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Archive for the ‘Books of the Bible’ Category

Knowing God (His love is amazing Part 1)

Posted in Attributes, Bible, Devotional, God, Jesus, John, Knowing God, Love, Lover of my soul, Relationship with God, Walking with God, tagged , , , , , on November 17, 2010|

When I think of God’s love for me (for us), I want to sing . . .  mostly because there are some great songs today about God’s love for us that capture some of the essence of it.

One song we sing at church and is on the radio has the refrain, “Amazing love, how can it be that my King would die for me?  Another has a repeating refrain, “He love us, oh how He loves us.”  The repetition of the phrase over and over starts to really speak of the limitlessness of God’s love.  Another song puts it this way, “Your love is amazing, steady and unchanging.  Your love is a mountain firm beneath my feet.”  I don’t think there is much better to sing about than the love of God for us and the manifestation of that love in the person and death of Jesus.

Of course, we learn of the great love of God for us (that causes us to sing) from the words of scripture:

  • For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  (John 3:16)
  • In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.  in this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:9-10)
  • For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.  (Rom. 5:6)
  • But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  (Rom. 5:8)
  • But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,  not of works, lest anyone should boast.  (Eph. 2:4-9)

This love is like an avalanche that crashes over us.  It is no small thing, this love of Jesus, to be discarded as mere philosophy or self-sacrifice of one good teacher.  No, this act of love is so great that mere words cannot describe it, songs only hint at it, and pictures fall short of portraying it.  This love is an endless sea into which we pitch ourselves in desperation when we have nothing else, and there we find our Savior-God, our Kinsman Redeemer, has provided us a great yacht on which to travel in safety under His direction to see the greatest wonders of the universe, a life filled with adventure and purposeful challenges to make us like Him.  What other lover offers so much and has the resources and desire to deliver and never take back what He has given.

This is God . . . these are the mere edges of His ways.

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Knowing God (He hears and delivers)

Posted in Attributes, Bible, Crying out to God, Devotional, God, In times of difficulty, Old Testament, Prophets, Psalms, Relationship with God, the LORD, Walking with God, tagged , , , , , , , on November 15, 2010|

David tells us of his relationship with the LORD, I sought the LORD, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.  Psalm 34:4.  The things we learn about God from this verse are

  • God hears
  • God responds when He hears
  • God delivers us from ALL of our fears

One of the reasons God hears us is because He stays near to us.  God tells us in Jer 23:23, “Am I a God near at hand . . . and not a God afar off?”

Not only does God hear us, but He then does not leave us where we were.  God tells us, through the prophet Jeremiah, “Call to me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.  Jer. 33:3.  Some people like to say that this is God’s telephone number.

In Psalm 40:1-2, we read the Psalmist saying, “I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry.  He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps.”    We learns some additional things from this verse including:

  • I may have to wait for God (I should do so patiently)
  • God moves closer to me to hear me and is not unmoved by my cries
  • God delivers me from the places that I have allowed myself to fall
  • God puts me on a firm spot, a rock (Jesus is the Rock)
  • God gets me started on my way and makes paths for me to walk in

In thinking over the scriptures that I wanted to use for this post, I realized that the God who hears makes the best deliverer.  The last thing you want in your time of trouble when you are calling out to God is a God who has a hearing impairment.   On the other side of the coin, having a God who hears well, but ignores me or makes my deliverance a low priority on His list is also distressing.  Praise God that He hears well, sees well and desires to deliver me out of my trouble and calamity.   Blessed be the name of the LORD!

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Knowing God (Leader/Faithful Companion)

Posted in Attributes, Bible, Deuteronomy, Faithful Companion, Friend, God, Old Testament, Relationship with God, tagged , , , , , , on November 2, 2010|

As we continue in our endeavor to know God more, consider Deuteronomy 31:8:  “[The LORD] is the one who goes before you.  He will be with you.  He will not leave or forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.”

I find the following attributes of God described in this verse:

  • God as Leader (“goes before you)
  • God as faithful companion (He will not leave or forsake you)

God goes before me to lead me.  He shows me the way not by pointing to it on some map or instruction manual.  He leads me Himself.  This speaks of His personal and intimate involvement in my life.

God asks the rhetorical question (the answer is obvious)  through the Prophet Jeremiah, “Am I a God near at hand, . . . And not a God afar off?”  Jer. 23:23

In addition to leading me and going before me, God is a faithful companion along the way.  He will not leave me or forsake (abandon, desert, or give up on) me.  Because He wants to make sure that I know He is near, He repeats the promise “I will never leave or forsake you”  many times in the Bible.  He knows that I am afraid of this.

