Tag: What NOT To Do In Counseling/Coaching Others - Job 18-19

Job 18:3-4

Why are we counted as cattle?

Why are we stupid in your sight?

You who tear yourself in your anger,

shall the earth be forsaken for you,

or the rock be removed out of its place?

Tag:  What NOT To Do In Counseling/Coaching Others

The above words are the words of one of Job’s three friends.  These are the words of Bildad.  Bildad has one philosophy of life:  If you suffer, you must deserve it (it is because you have done some wicked thing in your life).   Bildad has NO room for any other explanation about Job’s condition.   This is Bildad’s second speech.  Remember, all of Job’s friends came to “comfort” him:

Job 2:11

Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him.

But, all three of them were completely wrong with their philosophy and “Biblical” counseling/coaching:

Job 42:7

After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.

You can’t study Job or understand Biblical counseling/coaching/discipleship without taking these two bookend verses into consideration.   They came to “comfort” and they did NOT speak about God!!   

All three friends made this about them, their philosophy, validation of that philosophy and the “counseling” experience.   Note the words of Bildad:

“Why are ‘we’ ...

“Why are ‘we’ ... 

His first foray into “comforting” Job is to challenge Job’s characterization of them, by Job.  Notice, in the next chapter, that Job, as the one receiving the counsel makes it about him, as well:

Job 19:2-4

“How long will you torment me

and break me in pieces with words?

These ten times you have cast reproach upon me;

are you not ashamed to wrong me?

And even if it be true that I have erred,

my error remains with myself.

Not only is Bildad’s philosophy and the basis of his approach wrong, his making this personal and making it about him and the one being counseled is as equally wrong ... and perhaps just as bad.   Hurting people don’t want to talk about the real problems (they are believing arguments in their heads that are against the “knowledge of God” ... 2 Corinthians 10:3-6).  Hurting people want to deflect.  So, if they can make it about the counseling experience or the counselor’s approach, they can stay away from the real issue(s) ... false belief systems they have that are not in obedience to faith in Christ.   I have counseled or coached or disciples hundreds of people.  I have learned that what Bildad does here (making it about his reputation and his words and approach), is never going to get the hurting person to talk about the real thing:  the Knowledge of who God is.  That is why when young Elihu shows up on the scene in chapters 32-37, he talks ONLY about God.  That opens the door in Job’s mind for God to come on the scene and talk about Himself and challenge Job’s “knowledge” of God and bring his arguments and imagination into alignment with God (38-41).  Don’t make the counseling experience about your words or approach.  Don’t debate the merits of your techniques.  Keep it about God.   

Tag: The King of Glory - Praise Him!! Psalms 24-26

Psalms 24:7-10

Lift up your heads, O gates!

And be lifted up, O ancient doors,

that the King of glory may come in.

Who is this King of glory?

The Lord, strong and mighty,

the Lord, mighty in battle!

Lift up your heads, O gates!

And lift them up, O ancient doors,

that the King of glory may come in.

Who is this King of glory?

The Lord of hosts,

he is the King of glory! Selah

Tag:  The King of Glory - Praise Him!!

King David is in the midst of a praise song in this Psalms.   He is rejoicing about God and God’s great care for him.  He wants the hearer of this song to reach up in praise to the Lord of Host - Yahweh Saba!!   The King of Glory is His name - Yahweh Kabod!!  Vine says this about the Hebrew word of “glory:”

Kabod refers to the great physical weight or “quantity” of a thing. In Nah. 2:9 one should read: “For there is no limit to the treasure—a great quantity of every kind of desirable object.” Isa. 22:24 likens Eliakim to a peg firmly anchored in a wall upon which is hung “all the [weighty things] of his father’s house.” This meaning is required in Hos. 9:11, where kabod represents a great crowd of people or “multitude”:

God is weighty!!   God exceeds our finite mind grasp of things.  Yet, David plainly tells us about Him.   He is “the Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle!”  He is the “Lord of Hosts.”   We can rejoice because God is not a little God.  God is a weighty God, beyond our total comprehension, but described in the Psalms so clearly and plainly for us to worship and sing praise.  

Tag: What is Your “Levite the Priest?” - Judges 17-21

Judges 17:13

Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will prosper me, because I have a Levite as priest.”

Tag:  What is Your “Levite as Priest?”

