Life Lessons from the OT (again)

What do you do when you’re fed up? 

Who do you turn to when you’re at the end of your rope?

Recently, I stumbled upon (again) a passage of scripture that I forgot about… It comes from 1 Samuel 30. Let me try to set the stage just a bit

David, had been making ‘his home” in Ziklag for more than a year and a half, and had become friends with a dude by the name of Achish… and david had gone out on a few battles and raids and had been successful on these raids. 

One day, Achish was going into battle with— not against— the Philistines, and David and his men had been bringing up the rear. the Philistine commander had wondered about david, and he said something to Achish and one thing led to another thing and David was not allowed to accompany Achish into battle; even though he had turned out to be a help to Achish, not a hindrance. (The Philistines had thought David would turn against them and go back to Saul once again…)

So, David and his friends make their way back to the place where they are staying and: “Three days later, when David and his men arrived home at their town of Ziklag, they found that the Amalekites had made a raid into the Negev and Ziklag; they had crushed Ziklag and burned it to the ground. 2 They had carried off the women and children and everyone else but without killing anyone.

3 When David and his men saw the ruins and realized what had happened to their families, 4 they wept until they could weep no more. 5 David’s two wives, Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal from Carmel, were among those captured. 6 David was now in great danger because all his men were very bitter about losing their sons and daughters, and they began to talk of stoning him. But David found strength in the Lord his God.” (NLT2)

If things aren’t bad enough, when Dave and his posse arrived back home, they found that it had been raided by their enemies; they had completely torched it and stole the women and children. 

After an intense time of mourning, David’s men started to turn against him because not only had David’s wives been stolen, but the men he was working with had their wives taken from them, too. David was about to get stoned. 

Things are bad for David. He was kicked out of the hunting party; his house had been raided, burned to the ground and wives had been taken away from Him. He had every right to be mad. His companions had every right to be mad. 

Its the last part of verse 6 that interests me: But David found strength in the Lord his God.”

Instead of putting his hand through a wall, or yelling at the top of his lungs, (which he could have, and did indeed do in some of the Psalms) He found strength in the Lord. 

David took his troubles to the Lord, and he let the Lord figure things out… 

I’ve been trying to do this same thing. I often take my troubles to the Lord, and often tell Him what I don’t like— particular being sick and tired of being sick and tired— and, well, I guess the Lord is giving me strength to make it through the day, and when I get too tired of it all, I take a nap. Or try too, but that’s another topic all together.   

I want to encourage you to do what David did, and what I am trying to do: Look to God when you feel the world is coming after you. 

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. 29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;

31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:28-31, NIV)

What's in a Name?

I think I have mentioned this before, but I am reading my way through the Bible. I am following a Bible plan on youversion.com by the good people over at thebibleproject.com. 

As I have been making my way through the Bible, I have been keeping notes about various names in the bible. These could be names of people or places. Usually they are names that have some sort of meaning behind them, so I write them down for future reference. here are a few of the names…

• Joseph named his sons: “Manasseh- Sounds like “God has made me forget”- Genesis 41:51 AND
• Ephraim- Sounds like “God has made me fruitful”- genesis 41:52
• Ishmael- (God Hears)- Genesis 16:11( for the Lord has heard your cry of distress- telling this to Hagar)
• El-Roi- the God who sees- Gen. 16:13
• “So that well was named Beer-lahai-roi (which means “well of the Living One who sees me”). It can still be found between Kadesh and Bered.”Genesis 16:14 NLT
• “Yahweh-Nissi”  (which means “the Lord is my banner”- Exodus 17:15
• Immanuel means God with us- Matthew 1:23

The other day, I stumbled upon another name: Jabez. 

Apparently Jabez’s mom had some complications, because the name means; “Distress” or “Pain”.

What a great way to enter this world. But, jabez didn't let this name define him. For we read in 2 Chronicles 4 “Jabez was more honourable than his brothers….. Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." 

And God granted his request.” (2 Chr. 4:9,10. niv) 

I love this prayer! It’s simple, bold and extremely powerful. 

Even though his name meant “pain” and/or “distress”, Jabez grew up to be a person of God, who did wonderful things for God. What were they? 

We have absolutely no idea. 

There is no record of him after these 2 verses. All we know is that Jabez gave his mama a hard time during birth, but went on to do wonderful things for God. 

