Power of Shame - Psalms 3-5

Psalms 4:2 (ESV)

O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame?

How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah

The opening verse of this psalm reads as follows:

Psalms 4:1 (ESV)

Answer Me When I Call

TO THE CHOIRMASTER: WITH STRINGED INSTRUMENTS. A PSALM OF DAVID.

Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!

You have given me relief when I was in distress.

Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!

David is writing and crying out to God for help against those who are causing him distress.  They are taking whatever honor he has and trying to shame him.  They are using untruth to do this shaming.   The tactics today have not changed much from back then.   People are using untruth, or half-truths, to shame those who disagree with them.   The power of shaming is an unmatched weapon in many ways.   God has created us to despise being put to shame.  When we do something bad we often drop our heads or turn our face away from others.   Athletes, making a mistake in a competitive context, will often cover their face after missing an opportunity for triumph.   The power of shaming is one of the tactics Satan employs, frequently.   Jesus told Peter that Satan desired to have him. To sift him.   When Peter did deny Jesus, three times, he went out and cried.  His shame was overwhelming to him.   

Notice that David’s solution to being shamed is to turn to confront the shamming with the power of God. This entire prayer is David reaching out to God to engage His power over those who are doing the shamming.  David knows he is in an honorable place.  They are turning his honor into shame with false information.   His prayer, later in the song is:

Psalms 4:6 (ESV)

There are many who say, “Who will show us some good?

Lift up the light of your face upon us, O LORD!”

David knows that in the light of the LORD, there is no shame.   The solution David gives us when others shame us, is to have the light of the countenance of God show upon us.  Shaming is a form of judgement.  Even though Paul would not write this until centuries later, David seemed to know this truth:

Romans 8:1 (ESV)

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Victory From Defeat - Joshua 6-10

Joshua 8:1-2 (ESV)

The Fall of Ai

And the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not fear and do not be dismayed. Take all the fighting men with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, and his people, his city, and his land. And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its livestock you shall take as plunder for yourselves. Lay an ambush against the city, behind it.”

Joshua and Israel have just experienced a defeat against the city of Ai.   They presumptuously attacked the city without faith, without consulting God and with the sin of Achan in their midst.  Achan, during the battle of Jericho, took gold and sliver and hid it in his tent, disobeying Joshua’s command.  They had previously committed all bounty for the taking of Jericho to the Lord.  Achan took it from the Lord, not Jericho, or Joshua.   He was stoned for it.  

However, Joshua didn’t know all this and foolishly sent them to fight the city of Ai, with pride in his heart and foolishness for strategy.   Now that the Achan issue was resolved, Joshua is prepare to go against Ai again. This time with humility, strategy and faith in the Almighty.    He didn’t allow the defeat to defeat him.  He used the failure the first time to create the strategy for the second time.  God was with him and the nation.   It was a hard lesson but one he and they had to learn.  Never let a defeat beat you twice.  Allow all defeats to teach more about God and about yourself and your own pride and failures.   God wants to turn around any defeat into a victory for Him.  If Achan would have waited, he would have reaped the bounty now promised in Ai.  He didn’t wait and that caused disaster on himself and his family.   God wants to bless us but in the timing He has for us. Don’t do shortcuts and suffer defeat.  But if you have a defeat, learn from it and allow God to work a future miracle from it.  

The Discipline of Mankind - Genesis 4-7

Genesis 6:1-4 (ESV)

When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.

Genesis is written to show us the beginning of things.  That is what the word genesis means.  In the above passage God is going to tell us why the flood.  This chapter is the record of the beginning of God’s total wrath on man for his sin.  To understand these four verses we can lose sight of what God is telling in the book.  The reason to stay focus on this point is that there are many interpretations about who God is referring to in the phrase sons of God.   Who is that?  

Here is what one commentary states about the phrase:

(Understanding the Bible Commentary Series - Old Testament Set (18 vols.)) There are three leading proposals for the identification of the sons of God. 

1. The first is that they were heavenly beings. Consumed by lust, angels cohabited with human women, thereby transgressing the boundary between the divine and the human realms. The offspring from these unions possessed extraordinary abilities. Lacking moral constraints, they used their abilities to promote wickedness. 

