I used to sleep through anything - Jonah

I am writing this blog at 2:30 a.m. I can't sleep. I was awoken by a heart for a marriage and for a brother that I may have offended dung the day. So, I woke to read, write a short note to those and to ask God to intervene in their lives. Maybe it is my old age but I can't seem to sleep like I used to. I used to be able to let things go and fall so deep into a sleep I didn't know anything was going on around me. Now I wake if I think we are out of crackers in the cupboard. I would like to think it is a super sensitivity to spiritual things and I am so "in tune" to God's working in my life I hear His voice calling me like young Samuel the little prophet helper boy . But, I am not that way. In fact, I often miss when I offend someone during the day, much less allow it to bother my sleep at night. Jonah must have had the same problem. Read this verse in Jonah chapter one again: "But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship , lain down and fallen sound asleep" (1:5). Imagine the scene: Jonah is running from God, on an sixth century wooden boat in the middle of a sea that is beating the boat so bad the prior verse said the boat was about to "break apart." As I write this blog I am on a boat. I live on a boat. The wind is only slightly blowing as a result of a good storm that went thorugh hours ago. You can feel the boat as it is driven by the wind and yet yield held firmly in the slip by the four lines tied to bow and stern. I can't imagine Jonah being able to sleep on that boat. Yet, in the midst of those who are about to perish, that is what he did. We have many Christian's, who, despite the storm around them and the perishing souls close to them, are simply asleep in the boat. Instead of being sensitive to God's leading we are running away from His call and His mission for us and asleep. The storms of life are crushing the vessels of those we are near and we simply sleep like babies in the bottom of the sinking boat. It is time to wake up! Wake up or be tossed over board.

Godly leadership matters - Proverbs 28

Proverbs 28:28 When the wicked rise, men hide themselves; But when they perish, the righteous increase. It is the political season. The leaders are lining up to run for president, the state legislator candidates are filling out their campaign material and the local business manager is deciding if he should take the risk to run for the local village mayor. Leaders want to lead and want to run for pulic office. All across our country we have men and women who have a desire to lead. Some are qualified and some are not - but what does it mean to be qualified. In the above proverb we can see Solomon's version of who is qualified. He simply states that spiritual qualification is the number one concern of any people. Wicked men are not good leaders. When a wicked leader is gone rigtheousness can increase. This political season we need to pray for righteous people to lead us. If not, prepare to hide.

Hold on to grandpa's hand tight - Psalm 117-118

They other day I took three of my twelve grandchildren to the park to play. They are all under five so it was a real adventure for my wife and me. Since my son has one more at home I wondered how two people could watch three kids (I forgot how hard that is) much less a fourth. But, I was able to keep it under control but insisting that the little ones "hold onto grandpa's hand tight" whenever there was "danger" imposed or imagined. It was easy to convince them to "hold grandpa's hand tight" when the "alligators" (only we could see) were trying to get us. Or, "hold grandpa's hand tight" when the "lions" were chasing us. When we would spot a bear they would grab my hand as tightly as they could to make sure I was there and they were safe. In Psalm 118:27 we read a interesting phrase written by the writer: "The LORD is good and He has given us light, bind the festival sacrifice with cords to the horns of the alter." This verse stands out in the section that is filled with praise and thanks giving for and to God, HIs lovingkindess and faithfulness. At the end of the chapter the writer tells them something about the sacrifice - which is a picture of our sacrifice of ourselves to God. The alter had four horns on it and the writer is telling them to "bind the bull" to the alter. The bull was to be killed on the alter. We sometimes forget that the bull was a bull. A young bull at that. It was laid upon the alter and sacrificed to God. There is no doubt that the young bull may have objected to what was about to be its certain death. The writer is telling us to "bind" the bull so that it can't run and won't run. This is a picture of us and of our need to be secured to the alter of God. Romans 12:1 tells us that we are to present our bodies as "living" sacrifices to God. We are to "hold onto His hand" tightly and not let go. Yet, we do try to let go. Just as my older grandson was less incline to see the "lions" and hold my hand at the park, we think we can "let go" of God. The Psalmist is telling us to "hold on" tightly to Him. Even "bind ourselves" to Him. He has bound us to Him with a the cords of love. We have bound ourselves to Him with the cords of faith and the vows of surrender. We all have a tendency to want to run and play. But, in the face of the alligators and lions of life we are better if we hold on tight to His hand and bind oursevels with cords to at the alter of sacrifice.