Many people carry around good luck charms.  They think such “additions” will cause their life to be safe; or blessed; or charmed.  A rabbit’s foot, a horse shoe, a cross around the neck, are all lumped into one class of “charms.”   Some sports stars are superstitious and don’t shave during a playoff run.  Base managers make a point to step over third base line when coming onto the field to talk to or remove a pitcher.   These types of approaches to life are fun and, often, harmless, but they should never be mixed up with spiritual faith in a risen God.   Spiritual faith is not religious sentimentality.   In the above verses we see that Micah thought he had it made.  He not only had made himself some idols to watch his house, he was able to hire a real live Levite priest to watch his idol.   The Levites were God’s chosen tribe to lead all spiritual worship.  So, for Micah to be able to secure one for his little house of worship was beyond excellent, in Micah’s mind.  The issue is that this was not God’s plan.  God had a system of faith and worship and it did not include your private worship center.   Especially with an idol you paid to have crafted from money you stolen from your mother (see earlier in the story).   Many people treat Jesus Christ in the same manner.  Coming to Christ, to some, is like a symbolic and lucky-charm type symbol of good luck and good fortune.  Most believers actually believe their lives will be better on earth because they come to Christ.   There is truth to the fact that when we make choices based upon God’s Biblical principles that we have a better chance,, in this broken world, to have a better life.  But, before you to too far down that path, read Job ... a couple of times.   Job was a righteous man and lost it all.  He would gain some back, but not until the real truth comes through:  God saves us for Himself and has the right to allow whatever He pleases into our lives and that, and that alone, glorifies God.   We are not to set up our own worship center.  God has a way for us to worship.  Our designer approach might work for our clothes but not our worship.  

Tag: God Makes Something Out of Nothing - Genesis 32-35

Genesis 32:10

I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.

Tag;  God Makes Something Out of Nothing

I can relate to Jacob’s prayer, above.   Jacob was a no body and nothing.  He traveled to another land because he (and, his mother, Rebekah) thought his brother was going to kill him (because Jacob stole both Esau’s birthright and blessing).   He left Rebekah to go to her brother, Laban.   Laban was a cheat and a thief.    Yet, God intervened in many ways to give Jacob a bounty of goods and family.   Jacob was blessed, despite his behaviors, condition and righteousness.  It was God who made him both righteous and blessed.  We are not always guaranteed both righteousness and blessing.   We tend to think so, however.  We think since God saves us, He will, in turn, gives us bounty and blessing.   Yet, that is not a promise in God’s Word.  It is a promise that those who come to Christ will be blessed.  But, we tend to the think of the blessing as material goods.   The Apostles are a great example of being declared righteous but not necessarily materially blessed.   Job is certainly an example of this truth.   When we think of Jeremiah we see the same truth. Here was a man who was certainly blessed and was tossed into a pit for his beliefs.   During the Reformation there are many practical examples of men and women who were tortured for their faith.  Material blessing does not always follow spiritual favor.  But, when it does, we need to realize it is God who gave it to us, not our degree, our work performance, our heritage, or our ingenuity.   God can give favor in many ways.  He does not have to.  When he does, be like Jacob and give thanks.  

Tag: Be Proud of Your Work ... “If ...” - Romans 15-16

Romans 15:17-20

In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God—so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ; and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation,

Tag:  Be Proud of Your Work ... “If ...” 

To hear the Apostle Paul be “proud” of his work, or himself, is quite striking.   Notice what Paul has written in other books:

1 Corinthians 1:29

so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

1 Corinthians 13:4

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant

Galatians 6:14

But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

That is why the first words in these verses are so powerful.  Paul begins by saying, “In Christ Jesus ...”.   Paul has no reason to NOT boast when he is speaking of the work he has done “in Christ” and how Christ, through His power, has enabled Paul to present the gospel.   Paul recognized the power of the Holy Spirit doing the work in his life.  He did not claim any special power.  He did not claim some special personality trait.  He claimed the power of the Spirit as the source of his work.   To the point he was willing to go other places to do the work “least he build on someone else’s foundation.”  Today, personalities build on the foundation of others to build their work.   Their personality, or programs, or “franchise tag line” gets the work done.   But, Paul, in Christ, built his work on the power of the Holy Spirit “in Christ.”   

