God Protects Us! Psalm 120-121

Psalms 121:5-8 (ESV)

The LORD is your keeper;

the LORD is your shade on your right hand.

The sun shall not strike you by day,

nor the moon by night.

The LORD will keep you from all evil;

he will keep your life.

The LORD will keep

your going out and your coming in

from this time forth and forevermore.

God keeps us!  The fact that God keeps us is amazing in and of itself.  The Hebrew word here for keeper, is very broad.  Note what Vine says about it:

i.e. guard; generally, to protect, attend to, etc.: — beward, be circumspect, take heed (to self), keep(-er, self), mark, look narrowly, observe, preserve, regard, reserve, save (self), sure, (that lay) wait (for), watch(-man).

It is used 4468 times in the Bible and translated to these English words: 

AV (468) - keep 283, observe 46, heed 35, keeper 28, preserve 21, beware 9, mark 8, watchman 8, wait 7, watch 7, regard 5, save 2, misc 9;

God is watching and caring and protecting as the keeper.   Note what the above verse states about His keeping us:

1.  He keeps us from the sun, like shade, on a hot day.   Living where they were living at the time the nation of Israel would have really understood this thought process and word picture. God keeps us during these times. 

2. He keeps them during the night.   Remember with have homes and doors and security locks and even cameras watching over us as we sleep.  They did not.   Night time terrors were a real thing.  God keeps us during these times. 

3. He keeps us from evil.   There is all types of evil, both physical and spiritual.  God is watching over us. 

4. He keeps us as we navigate this world.  He is keeping us as we walk and engage with the world.   

The psalmist said all this this way in Psalm 91: 

Psalms 91:4-7 (ESV)

He will cover you with his pinions,

and under his wings you will find refuge;

his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.

You will not fear the terror of the night,

nor the arrow that flies by day,

nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,

nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.

A thousand may fall at your side,

ten thousand at your right hand,

but it will not come near you.

God Keeps His Promises - 2 Chronicles 21-24

2 Chronicles 21:6-7 (ESV)

And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife. And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. Yet the LORD was not willing to destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and since he had promised to give a lamp to him and to his sons forever.

Throughout the books of Chronicles, we have the accounts of the leadership of the kings.  Although mostly they cover the kings of Judah, the point of the books is in the domain of leadership.   In the above passage we read that another king came into leadership and was corrupt.  This was often the story for both Israel to the north and Judah to the south.   But the beauty of the above passage is God’s response to another corrupt leader.  God made a covenant with David that he would always have a member of his family on the throne.   Despite the bad leadership each time, God kept His promises.  Ultimately God would bring Jesus to reign on the throne, but until then God had to allow the descendants of David to rule, as well.    At times, God keeps His promises to use despite our sin.  Many of these kings were wicked.  Yet God remembered His promises and allowed the kingdom to continue so that He could both fulfill His promise to David and establish His eternal kingdoms through Jesus.                                               

God Wants to Bring Us Into Rest - Deuteronomy 1-3

Deuteronomy 1:19-21 (ESV)

Israel’s Refusal to Enter the Land

“Then we set out from Horeb and went through all that great and terrifying wilderness that you saw, on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as the LORD our God commanded us. And we came to Kadesh-barnea. And I said to you, ‘You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the LORD our God is giving us. See, the LORD your God has set the land before you. Go up, take possession, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’

Moses led the people right up to the promised land.  He brought them out of Egypt through great wonders. He brought them across the Red Sea through the great power of God‘s hand. Now they were on the threshold of receiving God‘s promise. Yet here, in this very moment, is where they decided to doubt God. We often wonder why we don’t get what we wish for and what we hope for. Then again, God often brings us right to the impetus of the fulfillment of our desires, and yet, our lack of faith keeps us back. The nation could’ve had grapes as large as cantaloupes. But instead, their fear prevented them from moving forward.

