starts Psalm 51:10: Create. This is the word that is used over and over in the Genesis account of the Creation. This is not recreating a clean heart. This is God giving a brand-new, clean heart. Ezekiel records God telling His people that He would give them a new heart (Ezekiel 35:25). How does He do that?

The word “create” means  to make new, to make brand new, but it also involves the idea of cutting. Immediately we think of circumcision and God telling His people (Jeremiah 4:4) to circumcise the foreskin of their hearts. It wasn’t enough to just go through the motions outwardly of worshiping God; they had to change inwardly too (Romans 2:9). Their hearts were cleansed by faith (Acts 15:9), and that faith was a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8); God is the One who drew them  to Himself (John 6:44).

When we put all of this together, the verse in Acts 2:37 makes a lot of sense. Think of the people who were standing, listening to Peter on the Day of Pentecost. When he told them that they had crucified the Son of God, they were cut to the heart. Remember that the word “create”  has the connotation of cutting? God was creating a new heart within those people through the hearing of the word (Romans 10:14-17).

So, guess what “renew”  means? It means to make new, but it also incorporates the idea of cutting. And what else did God say that He would give His people in  Ezekiel 36:26 besides a new heart? Yes, a new spirit. So Psalm 51:10 is employing a Hebrew literary technique, the couplet, in which the first phrase and second phrase are mirror images of each other to help the reader gain a more complete understanding of the meaning.

This idea of making something new by cutting  has passed into our language,  our idiomatic expressions, as well. Think of term “cutting a contract” or the phrase “cut a  deal.” It is a new contract, a new deal.

We, like David, desperately need a clean heart and a right spirit. So God “cuts a deal” with us. He gives us the faith to believe in the word that we hear spoken about His Son, who is our Savior. When we accept that contract to be His people, and for Him to be our God, we are given a clean heart and a right spirit. It’s an amazing gift from our God - and it’s even more amazing that God often chooses to begin that process through the hearing of the word (Romans 10:14-17). David knew that too. In Psalm 51:13 he says that when God creates that clean heart within  him, restoring unto him the joy of his salvation, “Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.” God works through the words that are spoken to others.  We have to talk  about who God is and what He has done in our lives. Maybe a good place to start is how he has created in us a clean heart and renewed a right spirit within us.