Tag: Christ Has Compassion - Matthew 20-21

Matthew 20:6-7

And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’

Tag:  Christ Has Compassion

The above verses are taken from the parable of the workers in the vineyard.   Jesus tells the story to give us some insight about the Kingdom of God.   The story is about the Lord of the Vineyard (Jesus ... the Lord of the Kingdom) hiring workers (believers) to work the vineyard (the work in the Kingdom of God).   Some were hired in the morning and others later in the day.  They all would be paid the same, which is the point of the parable.  There is no special privileges or rank in the kingdom:

Matthew 20:25-26

But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,

The above verses, however, give us a glimpse into the character of Christ.   The story is emphasizing that the Lord of the Harvest is in total control of His resources. When the Lord of the vineyard saw the workers, later in the day, that were not hired, he hired them.   He then paid them the same.  The character we see in the vineyard is the character we see in Christ.   Christ sees mankind and has some compassion on them.  He sees that they had no purpose or job or direction.   The compassion of Jesus is amazing.  He has compassion on us.  This is a character of Christ:

Matthew 9:36

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Matthew 14:14

When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

Matthew 15:32

Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”

Compassion is the core of Jesus.  We can be assured that Jesus is motivated by compassion and love in all that He does.   We can rejoice that Jesus saw us and gave us compassion.  He gave us purpose and direction and made us part of the kingdom. 

Tag: God is Sovereign Over All the Nations - Isaiah 40-45

Isaiah 40:12-17

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand

and marked off the heavens with a span,

enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure

and weighed the mountains in scales

and the hills in a balance?

Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord,

or what man shows him his counsel?

Whom did he consult,

and who made him understand?

Who taught him the path of justice,

and taught him knowledge,

and showed him the way of understanding?

Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,

and are accounted as the dust on the scales;

behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.

Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,

nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.

All the nations are as nothing before him,

they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

Tag:  God is Sovereign Over the Nations

If we listen to the news in our country we can’t help but see the disdain politicians have for each other.  The “ruling class” fights for power and control.  Those “in the know” want to have power over the masses and want to pretend to be “carrying” for the people.  However, the nations are “nothing” before God.   To God, the nations “are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.”   They are a “drop from a bucket” and “are accounted as the dust on the sales.”  Think about that!!  The congress, the executive branch, the Supreme Court of these United States; all the power of China; all the leaders of the European Union; all the might of Russia; and all the arrogant perceived power of every despot across the globe are ALL but the DUST ON THE SCALE.  Every corporation board; everyone leader of every company; every pretend power in all parts of the world is but dust to God.   They don’t even amount the thing weighed on the scale.  They are merely dust to God.  To God, they are speaks on the scale.  The next time we worry about our form of government or those in the ruling class that pretend to be in charge and attempt to put one up and another down, let us remember that God is control.  He marks off the heavens and measures the dust of the earth and weighs the mountains and the hills!!  He teaches justice; knows all knowledge and measures all the water in the hollow of his hand.  This is our God.  He has got this!!!

Tag: Old Age vs God’s Wisdom - Job 15-16

Job 15:7-10

“Are you the first man who was born?

Or were you brought forth before the hills?

Have you listened in the council of God?

And do you limit wisdom to yourself?

What do you know that we do not know?

What do you understand that is not clear to us?

Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us,

older than your father.

Tag:  Old Age Wisdom Can Be Wrong

Eliphaz is now on the soapbox.  He is the third of Job’s friends to come to “comfort” him ... at least that was their intent back in the beginning:

Job 2:11

Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him.

However, comfort was soon abandoned and confronting took its place.  Eliphaz is about to attack Job and accuses him of not “fearing the Lord.”   The basis for Eliphaz’s insight is listed in the above verses.  Eliphaz is contending that Job is not the only one with wisdom in this company of five (Job, his three friends and another friend, not yet named).  In fact, Eliphaz claims they have wisdom because they are “old” ... gray-haired and aged ... old than your farther.”   Apparently, one of the three is a very old man.   Eliphaz, like many of the aged, thinks that their many years of observation, experience and situational education has equipped them to explain what is happening to Job.   How many times does this happen in a given day .... someone of the aged telling someone else what the “truth” is based upon their years of experience and observation.   The problem with all of Eliphaz’s wisdom, however, is that it is completely off based.  Job is a man of God, who fears the Lord.   God gives wisdom, not based upon the years of age, but upon those who fear Him:

Proverbs 9:10

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,

and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

Job, according to the first chapter of this book, is a man who feared the Lord.   All of us, like Eliphaz, can make the mistake that just because you have been around and have experiences and years, you have some kind of wisdom.  But, wisdom from God comes by fearing Him, not by growing old in front of Him.   Old age is a good teacher, but it does not guarantee wisdom.  Job was NOT in this situation because he lacked fearing the Lord.  God had allowed this to happen to Job for God’s purpose.   Eliphaz, like most of us who only “observe” life, made a wrong conclusion based upon his observations.   Observations do not pull back the veiled to see behind the curtain of what we simply see.  Observations can’t see the heart and the mind of mankind.   It would be great to use the old age God gives us to study the knowledge of God.  That is the old age wisdom we can learn from and depart to others.  Notice what young Elihu, who is sitting in silence, nearby, has to say, later:

Job 32:6-10

And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said:

“I am young in years,

and you are aged;

therefore I was timid and afraid

to declare my opinion to you.

I said, ‘Let days speak,

and many years teach wisdom.’

But it is the spirit in man,

the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand.

It is not the old who are wise,

nor the aged who understand what is right.

Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me;

let me also declare my opinion.’

Tag: Leadership Belongs to the Lord!!! Psalms 21-23

Psalms 22:27-28

All the ends of the earth shall remember

and turn to the Lord,

and all the families of the nations

shall worship before you.

For kingship belongs to the Lord,

and he rules over the nations.

Tag:  Leadership Belongs to the Lord!!

Before we can understand the above verses it might be wise to read what Isaiah writes to the nation of Israel as a message from God:

Isaiah 45:7

I form light and create darkness,

I make well-being and create calamity,

I am the Lord, who does all these things.

God is completely sovereign.  In fact, you can’t technically be 1/2 sovereign.  You are either completely sovereign or you are not at all.  In the above Psalm, David has been crying out to God for strength, mercy and help.   He is apparently in one of those places where God is the only one who can save him.   In the midst of those circumstances we have the truth that Isaiah talks about ... God creates the circumstances around us and is the ONLY one who can deliver us from them.   Yet, man still wants to be in control.   In our country Washington D.C. thinks it is control.   Lawmakers play silly power games with each other.   In Hollywood, the elite get together and pretend they are in control.    In homes, father and/or mothers think they are in control ... or, worse, teenagers think they are in control.   In churches, dominating clergy think they are in control.   Yet, in reality, as the above Psalm states:  “For kingship belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations.”  

Tag: Our Weakest Channels - Judges 12-16

Judges 16:15-17

And she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and you have not told me where your great strength lies.” And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death. And he told her all his heart, and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother's womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.”

Tag:  Trials and Temptations Come Via Our Weakest Channels

Samson has once again falling in love with a woman.   This time it is Delilah.   She is a prostitute that has caught his eye.  She is hired by the Philistines to find out the reason behind Samson’s great strength.  On three previous occasions, Samson lies to Delilah about his secret powers.  This time, Delilah uses the oldest line in the book ... and he falls for it.   If, on the other hand, he had Biblical love for her he would have been comfortable saying, “I have made a vow to God.  Here is the vow ...”.  But,  this was not Biblical love.  Samson simply loved himself and wanted what he wanted from Delilah.    This is how temptation works. The struggles that are presented to us are not presented where we are strong.  They are presented were we are weak.  Satan attacks our weak points.  When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, He was tempted where His human body would be the weakest.   Note:

Luke 4:1-3

And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”

Jesus’ body would have been hungry. That is a natural part of man’s makeup.  Satan tempted Him were He would be the weakest.   Samson was tempted in the area of sexual companionship.   That was his weakness.   He would succumb to her tricks and would be taken captive and, eventually, lose his life.  God gave Samson strength to serve Him.  But, Samson used it as mere toy to play with.   He was thinking sport and God was thinking sacrifice and service.   We all have weaknesses.  God can protect us when we lean into Him and trust Him.  But, temptation comes where we are the weakest.  And, the weakest area may be intended our greatest strength.  

Tag: Miracles in Business - Genesis 28-30

Genesis 30:37-39

Then Jacob took fresh sticks of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the sticks. He set the sticks that he had peeled in front of the flocks in the troughs, that is, the watering places, where the flocks came to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink, the flocks bred in front of the sticks and so the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted.