The reason for unrest in our lives and the solution - 2 Chronicles 11-16

In 2 Chronicles 12 we have the story of Judah coming under attack by the King of Egypt. It is quite clear in the first verses of that chapter that the reason God sent the King of Egypt to attack Israel was because the King of Judah and his followers had refused to continue to listen and obey the voice of God and the law of God. In 12:5 God says that because they had forsaken Him - He had forsaken them and allowed an enemy to come against them. Now most of us know that this is Old Testement stuff and God works with us different than He works with them ... right? The answer to that question is yes, it is OT stuff, but no, it is not different in the way God works with us in regard to sin. We may be set free from the eternal penalty for sin in our lives and it is true we are forgiven. However, it is also true, according to Hebrews 10 and several other New Testement passages, that God continues to discipline the children He loves if they continue to sin. So, the principle of 12:5 is still true today. Reject God and He removes the safety and ease we have in HIs will. God uses the cares of this world to correct us and to chisel us and to get us back on track. However, in 12:6 we read that the King of Judah and the people of Judah "humbled" themselves. They called upon God and asked for forgiveness. God always hears the cry of the humble. In fact, James tells us He gives grace to the humble, but resists the proud. We don't overcome these things on our own. We humbly submit to God and He provides the grace to move us to new places and fresh relationships with Him. Are you proud and working on your own, or are you humble and seeking God to give you peace? Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up. In 12:7 God promises them "some measure" of deliverance. God can allow us to live in the state we have chosen so that we can know the difference between living with Him and living without Him. In 14:6, 7 we read that a new King, who wholly followed God, was given rest from his enemies because he wholly followed God. Solomon, in all his wisdom stated it this way: "When a man's ways please the Lord He makes even his enemies to be a peace with him." (Proverbs 16:7)

Listen before you Leap - Numbers 29-32

There are many lessons in this section to get inspiration from and direction for our life. The section on sacrifices in chapter 29 gives us great reason to thank Christ for His one-time sacrifice. We can go to Him and worship - no longer tied to the sacrificial system. The chapter on vows (30) is really a passage we should read and re-read. We make too many vows we don't keep. In chapter 31 the story of the final destruction of the Midianites is something we should understand. It is actually the pre-cursor to what Joshua will lead the nation to do in the promise land. It should be noted that Balaam lost his life in this destruction. You have to ask yourself why Balaam was even in the MIdianite camp. He obviously sold his character for their material goods (remind you of Esau and the Edomites?). But, the lesson I discovered in this was Moses willingness to listen to the 2 1/2 tribes who wanted to settle on this side of the Jordan and not go into the promise land. They had to have extreme faith to believe that their wives and children would be safe without them. Moses made them promise to go across and fight for their brothers. He was willing to listen to their solution to the problem and to stop assuming that they were like their forefathers and simply afraid to go into the promise land. Moses assumed that. He was wrong. We don't find anything reference where Moses sought God's mind on this, but absent God's direct intervention this seems to be a leader-follower interaction decision. Moses stopped assuming and started listening. A good trait to learn and lesson for today's leaders.

Out of power - Hebrews 1-4

We live on a boat with shore power. If we lose shore power or out on the lake on the anchor, we have a big generator that kicks in. There is nothing like being out on the anchor with full power. You never want to be out of power. Power is a great. Unless, of course, power is used against you. When someone wheels their power against you there is a lot of pain and suffering. Power over you is bad - power for you is good. That is the concept in Hebrews. We are learning from the writer about the supremacy of Christ (Hebrews 2:14). In particular about the supremacy of Christ and how it enables us to live victoriously. In chapter two we read that Christ rendered the devil - powerless. He took the power that Satan has over us. We don't live that way but, never-the-less, it si true. We are no longer subject to his domain. Paul wrote this same concept in Romans 6-8. We are set free from Satan's power. We have a power outage in regard to Satan. It is great to know that we can live under the power of God rather than the power of him

Wait - Acts 1-2

Perhaps the hardest thing to do is wait on God. Waiting on God to work His plan; waiting on God to answer prayer; waiting on God to fulfill a promise; waiting on God to heal a sickness, mend a broken heart, or, strengthen a weak knee. Waiting is tough. We have been conditioned by Satan's world to want it now. We seldom see the future in God's timing and God's eyes. God seems to wait until we can't wait and then wait again. In our section today the disciples were told by Christ prior to His ascent to heaven to "wait" for the promised Spirit to be sent. This promised Spirit was to guide them; teach them; empower them; help them; comfort them; and much, much more. Human reasoning would say go home and wait. But, human emotion doesn't wait. When they return to their home they are seen moving into action prior to the Spirit's arrival. Now, to be honest, we all would have done the same thing. And, they were digging in the Scriptures and went to work on Psalm 16 to make sure they did what the Word said. However, it is obvious they did so without the Spirit's guiding them. We can do the same thing. We forget to wait and just move ahead with the Spirit's guideane and power. We so much want to something to happen that we forget to let the Spirit lead. We rather drag the Spirit into our mess. If we waited on God we would be able to let the Spirit lead us and have less to worry about later. Mathius was probably a fine choice for a replacement for Judas. However, it is obvious, since we never hear about Mathius again, that Paul was God's choice to replace Judas. If we wait, God will work. Just wait!