Tag: Sin Tempts But Can’t Fill - 2 Samuel 10-14

2 Samuel 13:15 (ESV Strong's)

Then Amnon hated her with very great hatred, so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her. And Amnon said to her, “Get up! Go!”

Tag:  Sin Tempts But Can’t Fill

Because of David’s many wives, it is not always easy to put the children together.  Amnon, the son mentioned in the above verse, was David’s first born.  He was the born from David’s third wife when he was the King of Judah.   Amnon really had a physical attraction to one of David’s daughters (Tamar), who was born to by David’s other wife, Maacah.  Amnon was so taken by Tamar he set up a plot to get her alone in his bedchamber and then raped her.   His desire for her before the rape was so bad, one of his best friends notice it and asked about it:

2 Samuel 13:3-4 (ESV Strong's)

But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David's brother. And Jonadab was a very crafty man. And he said to him, “O son of the king, why are you so haggard morning after morning? Will you not tell me?” Amnon said to him, “I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister.”

But, that “love” was only only “sex” and once that fire was quenched “hate” took its place.  This is the allure of sin.  David had it earlier with Bathsheba.  Once the sex was over, hate came in and David kill Bathsheba’s husband.   Temptation and sin seem like the right thing and only thing at the time, but what really happens is the shine goes off the sin and we are left with hate.   Sin continues to haunt us each day and it does so with shinny things that eventually turned to darkness and death. Proverbs 7 probably paints the best picture of what sin did to Amnon:

Proverbs 7:21-23 (ESV Strong's)

With much seductive speech she persuades him;

with her smooth talk she compels him.

All at once he follows her,

as an ox goes to the slaughter,

or as a stag is caught fast

till an arrow pierces its liver;

as a bird rushes into a snare;

he does not know that it will cost him his life.

That is what sin wants to do to us all.  

Tag: The Basis for the Law - Exodus 21-24

Exodus 22:25-27 (ESV Strong's)

“If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him. If ever you take your neighbor's cloak in pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down, for that is his only covering, and it is his cloak for his body; in what else shall he sleep? And if he cries to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate. 

Tag: The Basis for the Law

Throughout this section we have one “law”after another.   We go from one way to treat people to another way to treat people.   In the above “law” we are given instruction about how to treat people we give money too.  We are not to treat them with less than compassion.   Why?  Because God is compassionate.  The basis of the Law is God’s compassion, as complimented by His justice.  God’s compassion and justice are never out of alignment.   God can be perfectly compassionate and completely just, allow within the context of man’s sin and desire to keep on sinning.  God established the Law because of the sin of mankind.  In this case, in particular, God reminds us in our attempt to get justice from those who “owe” us, we can not forget our compassion.   God is compassionate with us, in the midst of our sin, and in the midst of His need for justice with us.  God has and will always be compassionate and just at the same time.  As we read the Law we can see this perfect blend.   

Tag: In Christ Means Righteousness In Us - 2 Corinthians 4-5

2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV Strong's)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Tag;  In Christ Means Righteousness In Us. 

When we are justified by faith, something happens to our nature.  Our sins are forgiven, yes, but our sin nature is killed and left in a powerless position.   Even though the penalty for sin is paid, the power of sin is diminished but not removed.  As Christ fills us and we submit in obedience by faith, Christ supplies us with the power to overcome sin in our lives.   Note what one commentator states about “the new has come:”

(MacArthur NT) The perfect tense of the verb ginomai (have come) indicates a past act with continuing results in the present. God plants new desires, loves, inclinations, and truths in the redeemed, so that they live in the midst of the old creation with a new creation perspective (cf. Gal. 6:14). That perspective, as it is nourished and developed, helps believers gain victory in the battle against sin and conforms them to the image of Jesus Christ.

We are being transformed into the image of God.  This is what Paul had told the Corinthians in the previous chapter:

2 Corinthians 3:18 (ESV Strong's)

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

That “one degree of glory to another” is the work of being in Christ and Christ being in us.   He is slowing giving us new tastes and new hungers that can only be found in a life that looks like Jesus.   That is HIS work in our life. Our role and responsibility in HIS work is to walk, by faith, in Obedience to the truth He gives us.   

Tag: Emotions Can Control Us - Mark 15-16

Mark 16:8 (ESV Strong's)

And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Tag: Emotions Can Control Us

The above passage is referring to the two Mary’s and Salome, who brought spices to anoint Jesus’ body.   When hey arrived they found the tomb empty and heard an angel tell them that Jesus was resurrected.   Mark says they ran away in fear.  Matthew’s account of the above reaction to Jesus’ resurrection is slightly different: 

Matthew 28:8

So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.