Tag: Miracles In Business

Jacob was a shewed business man.  He had struck a deal with his uncle (Laban ... a sleazy business man) that he would get to keep any lamb that was black or spotted.   Laban gave him all the misfit animals but then made him separate them from his own flock by a three day journey.  In Laban’s mind that would make it impossible for Jacob to grow his flock since the speckled and spotted flock he gave to Jacob would not be able to breed with his flock. However, that is not what happened.  We have no idea what Jacob was doing in the above passage but apparently God used this method to increase Jacob’s share of the flock.  The tricky Laban was outdone by the shrewd Jacob.   We have no idea if what Jacob did was scientific or sleazy.   What we do know is that God was wanting to bless Jacob (He had promised to do so in Genesis 28:10-17).   God choose to use this method to do so.  It is not the science behind what Jacob did, it is the God of heaven behind what Jacob did.  God grows business.  God makes our work ... work!!  We have to be willing to trust God and to rely upon God in our business dealings.  Jacob is probably not the best man to turn to in regard to integrity or character.  Yet, we know that God will build a nation of Israel around him, as he eventually changes his name to Israel and uses his twelve boys as the tribes of Israel.   God works miracles in business to grow what He wants to grow.   Jacob used some type of genetic technique that God used as a tool to bless him.   God does miraculous works in business.  We simply have to do our part and ask for God’s blessings.   The blessing for Jacob’s work came in chapter 28.  The work still had to be done in chapter 30.  But, it is God who gave the increase.  

Tag: Gifts Are To Be Used - Romans 12

Romans 12:6

Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith;

Tag:  Use The Gifts God Gives Us

All Christians, accounting to the Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12-14 passage, have been given gifts by God.   The Greek word for these “gifts” is “charis,” or “grace.”  God’s grace has giving us gifts to be used in the service of the King and the community of the Saints.  

These gifts have been given to us in the “measure of our faith that God has assigned:”

Romans 12:3

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

It should be noted in the Romans 12:6 versed that the phrase, “... let us use them,” does not appear in the Greek.  Note the NIV version of this text:

Romans 12:6

We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith.

The ESV has added the “let us use them” for emphasis, because that is what the Greek implies throughout the remaining portions.   The point that Paul is making is that we have (as believers) been given gifts to use in the service of the community.   We are to “minister” to one another.   Those gifts are given to us, not to worship, but to use “in” our worship.  We have been equipped to serve.  We are not to sit on these gifts as though they are a treasure.  We are to use them as tools to serve the King and His children.   

Tag: Bad News Can Be Good News - Matthew 17-19

Matthew 17:22-23

As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed.

Tag: Bad News Can Be Good News

The disciples are informed, by Jesus, that He is going to be killed and then raised again, after three days.  This is not the first time He has told them this message.   However, the message was the very foundation of the “good news” of the Gospel.   Yet, when they heard it, they were “greatly distressed.”  Isn’t that true for most of us?  When something happens we don’t always see the bigger picture!   In order for our salvation to take place and be provided for, someone had to die. We are sinners.  The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).   Someone has to pay for our sins by dying:  Us or someone else.  Jesus was willing to die, defeat death (by raising from the dead), whereby paying for our sins and giving us the same resurrected life, in Christ.   This message by Christ is bad news that is good news.   The disciples would not fully grasped it until much later.  But, they would grasp it.  They would see the victory we have in Christ.  Note Peter’s understanding, after the resurrection:

1 Peter 1:3-4

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, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,

Christ’s death, in Peter’s words, gives us hope for the future.   Sometimes the worse news is the best news.  

Tag: The World Does Not Get It! - Isaiah 34-39

Isaiah 36:13-20

Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” Do not listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”

Tag:  The Word Does Not Get It!!

When it comes to Sunday, many seem to get the fact that God is important. When it comes to crisis in our lives, many seem to want to turn to God.  But, when Monday comes, many just don’t get the fact that God is still in charge and God still has control and God still has power.   In the above portion of Isaiah, we see the military leader of Assyria come to the people of Israel to warn them about their impending doom by his army.  He wants them all to hear his voice as he brags about how his army has killed all the other nations’ “gods.”   Rabshakeh is his name, or official title, we don’t know which. But, he is like most of our politicians today.  He simply thinks “GOD” is a “god” of many.  He simply thinks his power deals with the “gods” of this world, because Assyria is so powerful.  Earlier he actually claimed God (Yahweh) was using him and his army on a divine mission of some sort:

Isaiah 36:10

Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me, Go up against this land and destroy it.’”