  • Deuteronomy 31:6 “Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.”
  • Deuteronomy 31:8 “And the LORD, He is the one who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.”
  • Joshua 1:5 “No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you.
  • 1Chronicles 28:20 And David said to his son Solomon, “Be strong and of good courage, and do it; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the LORD God-my God-will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you, until you have finished all the work for the service of the house of the LORD.
  • Heb 13:5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.“

No person can make this promise and ever hope to be able to keep it.  Having lost my father at age 3, I learned early that people leave and forsake us despite the best intentions.  Only God can make the promise to always be with me and really carry it out.  He alone is God.

To the only true God, my leader and ever faithful companion, be honor and glory forever!

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Prayer – Countering the Confusion that Accompanies Unanswered Prayers

Posted in Prayer, Psalms, Relationship with God, Unanswered prayers, Waiting on God, tagged , , , , on September 27, 2010|

In our last post, we looked at some of the ways our thinking can become confused when God delays in answering our prayers.  For a review, you can look at Psalm 77:7-9.  The remedy for the confused thinking illustrated in those verses is found in the verses that follow, Psalm 77:10-12.

In these verses, the Psalmist gives us 3 things we can do to get our thinking straight and fight the confusion that can enter our thinking when we have to wait for God to answer our prayers.

  • Remember what God has done.
  • Mediate on what God has done.
  • Tell of what God has done.

REMEMBER

In battling the confused thinking, I need to remember the work of the LORD, both in the history of mankind and in my own history, my own life.  This is a good time to remember that reading through the Bible from cover to cover every year or so will keep the works of God and the deeds of God in my memory.  Also, keeping a journal of what God is showing me and how He has answered my prayers can be a good way of keeping track of my history with God.  When I become confused in my thinking, I can review the records I have kept of how God is working in my life and the lives of my husband and my daughter and my family and friends.

MEDITATE

The Bible teaches that we must bring “every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”  By meditating on the Word and the works of God contained in the Word, I can train my mind to be obedient to Christ.  This is what is meant by taking every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.  My thoughts can run in all directions and question God and be confused over His nature, but as I meditate on the Word and purpose to allow Christ to dominate my thoughts, I can learn to bring my thoughts through the Word and make them obey what Christ has said and done.  It is a discipline that must be practiced.  It can only be done if I know what the Word says.  I must be willing to sit and consider what the Bible means and how it can be applied to my life.

TELL OF WHAT GOD HAS DONE

How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”  Isaiah 52:7.  It is important to learn of  what God has done and to mediate on what He has done, but it is equally important to tell others of what God has done.

When you become confused in your thinking because God has delayed in answering your prayers, and you are tempted to question God’s mercy, His faithfulness or His grace, consider the remedy for confusion discussed above:  Remember . . . Mediate . . . Tell!

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Prayer – Avoiding Confusion when the Answer Doesn’t Come Right Away

Posted in God, Prayer, Psalms, Relationship with God, Unanswered prayers, tagged , , , on September 24, 2010|

When I pray, I would like God to answer me immediately.  I would really appreciate visitation by a messenger of God to tell me that my prayer was heard and what God’s response will be.  That has not happened yet.  Sometimes, in His goodness and perfect timing, God delays in answering.  This time of silence on God’s part can lead to confusion on my part.  The Psalmist gives a good illustration in Psalm 77, verses 7-9 where he gives 6 statements which illustrate the potential confusion of thought in such situations.

  • Will the Lord cast off (reject me) forever? When God doesn’t answer right away, I can mistakenly believe He has forgotten me.  This is a mistake.  Consider what God says in Isaiah 49:15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child, And not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you.”  Just because God delays in answering, does not mean He has forgotten me.  I must remember His heart for me as written down for me in His word.
  • Will He be favorable no more? This is similar.  Because God has delayed, does it mean He will never do anything for me again?  Of course not.  God’s purposes towards me are all good.
  • Has His mercy ceased forever? The God of all mercy cannot change His character.  His mercy continues towards me.  It is a mistake to think He has suddenly changed His nature.
  • Has His promise failed forevermore? The promises of God are sure.  They will not fail.  As Paul tells us in Romans 3:4, “let God be true but every man a liar.”  Surely if God has promised to hear me when I call, He will answer.
  • Has God forgotten to be gracious? As with all of the confused thinking that results from unanswered prayer, this seems almost silly.  How would God forget to be gracious?  It is His nature, and that nature, the Bible teaches us, is unchangeable.  In Hebrews 13:8, we read, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
  • Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies? The final example of confused thinking resulting when our prayers are not answered right away by God is like the others.  God is merciful.  It is part of His unchanging nature.

