Tag: Jehovah-Sabaoth - Jeremiah 47-52

Jeremiah 50:33-34

“Thus says the Lord of hosts: The people of Israel are oppressed, and the people of Judah with them. All who took them captive have held them fast; they refuse to let them go. Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts is his name. He will surely plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, but unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon.

Tag:  God is Strong

In the later chapters of Jeremiah, The prophet is speaking warnings against the nations God had used to punish and correct Israel. The foremost nation in this regard is Babylon. Babylon was God's tool to punish Israel, but they had taken liberty with that and never acknowledged God's power, position or presence.    For that reason God as going to come up against them, in a manner similar how they came against Israel.  But, in this case it is the power of God on display, not the power of a corrupt nation.   In the above text we see the statement, "Their Redeemer is strong: The Lord of Hosts is his name."  This is the Hebrew: "Yahweh-Tsabbaoth" (The Lord of Hosts).  Here is what one blog (Love Worth Finding): 

  "Jehovah-sabaoth literally means the Lord Almighty. It speaks of the sovereignty of God over all the powers of the universe. The second stanza from Martin Luther's hymn "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" says, "Did we in our own strength confide, Our striving would be losing, Were not the right man on our side, The man of God's own choosing. Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He, Lord Sabbaoth His name, From age to age the same, And He must win the battle." David understood the greatness of God when he went against Goliath with five smooth stones and a sling. David said to Goliath, "Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied." Oh, that each of us would have this same conception of God in our battles."

God is there to fight our battles.  God is there to fight our battles because He is able to fight our battles. God is there to fight our battles because He is able to fight our battles and promises to do so.   God is there to fight our battles because He is able to fight our battles and promises to do so as we yield and trust Him in faith.   

Tag: Mindset against God's Word - Proverbs 1

Proverbs 1:22

“How long, O naive ones, will you love being simple- minded?

And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing

And fools hate knowledge?

This proverbs is a foundational proverb.  It introduces three types of individuals being addressed in proverbs: Naive ones; scoffers, and fools. Some may interpret the three as simply three names for the same individual.   In one case they are correct.  These are three people who have, or are rejecting the truth of God's Word.   However, as we read through Proverbs we see that each of these are spoken of as having a different response to God's Word.   In this proverb, alone, we see that the naive one seems to be in love with simple-mindedness.   The scoffer doesn't just reject truth he/she attacks truth with sarcasm and ridicule.   The fool, in this proverb, has a genuine "hatred" for the knowledge God provides.   Throughout Proverbs the naive one seems to be capable of repentance and turning toward God's Word.   However, Proverbs doesn't give much hope at all for the scoffer or the fool.  It is important that we offer grace and knowledge of God's Word while people are in the naive state.  Once they leave that disposition they move into foolishness and scoffing ... seldom seeing repentance. Each of the three are being asked, in essence, a question in regard to their attitude toward God's Word.  As opposed to God's Word, the simple-one loves being carefree and unknowing.  How long will you "love" that type of life, Solomon asks.  The scoffer "delights" in scoffing.  This is the same word used in Genesis to talk about how "pleasant" God's creation is.  Scoffers don't just ridicule wisdom found in God's Word, they make a sport of it and it is "pleasant" to them.   Lastly, Solomon calls out the fool.  Psalms tells us that those who deny God even exists is a "fool."   The fool is called out because they "hate" the knowledge found in God's Word.  Each of these three have a different response to God's Word, which could supply them with wisdom to get them out of their state of mind.  Yet, they don't.  The book of proverbs was written to help them.  The answer to their mindset is God's Word. 

Tag: Worship instead of Worry - Psalm 63-65

Psalms 63:2

So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,

beholding your power and glory.

Tag: Worship

David, in Psalm 63, is offering praise and worship to God in light of the fact he is fleeing in the wilderness trying to escape.   We don't have a specific time frame for the song, but we do sense that David is under attack and wants to turn his focus onto God, not his situation.   This is the key to the Psalm.  David, despite the surrounding peril, puts his focus on the worship of God.  He has much to be disturbed about, no matter the exact time this song was written.  Apparently he had someone seeing to destroy his life and someone who was using deception to complete the destruction because latter in the Psalm he states:

Psalms 63:9-11

But those who seek to destroy my life

shall go down into the depths of the earth;

they shall be given over to the power of the sword;

they shall be a portion for jackals.

But the king shall rejoice in God;

all who swear by him shall exult,

for the mouths of liars will be stopped.

