Accept Your Life Story For His Glory - Acts 21-22

Acts 22:27-29 (ESV)

So the tribune came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” And he said, “Yes.” The tribune answered, “I bought this citizenship for a large sum.” Paul said, “But I am a citizen by birth.” So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately, and the tribune also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him.

In the middle of Paul being persecuted by the Jews in Jerusalem, he was also about to be flogged with whips by the Roman soldiers.   In Rome, to find out if someone was telling the truth or to discover from them some information, flogging was the approach. It would be something like modern day water boarding.    Paul, however, claims his Roman citizenship and that was a game changer for these events.   Apparently, Paul was a Roman citizen.  He was born in Tarsus.  Anyone born in that city would be a Roman citizen.  But his father would have had to be a Roman citizen, as well.  This is was a huge advantage in the Roman controlled world.    Paul would use that right to avoid this flogging, but to also, later, ask for a hearing with Caesar, the emperor.   God had already weaved into Paul’s life these privileges, to further the Gospel message.  God had designed his birth, his education, his salvation, and all of his circumstances.  We often fret over what has happened to us.  Yet, God weaves these things into our lives and uses them to put us in the exact position God needed us to be to accomplish HIS PLANS.  And that is the key:  We are here for HIS plans, not ours.   Paul embraced his past in order to impact his present and future use for God.  That is the key to living a life for Him and His glory.   Don’t fret your past. Don’t forget your past.  Don’t regret your past.  Embrace the events God has given you in your past to equip you for your present use by Him for His glory.   Joseph was put into a pit, accused of being a rapist, sent to prison and forgotten.  Yet, he was used by God and put as second in command of all Egypt.  Daniel was carried away captive and put into a lions den and yet spoke into the ears of multiple kings.   Nehemiah was taken captive and became a cupbearer for the king.  He had to taste the wine before the king drank it to make sure the king was not drinking poison.   Yet, he became the construction manager for the rebuilding of Jerusalem.   The stories in the Bible go on and on like this.   God uses our circumstances for His glory.   Embrace what God has allowed in your life in order to bring Him glory with your life.  

Worth Is The Lamb - Revelation 1-5

Revelation 5:11-12 (ESV)

Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice,

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,

to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might

and honor and glory and blessing!”

One of the many scenes of John’s visions of heaven is stated in the above two verses.  This is one of many where we read about those praising the Lamb of God.  Jesus died and rose again and this is the culmination of God’s plan, the Son’s sacrifice and the Spirit’s intercessions.   The entire plan is for all the earth and all creatures to cry out, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain.”  That is our constant battle cry.  When we reach heaven we will be singing that with all the saints and heavenly creatures.  We might as well get started now!! Worthy Is The Lamb!!

The Intimacy of Love - Song of Songs 1-2

Song of Songs 2:5-7 (ESV)

Sustain me with raisins;

refresh me with apples,

for I am sick with love.

His left hand is under my head,

and his right hand embraces me!

I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

by the gazelles or the does of the field,

that you not stir up or awaken love

until it pleases.

Since the book of Song of Songs is a collection of poems, the interpretation of it can get quite difficult.  By calling it the Song of Songs (1:1), it is saying it is the best ever.  In our modern day vernacular we would say this song is the G.O.A.T. (Greatest Of All Time).   It is a series of poems said back and forth between a woman (main speaker) and her man. Throughout the book, they seem to come quickly together and then separate just as fast.  They seem to be looking for each other, then find each other and then lose each other again (sounds like a modern day married cycle).  The book is about love.  It could have been a metaphor for God’s love for Israel (the traditional Jewish interpretation). It could be a picture of Christ’s love for the church (the traditional church interpretation).  It could just be a love story and collection of love poems to show us the beauty and value of love.  

In the above few verses we read about this couples desire for each other and a warning to others about any interaction with them.   These  two are madly in love.  The visuals of raisins and apples brings in the senses of smell and taste.  The visuals of hand under head and arms embracing brings in the sense of touch.  The warning to those on the outside to not disturb the couples love. The speaker uses the picture of gazelles and does, invoking the sense of sound.  It is a warning to “be quiet.”    Any noise disturbs resting gazelles and does.  This is a picture of great intimacy of the two lovers and they are not to be disturbed.  We have to remember that this is “poetry” literature.  The picture these words paint is the beauty of intimacy and the way the senses play into their expression of love.   Their love is not to be disturbed by any outside entity. In the above verses the outside entity is referred to as the “daughters of Jerusalem.”   The speaker (the main woman) does not tell us who this is, but will use the phrase over and over in the poem.  It might be wise to not try to identify what the author leaves intentionally ambiguous.  But it might be that the woman is simply saying, “Don’t disturb the intimacy of love with the noise and people of this world.”   The point is, intimacy is to be left as intimate between the two.  Let the two of them express their love.  All others have no part in the love of the two.  This conjures up one of the first instructions God gave about marriage in Genesis:

 Genesis 2:24-25 (ESV)

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

Love is to be expressed and when it is the senses are invoked and allowed to be full in all measure.   However the above verses are interpreted, the lesson is the same: Love is powerful and when expressed the right way, is beautiful.  

Pray In Vulnerability - Psalms 140-142

Psalms 142:6 (ESV)

Attend to my cry,

for I am brought very low!

Deliver me from my persecutors,

for they are too strong for me!

There is probably no one who has escaped the feelings of being vulnerable.   There are few who cannot relate with the above verse.   If you the few, stop reading now.    But if you have ever felt overwhelmed by the persecution  of someone, the oppression of groups, or movements, you know how valuable it is to have someone on your side.  You know how valuable it is to have someone cover you.   Those who persecute others can be cruel and overpowering.   In the above psalm we have David crying out to God for protection.  He knows he can’t protect himself.  He knows he needs the God of the universe to rescue, support, cover him.    He is probably reminded of what he wrote in another song:

Psalms 91:3-4 (ESV)

For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler

and from the deadly pestilence.

He will cover you with his pinions,

and under his wings you will find refuge;

his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.

In Psalm 142 he is said to be in a cave.  No doubt Saul and his army are looking for him.   Saul is jealous because God has designated David, not him, to be king over Israel.  That jealousy drove him to madness.   David, who killed a giant with a stone, is fearful.  His solution is to turn to God in prayer.  That is a great solution.  

Praise God Well!! Nehemiah 5-9

Nehemiah 7:1-2 (ESV)

Now when the wall had been built and I had set up the doors, and the gatekeepers, the singers, and the Levites had been appointed, I gave my brother Hanani and Hananiah the governor of the castle charge over Jerusalem, for he was a more faithful and God-fearing man than many.

What do we do when some great thing has been done in the name of God?  We praise Him.  That is what Nehemiah did after the wall was building.   In the previous chapter here is what we read about finishing the wall:

Nehemiah 6:15-16 (ESV)

So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. And when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem, for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.

The wall gets finished.  Something for God is completed.  When that happens, the enemy fears, the people of God, praise!   That is an awesome thought and an awesome practice.  We need to be willing to praise God for His great work, through us.   And who did Nehemiah turn to for the praise?  His brother Hanani and the governor of the Jerusalem castle, Hananiah.   Why?  Because they were God-fearing men.  This is how our work should unfold.  This is how our praise should be directed.   

Care For Those Hurting - Deuteronomy 23-25

Deuteronomy 25:5-10 (ESV)

“If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel. And if the man does not wish to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to perpetuate his brother’s name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’ Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him, and if he persists, saying, ‘I do not wish to take her,’ then his brother’s wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face. And she shall answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’ And the name of his house shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal pulled off.’

This might seem confusing to the Western world. But the above instructions were from God, but also practiced by many cultures during the days of Moses, but still true from some cultures today.  This section of Deuteronomy is all about how people are treated by one another, based upon God’s holiness and moral character.  There are several lessons for us in the above instructions:

1. God is always concerned about the welfare of women.  It might not seem so to some, but God continues to elevate women.  In those days if a woman lost her husband she had no one to care for her.  The above law makes sure the widow is cared for. 

2. The name of a man in the family was scarred.   This allows any child born to the woman as a result of the brother-in-law marrying her to carry on the family name. 

3. The land was very important to make sure it was kept in the family with fidelity.   Marrying the brother-in-law would assure the family land stays in the family.   

4. The law was based upon a moral code.  The brother-in-law that rejected this moral code was put to shame in the public square.    We are not told what the woman could do after this public shamming.  But it would be assumed she could then marry outside the family.  The but the land and the name would be put in jeopardy, if that were true.   

This all brings to our attention what Paul wrote to Pastor Timothy:

 1 Timothy 5:3-8 (ESV)

Honor widows who are truly widows. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God. She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day, but she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives. Command these things as well, so that they may be without reproach. But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

God is concerned about those who are hurting and wants them cared for by those who are not.