Does God want us to ask for more? 1 Chronicles 1-4

Is God offended that we ask for more?  In this brief biography of the man, Jabez, we have the answer to that question.   Jabez, in the midst of the "phone-book" chronicle of God's people stands out as a man who wasn't content with what God had sovereignly given him.  He wanted more.   He wanted more, but instead of following the world's methods of getting more (applying himself, working his business, doing mass-marketing, etc.) he acted in faith and came to God.   Note Jabez's prayer to God:

1 Chronicles 4:10 - Now Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and that You would keep me from harm that it may not pain me!” And God granted him what he requested.

God inspires the writer of this vast book to stop the pen and remember the prayer.  Of all the things God could say about all the people listed here, He stops to tell us Jabez's prayer.   God is not offended when we ask for more.   In James we are told, "we have not because we ask not" and "we ask and receive not because we ask with the wrong motives, wanting to consume it on our own lusts" (James 4:2-3).   Let's realize that God desires us to ask and to ask with the right motives.   God wants us to build our homes and to expand our "tents" (enlarge our boarders).  And He has the power and will to do that for us.   But, only if we do so for the right reasons.   To build our retirement plan so we can take off from our responsibilities He left us here for is not a good motive to expand our "boarders."   If we want to be able to do more for Christ and to expand and continue His mission and message, that would be a good reason to ask for an enlarged tent.   Let's realize that God wants us to come to Him with these type of things.  He delights in given His people "MORE."   But, He also knows our hearts and what we will do with MORE.   Sometimes He simply knows we can do more with LESS.  

How do you treat someone who is down and out? Leviticus 25-27

When you see someone down and out on their luck, what do you do?   Far too many times we see people take advantage of such a person.  They have had something bad happen in their life and have to sell their car ... they have to sell it quick ... what do you do?   Do you give them top dollar on it or do you give them "what they'll take?"   This is perhaps one of the greatest test of our faith in regard to those who fall into trouble.   In our society the rich prey on those in this situation.  The recent housing market has injured the reputations and resources of many people.   The rich have preyed on these foreclosures as an opportunity to "scarf-up" some great deals on a home.   What is one man's failure becomes another man's future.   Just think what can happen to a nation if that is the realistic way we progress.   That is what is happening in our society and class warfare takes over.   God did not want that to happen in the nation of Israel so He put in place some laws for them to follow in regard to those who through poor management, tragedy, or disobedience to God would lose their home and property.   Note just one of those laws outlined in our reading today that protects the down and out from becoming the property and servant of the one who has money, power and property:

Leviticus 25:36 - Do not take usurious interest from him, but revere your God, that your countryman may live with you.

Do you see the truth in this verse.   If someone has lost everything and needs a helping hand, God does not want us to take advantage of them.  He wants us to "revere" God in the situation.   He doesn't tell us to avoid interest because the person deserves that kind of treatment, but because the person is a child of God and God deserves the reverence.   God's reason for how we treat others is to show our fear of Him ... our awe of Him.   How we treat others shows God's character and our love for that character.   We are not to treat others with respect and goodwill because they are fellow humans ... we are to do so because they are made in the image of God and, if they are believers, they are God's children.   Let's be careful to not want to seize up a good deal when we see others who's lives are in shambles.   Let's look to revere God through the process and remember that this is what God did for us and to us when we were lost in our sin.   

How does God view sex? 1 Thessalonians 4-5

Believers ought to approach sexual pleasures differently than the world does!   This statement can and should be made based upon Paul's admonishment in 1 Thessalonians 4:4&5. Read it below:

"... that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God;"

The word "vessel" in verse four is the Greek word, skeúos.   In classical Greek it has a literal meaning of something used to carry something in, like a water pot, etc.  However, it is often used in a figurative sense for the reproductive organ of the body.  That is Paul's use here.  Note what he says.  He is telling the believers in this church to make sure their desire for sexual pleasures does not mimic the world but rather in sanctification (holiness toward God) and in honor (again, it would be implied, "toward God").   What Paul is telling us here is that their is not a sense in which we are believers in the church room and not in the bedroom.   We are not to worship in the spiritual area of our lives and indulge in the sexual areas of our lives.   He has already told the Corinthian believers that whatever they do they are to do to the glory of God.   Here, Paul takes time to tell them what "whatever" means.   We cannot separate our sex drive from our spiritual drive.  God created sexual pleasures and He created them for a purpose of pleasure for us but for the glory of Him.   It is doubtful that many think of sexual pleasures as an act to glorify God but that is exactly what God has Paul tell us here.   God uses many things to sanctify us.  He uses discipline, His Word, His People, His Spirit.  Here, in this text, He tells us He uses His creation of sexual pleasure.   If you enter the bedroom with the same Spirt you enter the worship house you will sill what God is saying here.   Sex is an act of worship to God when we do so the way He tells us.  We are not to treat it like the world ... like unbelieving Gentiles who do not know God.   We are to treat sex like we treat any other area of our lives that we are wishing to use for the Glory of God ... in sanctification and in honor.    

Would you recognize Jesus if you saw Him? John 1-2

Note what the Apostle John has to say about how man "perceives" or has a "conscious" understanding of God ... via Christ:

John 1:5 - "... The shines in the darkness, and the darkness DID NOT COMPREHEND IT."

John 1:10 - "He was in the world and the world was made through Him, and the world DID NOT KNOW HIM."

John 1:26 - "John answered them saying, "I baptize in water, but among you stands One WHOME  YOU DO NOT KNOW."

John 1:31 - (John says this, speaking of himself) -  "I DID NOT RECOGNIZE HIM, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water."

John 1:33 - (Restating the previous) - "I DID NOT RECOGNIZE HIM, ..."