He is so confident in Gods power and glory (above verse) that he simply states that fact in song and then puts his focus on the God who solves problems, rather than the problem itself.  Psalm 63 is the perfect song to meditate upon when we have fears, failures and fumbles in life.  David is trusting in the "character" of God, not the circumstances of life.  David is trusting in the "promises" of God, not the problems in life.   As a result he is able to maintain his joy and confidence.  He knows he will fail.  But, he knows God will not and can not.  

Tag: God Equips us to Engage with Others - 1 Kings 1-4

1 Kings 4:34

And people of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.

Tag:  God equips us to engage with others 

First Kings opens with the transfer of power form King David, to his son, King Solomon.  Another brother, Adonijah, attempts to secure the throne, but, instead, King David appoints Solomon as his successor.   Solomon is young and when God appears to him and asks him what he would like to be given from God, Solomon asks for wisdom.  Since Solomon is a young man, it would have been quite natural for him to ask for power, or property, or a willing people to follow him.   Instead, Solomon ask for wisdom.   Wisdom is the ultimate thing. Later, Solomon might have remembered this time in his life when he would write:

Proverbs 4:7

The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom,

and whatever you get, get insight.

And, remember, wisdom only comes by the Fear of the Lord.  So, what Solomon requested from God came from his Fear of God:

Proverbs 9:10

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,

and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

God granted him wisdom but also gave him all the things he didn't ask.  He gave him prosperity, people and power.   And, as the above verse points out, God gave Solomon as place of persuasion on the world stage.  Solomon did not seek fame, but what he did seek (the fear of the Lord) God granted and that came with fame and fortune.  Solomon was able to speak God's Wisdom into the lives of people who did not know God.  Ultimately God would be glorified by this.   When we have a choice on what to desire from God, make it knowing God and the wisdom that comes from Him.  

Tag: Knowing God makes us Distincly Gods - Exodus 33-36

Exodus 33:12-16

Moses said to the Lord, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”

Tag:  Knowing God makes us Distinctly Gods

In the above passage Moses is going to God to appeal to Him to go before the nation as they enter the promise land.  God had just told the nation that because of their sins He would not go with them, although they could go on their own.  Moses is saying to God, "If you aren't going to go with us he doesn't want to go."  But, Moses adds another aspect to his prayer.  He tells God that the special knowledge God has given them has set them apart, distinctly for God.  Moses, in essence, is saying to God, "Any nation can march through these countries and beat them up and take their land.  But, only one nation has Yahweh with them!"  Knowing God in a personal way sets the nation of Israel aside.  Paul in Philippians 3:10 strikes a similar tone about knowing Christ and the power of His resurrection.   Knowing God through Christ in the power of the Spirit sets us apart from the world.  We ought to strive for that as we move forward in this land.  

Tag: Boasting in my weakness

2 Corinthians 11:30 - 12:1

If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.

I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.

Tag:  Boasting in my weakness

Imagine placing one your resume the every time you failed and needed help from others to make it through your day.  What would be the impact of that on your job interview?   In essence, this is what Paul is saying in the above text.  Paul was being challenged by some in the church that he was weak and unqualified to have the "power" he had in the church.  He had written to the Church at Corinth earlier instructing them to warn those who are living in sin in the church.  Some objected and called him weak as compared to them.  Paul wanted to let them know that their boasting was foolish.  He stated "if" he wanted to act like a fool, he too could boast.  But, before he starts to boast about the spiritual blessings God gave him, he would boast in the things that showed his "weaknesses."  He tells an obscure story of being in a city to preach and having to escape via a basket over the city wall that let him out of the city safely.   How humiliating for a man of God.  A man who believed in the power of God.  But, it did show his humility and how he depended upon God. In God, his weakness, was made strong.   We need to boast in our weakness because that is when we trust completely in Christ.  

Tag: Extraodinary Things - Luke 5-6

Luke 5:26

And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”

Tag:  Extraordinary Things

Christ came to the earth for us to get to know Him.  That is the point of the Bible: For us to "know" God and His Son and His plan for our lives.  We are to spend our life to get to "know" Him.   When we do, we will see "extraordinary" things.  The above verse is taken from the story of the man who was let done through the roof by his friends and Jesus healed him.  The friends went to extraordinary measures to get their friend into a place were Jesus could do an extraordinary healing.   Their faith enable their friend to be healed.  As a result the crowd was amazed.  Faith causes extraordinary things to happen. Note what happens later when Jesus, through someone's faith, heals again:

Luke 6:19

And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.

Faith produces extraordinary happens.  If you want to have a day where you say, “We have seen extraordinary things today," you have to put your faith in an extraordinary God.