2. A second proposal is that the sons of God were the mighty rulers of old. Flaunting their power, they built harems by marrying whomever they wished. Thus, their sin was polygamy, which led to a rapid increase in population. 

3. The third possibility is that the sons of God were the men of Seth’s line and the daughters of men were the offspring of Cain. These women from the rebellious line of Cain led the Sethites into the pleasures of sin, thereby over time squelching the worship of the one God Yahweh. The scenario of righteous men chasing or marrying beautiful, foreign women and being led into the worship of other gods is a recurring theme in the OT, as in the incident at Baal-Peor (Num. 25:1–2) and the apostasy of Solomon (1 Kgs. 11:1–13).

It is important to remember the context of this passage.  That is often to key to understand what a writer (in this case, Moses) is trying to tell us.  God, through Moses, is telling us the reason for the flood.  He is showing us the downward trend of mankind because of their depravity. 

Earlier in Genesis this was said about mankind:

Genesis 4:26 (ESV)

To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the LORD.

Men were calling on the name of the Lord.  But sin began to consume mankind.   Whatever this act in verses one and two might be, it caused this different response from God about mankind in verse three:

Genesis 6:3 (ESV)

Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.”

Something happened between chapter 4 and chapter 6 to cause man to go from calling on the name of the Lord to suddenly striving with the Lord.  

It should be noted that verse four might give us a clue about who these sons of God were. It simply states:

Genesis 6:4 (ESV)

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.

The Nephilim were giant men. There is nothing to tell us more than that.  God seems to  be telling us that these “sons of men” were some type of giant men who were mighty and renown.   But they were renown for their sin.  This caused God to send the flood.  

We don’t have to read into the Scriptures more than what is there.  God has told us from chapter 4 to chapter 6 that mankind has gone from calling on Him to rebellion against Him.  The stronger and more mighty they have become the less they called upon the Lord and the less they thought they needed the Lord.  Hence the need for the flood.  When mankind rebels against God, God sends discipline to mankind.  

Our Mission For Life - Romans 1-2

Romans 1:13 (ESV)

I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles.

Paul writes this verse in the beginning of this long letter to the Roman Christians, and then writes these verses at the end of the letter:

Romans 15:22-23 (NASB Strong's Bible Text)

For this reason I have often been prevented from coming to you; but now, with no further place for me in these regions, and since I have had for many years a longing to come to you.

Paul has a desire to go to them to impart spiritual wisdom and doctrine.  He wants to give them truth that he might have a harvest among them.   He is not looking to promote himself.   He is looking to sow seeds of truth so that they might produce more fruit in more abundance for Christ.    He wants to grow them.   That should be the measure of all those who serve the church. The goal is making disciples who produce the fruit of the Spirit in their lives.   Ministers of the Gospel are not trying to promote themselves.   They should be striving for fruit in the lives they serve, teach and minister to on a daily basis.   Paul was often prevented from going to them, but he was still engaged with others for the same purpose.  The location did not matter as much as the mission for his life.   The place was less important than the person of Christ being preached among those he was among.  He will end up going to Rome.  Not the way he had hoped (he will go as a prisoner), but he will go.  And while there he will preach Christ and sow seeds and reap a harvest.  That is his mission in life.  It should be ours. 

God Has A Plan - Matthew 1-2

Matthew 1:1-2 (ESV)

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,

The above two verses start a 17 verse section on the genealogy of Jesus.   Although Matthew starts by saying Jesus’ lineage comes from David and Abraham, he then fills in the key people between Abraham and Jesus, which goes through David.   Matthew lists 14 names (generations) between Abraham and David.  He then list 14 names (generations) between David and the Babylonian captivity.  He finishes with 14 names (generations) between the Babylonian captivity and Jesus.  That is a total of 42 generations.   Although numerology is a much debated thought when studying the Bible. Many people take the numbers in the Bible to eisegesis (read into it) the text vs exegesis (draw out of it) the text.  But Matthew himself draws attention to these numbers in the final verse of the section.  Note:

Matthew 1:17 (ESV)

So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.