That is just odd logic.  In one breath he says he is on the commission of the Lord God (Yahweh) and in the next breath he states the above monologue to everyone in the city of Jerusalem that he is there to destroy Yahweh!   This is the logic of the world.  God can be their advantage in one breath an the focus of their destruction in the next.   The world simply does not get God.   In his Word it is plain. But, in the World it is hidden.  Only God can open their eyes to really see the truth of God’s power.  The truth is God is using the Assyrians.   He will also destroy them:

Isaiah 37:5-7

When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have reviled me. Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’”

And, guess what happen to King of Assyria? 

Isaiah 37:37-38

Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh. And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword. And after they escaped into the land of Ararat, Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

In the end, God wins. The World does not get it!!!

Tag: Steps and Sin - Job 14

Job 14:16-17

For then you would number my steps;

you would not keep watch over my sin;

my transgression would be sealed up in a bag,

and you would cover over my iniquity.

Tag:  Steps and Sin

Yesterday day I walked 3,226 steps.  I know this because my watch keeps count.  I am supposed to walk over 10,000 steps each day.  My wife does this easily.   I do not.   Today, in our society, we are obsessed with steps.   We want to know how many.  In the above text, however, Job is concerned that God not only knows how many, but what sins may have occurred along the way.  In my 3,226 steps, what sins did I commit?  And, what did I God do with those sins?  Note what Job earlier mused:

Job 10:14

If I sin, you watch me

and do not acquit me of my iniquity.

Job 7:20

If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind?

Why have you made me your mark?

Why have I become a burden to you?

Job 13:26-27

For you write bitter things against me

and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth.

You put my feet in the stocks

and watch all my paths;

you set a limit for the soles of my feet.

That was Job’s thoughts earlier about his steps and his sins.  But, in the top verses, Job is now dreaming. He is hoping for a time that God would watch his steps, but not to collect sins to punish, but to watch him for protection and to take any sins and seal them in a bag and never bring them up again.  To Job this is a dream.   For today’s believer, Job’s dream is our reality:

Hebrews 8:12

For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,

and I will remember their sins no more.”

Ephesians 4:30

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

God HAS, for those who put their faith in Christ for their salvation, and not their own efforts, sealed our sins.  

Psalms 103:12

as far as the east is from the west,

so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

David, in this Psalm, knew something Job only dreamed about.   Today we can rejoice because Job’s dream of steps and sin is true.   God counts the steps of the believer (that shows intimate knowledge) and yet does not hold those steps against us.  Rejoice!!!

TAG: The Fear of the Lord is Sweet - Psalms 18-20

Psalms 19:9-11

the fear of the Lord is clean,

enduring forever;

the rules of the Lord are true,

and righteous altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold,

even much fine gold;

sweeter also than honey

and drippings of the honeycomb.

Moreover, by them is your servant warned;

in keeping them there is great reward.

Tag:  The Fear of the Lord is Sweet

If we find that the fear of the Lord is burdensome to us ... too hard ... to complicated ... to much to endure ... we have missed the boat on the true meaning of what fearing the Lord really means.  The writer of this psalm has outlined for us the true meaning.  Note;

1. The fear of the Lord is “clean.”   This Hebrew word for “clean” can be used for chemical cleanness, physical cleanness and/or ceremonial cleanness.  The point the writer makes is that the fear of the Lord is the opposite of polluted or filthy ... everything the world’s system is.  Confusion is not part of clean.   

2.  The fear of the Lord is “true.”   In Hebrew poetry each line compliments or says something about the previous line. In the first line it is the “fear of the Lord” (and it is clean) but in the second line it is the “rules of the Lord,” (and they are true).  When we fear the Lord we are acting and living according to His rules.  That is something to rejoice over because those rules are “truth.”  Truth is not confusing.  

3.  The fear of the Lord is “sweet.”   The rest of the passage goes on to declare that the fear/rules of the Lord are sweet, and greater than gold.   That is a pleasant word picture. If we are viewing the fear of the Lord or the rules of the Lord as cumbersome or burdensome, we have missed the boat on what God is doing in our lives. 