John’s gospel just reports about one of the women, one of the Mary’s, and that she simply ran to the disciples to tell them about what she had discovered.  Perhaps she was the first to arrive to report.  We have no idea.  Maybe she was more athletic and ran faster than the other Mary and Salome.   Whatever the case, the three women were overcome by emotion.   We often talk about “controlling” our emotions.   However, we don’t just tell fear to stop.  We don’t tell excitement to turn on or turn on at a higher intensity.   Emotion is caused by chemicals released in the brain, that are fired up by our interpretation of some event.  We see a funeral and we interpret as bad and we are overcome by the emotion of sadness.  Sadness can, often, produce tears.   We see a wedding and we interpret it as a good thing and our brain produces chemicals for happiness and that, too, can result in tears ... of joy.    If, on the other hand, the parents are not pleased with the choice of spouse, they interpret the wedding as bad, the emotion of sadness is ignited and that produces tears.  In both cases we see tears, but driven by different emotions.   When these three women saw the empty tomb they would have one interpretation which produced one emotion.  But, when the angel told them He is risen and they will see Jesus soon, they would have had a different emotion.   This must have been a struggle to sort them all out in their mind.  The death produced one emotion, the empty tomb another and the risen Savior quite another.  We don’t control our emotions, we can only view them through the lens of faith.  When we faithfully view events through the lens of God’s character and plans for us, we send different messages to our brain and different emotions are emitted.   We don’t control our emotions.  We do, however, control our interpretation of events through a lens of knowledge.  This is what Paul was telling the Corinthians.  He wanted them to take all their thoughts and align them with the “knowledge of God.”   But, our mind creates arguments and imaginative thoughts that are contrary to the “knowledge of God.”   These women had the knowledge of death, but they also had the knowledge of a resurrection in their friend and relative, Lazarus.  Knowledge of God is the best lens to view all events and that will create different emotions.  

Tag: God Corrects Falsehood - Jeremiah 27-31

Jeremiah 29:21-23 (ESV Strong's)

‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying a lie to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall strike them down before your eyes. Because of them this curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon: “The Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,” because they have done an outrageous thing in Israel, they have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives, and they have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them. I am the one who knows, and I am witness, declares the Lord.’”

Tag:  God Corrects Falsehood

In the book of Jeremiah we have an abundance of interactions between God and leaders; leaders and prophets; God and prophets; false teachers and people; God and people; and Jeremiah with them all.  This is a great book to understand how God works, thinks and plans.   In the above passage we see one snap shot of how God works with false teachers.   God corrects falsehood.  God does not correct falsehood right away, however.  But, He will eventually.   Note what Solomon said earlier about falsehood and God:

Proverbs 6:16-17 (ESV Strong's)

There are six things that the Lord hates,

seven that are an abomination to him:

haughty eyes, a lying tongue,

and hands that shed innocent blood,

One of the seven things God hates is the lying tongue.    Through the prophet Jeremiah we see what God does with the false prophet.  God is the God of truth.  So, anytime we speak lies, or shades of truth we are not acting in the character and aspect of God’s will.  God corrects all falsehood.   We have to make sure we speak truth, especially when we are representing God..  

Tag: God Opens Eyes - Job 35-36

Job 36:5-10 (ESV Strong's)

“Behold, God is mighty, and does not despise any;

he is mighty in strength of understanding.

He does not keep the wicked alive,

but gives the afflicted their right.

He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous,

but with kings on the throne

he sets them forever, and they are exalted.

And if they are bound in chains

and caught in the cords of affliction,

then he declares to them their work

and their transgressions, that they are behaving arrogantly.

He opens their ears to instruction

and commands that they return from iniquity.

Tag:  God Opens Eyes

When we walk with God we have God directing our path(s).   In the above passage, Elihu is speaking to Job and his three friends.  They have wandered into a discussion of “who is at fault” for Job’s pain and suffering.  Elihu is focusing them all on God and His sovereign work in the hearts of mankind.   As he develops his thoughts and sharpens their focus, we see a key phrase to consider:

“He opens their ears to instruction and commands that’s they return from iniquity.” 

When Paul was called to be a servant of Christ on the Damascus Road, here is what Jesus said to him in regard to his future mission:

Acts 26:16-18 (ESV Strong's)

But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

Paul’s mission was to bring the Gospel to “open their eyes ...”.  Elihu is telling Job to allow God to open his eyes to see the glory of God.  In fact he previously said to Job:

Job 35:5 (ESV Strong's)

Look at the heavens, and see;

and behold the clouds, which are higher than you.

He wants Job to quit looking at himself and his sores and look up and see the vision of God on the throne.   When our eyes a closed to the power and majesty of God we can only see the frailty and futileness of our own works and efforts.  Only God can open the eyes for us to see Him and His Majesty.  When He does and we do we quit looking at the mess around us and behold the glory before us.  Open our eyes, Lord!!!

Tag: God Has Done It!! Psalms 51-53

Psalms 52:9 (ESV Strong's)

I will thank you forever,

because you have done it.

I will wait for your name, for it is good,

in the presence of the godly.

Tag:  God Has Done It!!

One commentator on this Psalm stated you could summarize the entire Psalm in this verse:

1 John 4:4 (ESV Strong's)

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

In Psalm 52 we are reading about God’s steadfast love and His care and concern for His children in the midst of a perverse generation.  God, in this song, is proclaiming both His love and His care for those who love Him.   He is proclaiming, through the writer, that He will both protect those whom He loves and watch over those who love Him.  He will destroy those who are deceitful and those who would attempt to plot against those He loves.  This last verse, above, gives a final praise that God has “done it.”   God is the one who “does it.”   A popular shoe and apparel brand encourages us to “just do it.”  But, it is God who is the only one who can claim to “just do it.”  God does what He says He will do.  The song is telling us to praise Him for what He has done for us.  He has overcome the world for us.  He is greater than all.  We are to sing praises for this truth about God’s steadfast and enduring love ... He just does it ... every time!!