Matthew is trying to tell us something.   In scripture the number seven has significance.   It is the number of completion.   God created the earth in six days and then rested the seventh.  God declared the seventh day holy, the Sabbath.  A time of rest.   In the Jewish calendar the seventh month has four feast to celebrate in rest and worship.   After six years, the nation was supposed to rest the seventh.   After 49 years, the nation was to celebrate the great jubilee of rest, in the 50th year.   What Matthew is telling us is that after 42 years (three sets of 14), Jesus was coming to complete the last seven years (not an exact seven years, but a period of time).   In this last seven years of time, Jesus would come, die, rise from the dead, build the church and then, at the end, come again an usher in a time of Jubilee and rest.  Matthew is teaching us that God has order and purpose.  God is completing His plan.  His plan is not haphazard.   Paul would later say it this way:

Galatians 4:4 (ESV)

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,

God is fulfilling His plan by keeping His promises, by ushering in Christ to make a way we can enjoy God’s presence.   God has an exact plan.  

Obey or Disobey - Isaiah 1-6

Isaiah 4 (ESV)

And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; take away our reproach.”

In that day the branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. Then the LORD will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy. There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.

Seldom in the book of Isaiah do you get a chapter so short. But the above is the entirety of chapter four of this long, prophetic book.  But the entire chapter some how conveys the entire theme of Isaiah.   The book is about the doom and gloom of God’s judgment vs the hope and wonder of God’s blessings.    That is the theme of the book.  God is going to destroy Israel because of their disobedience and failure to keep His word. Yet, in the very next verse we will read something of hope and the prosperity God is going to bring the nation as they repent and turn back to Him.   Doom is spoken on the one hand while a boon is utter on the next.  Moses did the same thing back in Deuteronomy.  In Deuteronomy 27 we read about the blessings of God for obedience to the Law, while Deuteronomy 28 we read about the curses of God for disobedience.  Isaiah is doing the same thing throughout his entire book.   Chapter four starts with the disaster of the siege an army is going to bring against Jerusalem. It will be so bad that one man will be sought by countless women, who seek the safety of a strong warrior against the invading army.   The rest of the chapter unfolds what it would look like if the nation, city, returned to their God.  Obedience results in a refuge, a shelter from the storm and rain of the disaster.   Make no mistake, God is the same today as back then.  God wants to bless us as we walk in obedience to Him.  But God will bring difficulty in our lives when we do not walk in obedience.  That is the theme of the book of Isaiah and good lesson for us to live and learn.  

Piety and Prosperity - Job 1-2

Job 1:1-4 (ESV)

Job’s Character and Wealth

There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

Job was pious and prosperous.  Not unheard of, but must be rare.  Especially in these days.  Having a love for God, above all else, and still wealthy is not the norm.   We can come to that truth by observation, but also in our study of the Savior’s teaching:

Matthew 19:24 (ESV)

Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

Look how many times Jesus told His disciples that they could not come to His Father if they were still in the love with the world:

John 12:25 (ESV)

Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

Luke 14:33 (ESV)

So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Luke 14:26 (ESV)

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

Matthew 10:39 (ESV)

Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Matthew 16:25 (ESV)

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Mark 8:35 (ESV)

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.

Luke 9:24 (ESV)

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

Luke 17:33 (ESV)

Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.

John 12:26 (ESV)

If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity, wrote:

Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favorite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fiber of your being and you will find eternal life.  Keep back nothing.  Nothing you have not given away will ever be really yours.   NOTHING IN YOU THAT HAS NOT DIED WILL EVER BE RAISED FROM THE DEAD.  Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin and decay.   But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with him everything else thrown in.”

Job had learned this truth. He is our example of that truth.   He had seven sons, the number of perfection, and three daughters,  the number of deity.   That makes 10 children.  The combination of his livestock comes out to 10,000.  The is all to point out that His righteous piety had lead to the complete prosperity since these numbers (3, 7, 10) all are used in Scripture as a symbol of completeness and finality.  

Job gives us an example of so much suffering.  But we ought not to forget that he also gives us the best example of piety and prosperity walking together in perfect harmony.   That is a rare example, even in Scripture.