If it were not for God's intervention in the life of man NO ONE would recognize Christ, the Savior.   Yes, God tells us in the first chapter of Romans that creation, alone, gives us enough information to know there is a God and that, coupled with our internal consciousness about good and evil, there is enough information for us to know that we NEED a Savior.   However, absent God's work in our lives, we are dead to Christ and blinded by our own sin and Satan's work in our lives (Romans 8:5-6; 2 Corinthians 4:4). We only "come" to Christ because God draws us to Him (John 12:32; John 6:44).   Left to our own skills sets and understanding NO MAN would come to Christ.  We can say all we want about "if I had lived during the days of Christ" but the truth is that we, like all men of that day, would have remained in the dark unless Christ would have opened our eyes. Even the disciples did not recognize many things until "after" Christ died and rose again (John 2:17).   So, let's make sure we rejoice in God's work in our lives - before our salvation, as He opened our hearts and eyes to see the truth that is in Christ.  You can think what you want about your salvation, but apart from God, you would be like others and NEVER RECOGNIZE HIM even though He stood right in front of you.  

God's glory can be seen in His wrath - Ezekiel 43-48

God's glory is revealed in His wrath.  We don't think of God's Wrath as a place that His glory "shines", but that is certainly the case.  God's character is NOT dichotomous ... at least not if we see it in its entirety.   God is not on one side of the coin full of grace and the other side full of wrath and justice.   There are many who believe that.   And, they believe that once you flip the coin that is "the" God you get.   But, that is not what we see in Scripture.   God is Holy and Just in His Grace and He is Gracious and Merciful in His Justice and Wrath.   God is always all those qualities at all times.  Take a look at the following two verses from Ezekiel 43 and you can see this truth:

Ezekiel 43:2-3 "... and behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the way of the east. And His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with His glory. And it was like the appearance of the vision which I saw, like the vision which I saw when He came to destroy the city. And the visions were like the vision which I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face."

You can see that God's Glory in Ezekiel's vision was the same both times He saw God and one of the times God was on a wrathful and destructive mission to destroy those who sinned.   We tend to think we can only see God's glory in His grace; or, when He He is gracious.  We love to worship and praise His grace and His mercy.  And, that is a good time to praise Him.   But, we should also praise God, equally, in His wrath and His justice and His discipline.   God is full of glory in all aspects of His character.   Don't limit your worship of Him for times He is "good" to you ... He is always "good" to you.  If you get that job or your job is saved, He is good.  If you don't get that job or your job is cut, He is good.   We may not like the tribulation or discipline or difficulty, but God is good none-the-less.  Praise His whole character.  

What is your attitude toward sin? Proverbs 14-15

Proverbs 14:9 Fools mock at sin, But among the upright there is good will.

How does a fool "mock at sin?"  Fools do not take heart that their lives are an offense to a righteous God.   They do not mourn, they do not repent at the mention that their actions are missing the mark of a holy and just God.  Fools rather laugh in the face of sin ... using a jesting manner to diminish the seriousness of their actions.   Fools, rather than look at sin in the face to deal with it appropriately would rather make a coarse joke and pass it off as part of their personality or, tritely, tells us, "That's just the way I am."  They dare not look at it seriously; for then they would be forced to repent and deal with the sin in sorrow and change their ways.  The pass sin off as part of the new norm of society ... "everyone is doing it" is their motto.  In opposition of the fool is the upright person who is not upright do their "perfect" life but because they repent of their sin and find "favor" (good will) from God as a result of the repentance.  God is a gracious God and tells us if we confess our sin (agree with God that we missed the mark of His righteousness) we will receive forgiveness (1 John 1:9).   That confession ushers in God's good will into our lives.   The implication is that the fool will miss that good will and favor of God and therefore be condemned in his mockery.   We seldom see sinners repent.  Josiah, the young King of Judah, read God's Word and repented in sackcloth and ashes (2 Kings 24).  The Ninavites, much to Jonah's frustration, heard God's wrath about to come on their lives and stopped the laughter and began to weep.   God will forgive but only when we take sin serious in our lives that it is indeed sin and not simply a mis-step in a flawed personality.  Don't mock sinful actions.  Take them serious and obtain God grace and forgiveness.  Let's avoid mocking sin like this:

1. Justify it 2. Ignore it 3. Laugh it off 4. Rationalize it 5. Excuse it 6. Accept it 7. Blame others for it 8. Count it as part of your heritage 9. Believe it is harmless 10. Use it for entertainment

Will your "work" outlast you? Psalm 90-92

Psalms 90:17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us; And confirm for us the work of our hands; Yes, confirm the work of our hands.

In Psalm 90 we have a Hebrew song/poem that causes us to focus on the brevity of life and the dependance of God for life.   It is God who holds our lives in His hands and He can leave us or take us off this spinning globe at His will.   After making sure we grasp this truth of God's sovereign control the writer ends with the above verse.   In summary the verse says that it is only by God's favor (His grace) that we can hope to have the work of hands made secure.   In two lines the author (Moses) affirms that it is God who "confirms" the work of our hands.   The actual word in the Hebrew is "kun" (pronounced, koon) and it means, "to make firm."   The thought here is that not only does God hold our life in His hands, He also makes our work to be established or not to be established.   What we do each day is only sustained and maintained by God's favor.   We tend to think that the work we do is long-lasting and permanent, if we do it well, or in a great manner.  But, in reality, not only are we sustained by God's sovereign will, but so too our work.   The writer pleads with God, twice, to make sure that the work he is doing is not temporal, like he is.   We are but for a moment but God has the ability to sustain our work well after we are gone.  Since the writer here is Moses we can be assured that God "confirmed" his work ... it has been established for thousands of years.   God and God alone makes our work everlasting.  Anything not done for Him or in His strength is but stubble, like we are ... destined to last only as long as a breath.