God wants to bring us in to the land of rest. But our fear prevents us from seeing, because our hearts only see the danger.  When Joshua takes over the Leadership, this is what God tell him:

Joshua 1:8-9 (ESV)

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

Sanctified, Once for All! Hebrews 8-10

Hebrews 10:8-10 (ESV)

When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

The context of the above passage matters to understand what the writer is saying in these verses.   The writer has been making the case that Jesus is both the fulfillment of the old sacrificial system of bulls and goats and is a better and final sacrifice.    That has been the subject of the first nine chapters.  In the above verses the writer tells us the advantage of that for us.   Since the old system had to be done every year, the purity of the people demanded they come every year and make those sacrifices of bulls and goats.   But, as stated above, when Jesus came to fulfill the will of His Father, He did away with coming year after and year and once for all provided purity (sanctification) for those who come to Him, by faith.  His own body sacrifice was the end of all sacrifices and became our path to purity in Him.   We can rejoice that we don’t need to come and sacrifice and offer and confess over and over and over.   He did this once for all, and established our forever sanctification.  

God Always Intervenes - Acts 5-6

Acts 5:19-21a (ESV)

But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.” And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach.

After the circumstances of Ananias and Sapphira (they lied to the Holy Spirit about their spirit of giving), Luke records great and awesome signs and wonders being done by the apostles.   

Acts 5:12 (ESV)

Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico.

As a result the religious leaders began to oppose them and put them into prison:

Acts 5:17-18 (ESV)

But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison.

This is where we pick up the story of the above, opening verses, of this journal entry.  Despite man’s interruption, God reaches down with a great intervention.   We can rest assured that when man does something to thwart God’s plans and interrupt the message of the Gospel, God will intervene through miraculous means.   There is nothing He has called us to do that man can stop.   If He called you to a task, man can’t stop it.   Rest assured to that end.     

Remember God’s Blessing - Micah

Micah 6:3-5 (ESV)

“O my people, what have I done to you?

How have I wearied you? Answer me!

For I brought you up from the land of Egypt

and redeemed you from the house of slavery,

and I sent before you Moses,

Aaron, and Miriam.

O my people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised,

and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,

and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,

that you may know the righteous acts of the LORD.”

Remembering what God has done for us in the past might be the best way to make wise choices in the present.   In the above passage, toward the end of Micah’s prophecy, the nation is confronted by God directly.    Up to this point the prophecy has been both condemning (what will happen if they don’t repent) and full of hope (if they do repent).    In the above verses God is asking them to judge who He is.  He invites them to judge His character and treatment of them.  He demands an answer from them.  In this proclamation, Micah recalls four blessings from God for them to remember.   He is trying to spark them to repentance and Godly living.   

1.  God redeemed them from Egypt. 

2. God sent them leaders to guide them (Moses, Aaron and Miriam ... the latter despite her rebellion toward Moses)

3. His protect for them when Barack tried to deceive them with mixed marriages and compromising principles.  

4. When He made a way from them to cross the Jordan River from Shittim to Gilgal.  

He is trying to remind them of His goodness.   It is meditating on God’s goodness that can rescue us from our badness.   

Nations Need Righteous People - Proverbs 29:2

Proverbs 29:2 (ESV)

When the righteous increase, the people rejoice,

but when the wicked rule, the people groan.

 It seems appropriate, in light of what happens in our world in regard to politics and leadership, that we look deeper into this proverb. As much as "politics" reject the "Religious Right,” this proverbs is actually played out time and time again in many organizations and business entities across our nation. When righteous people rule there is prosperity that last and the members of those organization and business ventures "rejoice." However, when a wicked person is ruling there may be "profit" but it is at the cost of people. Their groans are heard from Wall Street to Main Street. Solomon's words here were written well before our country’s two-party system. There is righteousness and wickedness on both sides of that aisle.  He is not concerned with political affiliations as much as deity relations. He knows that a person who loves God and is ruling to glorify God will produce an environment that people can find many things to rejoice about. I do not believe that every person who claims to be on the religious right is righteous. I don’t believe everyone on the “left” is void of faith.   But, I do believe to be right with God is to be righteous and that will always benefit the followers if that is the leaders creed and governance. It will not matter your party affiliation.   You can be any party you want if you want to lead in righteousness.