In our finite thinking, we quickly jump to some ridiculous conclusions when God doesn’t answer our prayers immediately.  We will learn in the next post how to cure or treat this confused thinking by countering it with what we know about God.

As you continue steadfastly in prayer, consider whether your thinking has gotten confused.  Remember these things about God:

  • He is always the same.  He never changes.  Heb. 13:8.
  • His thoughts towards you are for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.  Jer. 29:11
  • If you seek God with all your heart, He will be found by you.  Jer. 29:13
  • Nothing can separate you from the love of Christ.  Rom. 8:39
  • His mercies are new every morning and great is His faithfulness.  Lam. 3:23

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INDEPENDENT NO MORE (Part 2)

Posted in Bible, Dependence on God, Devotional, God, Gospels, John, New Testament, Walking with God, tagged , , , , on August 31, 2010|

THE LIE OF INDEPENDENCE AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY

Independence from God is never equivalent to freedom.  It is in total dependence on God that we have freedom – freedom from sin, freedom from fear, freedom from worry and anxiety and most-importantly, freedom from judgment – the judgment of a holy God due sinful man.  All men are sinful.  The Bible teaches that none are righteous and that the wages of sin is death.  The only true freedom is that which comes from God.  Only He can promise a genuine and lasting freedom.

When I was sixteen, I obtained the first key to my “independence” from my parents.  I started working at the Jacksonville Pharmacy in Jacksonville, Maryland.  You might have a hard time understanding what a coup that really was.  Practically everyone in our loosely-defined town went into that Pharmacy at least once a week.  Some came in every day or evening on their way home from work.  It was a hub of activity and community news.

It was that $3.35 per hour that gave me my first real “independence” (so called).  From that point forward, I purchased my car, my gas, my insurance, my incidentals, etc.  I thought of myself as independent even though I was only 16 and still living at home.  I thought I was independent, but looking back now, I can see I really wasn’t totally free of dependence on my parents for the roof over my head, health insurance, food and other expenses of everyday life.

I can draw a parallel to my spiritual life.  During my college years, I turned from my relationship with God to assert my independence from His restrictions.  (I now see them as cords of love.)  I took on sin and tried to be its master.  I think you can guess how that ended.  It mastered me.  I sinned well and with frequency and depravity and thought little of God.  I had become “independent”, a place I would never recommend.  It was a place filled with emptiness and despair and darkness so heavy it can push all the air out of your lungs.  Independence from God was a place of slow death of my soul – a death that would have gone on for eternity, a death that would have separated me from God forever.  It is a law of nature that independence brings death.  What happens to the flower cut from the stem?  The branch cut from the tree?    Death.  Life is found and sustained only with connection to the vine.

John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” (Jesus speaking)

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Lessons from the Book of Job (Part 2)

Posted in Bible, Bible Study, Books of the Bible, God, Job, Old Testament, tagged , , , on August 16, 2010|

As I read the book of Job each year, Job reminds me about my God, why He is worthy, oh so worthy to be served.

  • Everything under heaven is His.  He even sets limits for Satan.
  • He controls all of nature – that which is above and that which is below.
  • None came before Him, and He has no end, so it is not possible that any will come after Him.
  • Whatever He wills – that shall be done.  None can resist or successfully oppose Him.  None of His purposes can be thwarted.
  • In His presence, I see the wretch that I am, hopelessly self-focused and self-seeking, lacking in power and sufficiency, totally dependent on my God.

Although He might despise me for my inadequacies, my frailties, my pathetic efforts to be independent, He doesn’t. Instead He extends His loving arms to hold and comfort me.  He washes me in His blood, and I am clean.

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Lessons from the Book of Job

Posted in Bible, Bible Basics, Bible Study, Books of the Bible, Devotional, God, Job, Old Testament, tagged , , , , on August 13, 2010|

The benefit of reading through the Bible each year from cover to cover is that every year, you must read the book of Job.  It is 37 chapters of men’s wisdom followed by 5 chapters of God’s.