4. The fear of the Lord “warns” us of certain peril.   This last aspect of the fear of the Lord might be the sweetest of all. By this fear of the Lord seen via the rules of the Lord we are warned about dangers and have a great reward as a result. 

We ought to embrace the fear of the Lord and come to understand the benefits of obeying His rules.  They are guiding principles to keep us safe and put us in the place of great reward.  That reward might be on this side of death, but it will assuredly be on the other side of death.  

Tag: God is Peace - Judges 6-11

Judges 6:22-24

Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, The Lord Is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.

Tag:  God is Peace

In the above passage we see the reaction of Gideon toward the discovery that he has come face to face with Yahweh.   Like most, seeing God face to face is not a good thing.  We have many examples of that in Scripture.   We have Isaiah, Moses, Abraham, Paul, Peter, John and many others who have an encounter with God.  Here we read that Gideon is frightful that he is in the presence of God.  Anyone who comes face to face with God ought to fear.  But, the truth we find in this passage is how God responds.  Yahweh says, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.”  If you want to hear something from God, these are the Words you want to hear.   Because we have been justified by Christ we can rejoice in this same truth.  

Romans 5:1

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Remember, without God’s work in our lives we are at war with God:

Romans 8:7-8

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God

We can rejoice in the peace that God give us.  It is not, however, simply the absence of a war with God, it is the presence of God with us.  

Tag: God Gives Blessing with Wealth - Genesis 24-27

Genesis 26:12-13

And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him, and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy.

Tag:  God Gives Wealth

The above story is a great example of how God works in the lives of those He calls and uses for His service.    He does not make all of His servants rich.  Note John the Baptist:

Matthew 3:1-4

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord;

make his paths straight.’”

Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.

Living in the wilderness and eating wild honey does not strike the same as a fancy hotel with room service.   God chooses to give some wealth and not others.  But, note what the riches man of his time wrote about wealth.  King Solomon had more wealth than anyone and he said the following:

Proverbs 10:22

The blessing of the Lord makes rich,

and he adds no sorrow with it.

Ecclesiastes 5:19

Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God.

Ecclesiastes 6:2

a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous evil.

Isaac, in the Genesis passage, above, was blessed by God.   The point to take from this passage is that wealth and blessing that comes with it can only come from God.  Many people can make money.  But, “blessing” with the money comes from God.  We are to rejoice and thank God for those blessings.  

Tag: What Does a Renewed Mind Look Like? Romans 12

Romans 12:2

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Tag:  How Do We Know We Have Renewed Our Mind?

In the above text we read that we are to develop a changing mindset ... one quite different than the world.  The believer is to “renew” their mind and make sure it is NOT conformed to this world’s way of thinking!!   Paul outlines how to do that in his letter to the church at Corinth.  He tells them that the arguments and lofty (imaginative) opinions they have may often run contrary to God’s way of thinking.  When that happens we have to use the power God gives us to “destroy” that old mindset and rebuild a new mind, fashioned after the “knowledge” of God.  Note:

2 Corinthians 10:3-5

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

In the above text from Romans, we see what a new mind looks like.  Paul says that if we renew our mind we will be able to “discern” what is “good and acceptable and perfect.”   The mind that is changed by God’s Spirit via God’s Word is a mind that is able to discern and make choices that are:

1). Good - this is the Greek word agathos.  It is something that is produced by Spirit - one of the fruit of the Sprit is “goodness.”  It means that which is gentlemanly or proper conduct.  

2). Acceptable - this is the Greek word euarestos.  Paul just used this word in Romans 12:1.  It states that since we have been justified by God we present our bodies as “living sacrifices, holy and acceptable” to God.   In order to present our bodies holy and acceptable we have to know and discern what that is.  It is making choices that please God.   

3). Perfect - this is the Greek word teleios.  It means that we are aiming for “moral excellence.”   We are not willing to accept a knock off brand of our faith.  

When we have a renewed mind we have discernment and that discernment is evident by us making choices that demonstrate proper conduct based upon a desire to be pleasing to God via a walk that is morally excellent.   That is a renewed mind.  This is what is happening inside of us by the work of the Spirit as we yield to Him in our lives.