When I read Job, I learn things about myself:

  • I am like Job’s friends, spending too much time trying to figure why another person faces severe or repeated suffering and trials.  I look for hidden sin in their lives.  I usually fail to consider the universal truth that God’s ways are far past my finding out or understanding.  How can finite man understand infinite God?
  • I am like Job.  I tend to think God is dealing unjustly with me.  I accuse God of being far from me, not remembering me, or forsaking me.  I am prone to think of God as a mere man, like me, capable of error, neglect, thoughtlessness.  I imagine He might need my insight, my vision, or my plans.
  • I am so relieved to hear from God.  After 37 chapters of the ramblings of those not much brighter than me, when I read the words, “Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind,” it makes my heart quicken.  His truth washes over me, verse after verse confronting me with my impotency and my insignificance in stark contrast to His omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence.

Like Job, my only response to the awesome power and knowledge of God is to mumble with my face in dirt, “I am vile . . . I have nothing to say.”

More on Job tomorrow . . .

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As the Deer Panteth

Posted in Bible, Devotional, Exhortation, Psalms, tagged , , , , , on August 2, 2010| 2 Comments »

Have you sung that song “As the Deer Panteth for the waters so my soul longeth after thee . . ?”   I was thinking about that line today, about the thirsty deer.  Does the deer drink and then go away for a week before returning to drink again?  Does the deer drink because it thinks the other deer are watching it?   Does the deer fill its cantine and walk away from the stream for a time in the desert only returning when it is near death from thirst?  No.  The deer comes daily and throughout the day and drinks when it experiences genuine thirst.  It stays near the stream and doesn’t wander so far as to not be able to get back when it experiences thirst.  It does not try to take care of future thirst or worry from where the next drink will come.  The deer relies on its heavenly Father to tell it when it thirsts and to provide a means to satisfy that thirst.

So what spiritual lessons is the Psalmist teaching me in describing this thirst like the deer?

  • It is a thirst that longs for and can be satisfied by the water. I should thirst for the living water, the Word of God, the Holy Spirit and seek to be satisfied by the Word and the Holy Spirit.  It is a natural law that appetite is developed by eating.  Thirst, too can be developed by drinking.  I should drink of the living water and thereby develop a thirst which it alone can quench.
  • It is a thirst that seeks quenching daily, hourly and as the need arises. I should seek to slake (ally or reduce by satisfying) my thirst daily and hourly, if need be, by coming to the font of living water, to Jesus who promises to satisfy my thirst.  I should stay close to the source of living water.
  • It is a thirst that has no other motive than to satisfy the basic need. When I come to the water to drink, my motive should be to quench my thirst, not to fulfill some man-made obligation or ritual or the expectations of others.
  • It is a thirst that trusts in the creator to provide a means of satisfying it. I must come to quench my thirst to the one who created it.  I must trust God to provide the means for satisfying my thirst and not seek to have that need filled somewhere else.

May you be like the deer who pants for the water brooks.  May your genuine thirst for God be quenched by the living water of the Word and fellowship with the One who promises to bring forth rivers of living water from the lives of those who believe in Him.

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More Proverbs on the Tongue

Posted in Bible, Books of the Bible, Genesis, God, Old Testament, Proverbs, Tongue, tagged , , , , , , , on July 26, 2010|

As we discussed in the last post, there is much to be learned in the Bible about the tongue, the lips, words, how we speak and related topics.  Last time, we looked at Proverbs 12,  and in Proverbs 15, we find more wisdom on this subject:

  • Gentle words can help diminish another’s anger  – “A soft answer turns away wrath, but  a harsh word stirs up anger.”  verse 1
  • Wise people use their speech to convey knowledge, but fools speak nonsense – “The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly, but the mouth of fools pours forth foolishness.”  verse 2   See also verse 7.
  • A those who speak health and benefit bring life, but those who speak perversion sap energy and enthusiasm – “A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.”  verse 4

The words that we speak and the way that we speak them can bring life or they can cause death and despair.  Shall we speak life or death.  It is a choice.  If we model our speech after our great God, we will speak life.  Consider the following examples:

  • Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.  Gen. 1:3
  • Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so.  Gen. 1:9
  • Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so.  Gen. 1:11
  • Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so.   Gen. 1:14-15.
  • Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so.  Gen. 1:24
  • Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!”  And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. John 11:43-44
  • Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other.  Matt. 12:13
  • He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”   And he arose and departed to his house.  Matt. 9:6-7

Beloved, may we speak as our master spoke, and bring life to our listeners.   May God teach us the power of the well-disciplined tongue, fully yielded and bringing forth only pure, sweet water and with that water, life!

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