This is proof that you don’t have to let your past define you. This is proof that if you place your trust in God, He will use you in a powerful way. It may not look like what you think it will look like, but God will still use you for His good. 

Paul gave us this promise in Romans 8: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (niv)

Your name probably isn’t Jabez. It’s probably not even Manasseh or Ephraim. But it can be “Child of God”. 

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1,niv)

Whatever your name is— or isn’t- why don’t you spend some time this week asking God to use you where you are to reach people for Jesus. 

You never know, God might grant your request!

Psalm 13

I have been reading today Psalm 13- It seems very appropriate to my situation. Here is the Psalm and then after some remarks…

“How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?

2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?

3 Look on me and answer, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;

4 my enemy will say, "I have overcome him," and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

5 But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.

6 I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me.” (NIV84)

This Psalm is of interest to me. Particularly the first three words… “How Long, Lord” (NIV2011)

David was feeling as if the Lord had left him. While we aren’t giving any indication as to why David felt like this, I’m almost positive that each one of us has been in this exact situation. 

I know I certainly do. If you are reading this, then you are at least mildly familiar with my story. I am awaiting my 3rd liver transplant and I am unable to do many of the things that I enjoy doing, because of my not so great functioning liver. 

I’m going into my 6th year full time of dealing with these health related issues; and it's starting to take its toll on me. 

I feel like David. I feel like asking God: “Will you forget me forever”? (NIV2011)

I want to be done with this life situation. I’m done being sick and tired of being sick and tired.  I feel exactly like David: “How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?” (13:2)

Notice that while David didn’t have an answer as to why he was going through what ever it was that he was going through, he did make a choice. Two of them to be exact. 

While David was in distress, while David didn’t have a reason as to why he felt God had left Him, He chose 1) To trust in God. 

Even though David was in way over his head— and he wanted out of his situation, he chose to trust in God. He chose to trust in God’s unfailing love. In the Love that never left David. 

2) David remembered the Lord’s goodness to him. (He remembered God’s many blessings to him.) 

What started out as a rough day for David, ended with Him thanking God for His goodness. 

David was able to come to the place where he realized that God had been good to him every step of the way and he wanted to thank God for those blessings. 

I think this is a model for us to follow. I’m guilty of questioning more than I am trusting. 

I think this is ok— it means we’re human’s, and its ok to question— but at the end of the day, I want to trust that God sees the whole plan and that His unfailing love are enough to get me through, not only my best of days, but also on the days— like today—- that I’m left scratching my head, asking, “How Lord, Lord?” 

Do you need to move away from Asking :How long, Lord” and say, “I will trust you, Lord.”?

If you’re not there yet, that’s ok! there is nothing wrong with spending time asking: “How Long, Lord?”… just don’t stay there too long. Make the commitment that, while you are still asking: “How Long, Lord”, you will thank God for His goodness to you over the years; and you will begin to trust Him with the days and weeks that follow.

The Prince of Peace has come

The story is told “about a certain kingdom wherein there was a handsome prince, searching for a woman worthy enough to be his wife and to become queen of the land. 

One day while running an errand for his father, the prince passed through a poor 

village.

As he glanced out the window of his carriage his eyes fell on a beautiful peasant maiden. 

During ensuing days, he often passed by the young lady and soon fell in love with her by sight. 

But he had a problem. How could he seek her hand in marriage?

He could command her to marry him, but the prince wanted someone who would marry him out of love, not coercion. 

He could show up at her door in his splendid uniform in a gold carriage drawn by six horses, attendants in tow, and bearing a chest of jewels and gold coins. 

But then how would he know if she really loved him or if she was just overawed and overwhelmed with his splendor? 

Finally he came up with another solution.

He stripped off his royal robes, put on common dress, moved into the village, and got to know her without revealing his identity. 

As he lived among the people, the prince and the maiden became friends, shared each other’s interests, and talked about their concerns. 

As time went on, the young lady grew to love him for who he was and because he had first loved her.

My friends, This is the good news of Jesus!. The Prince of Peace Himself, Jesus Christ, laid aside the robes of His glory, garbed himself as a peasant, became a human being, and moved into our village, onto our planet, to woo us to himself.” (NCBSIQ, 483)

John reminds us that: “The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.

11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 

12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God--13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.” (NIV84)

Jesus, the Prince of Peace, makes peace with God and peace with ourselves possible. Because He became one of us and paid the sin-price for us, we can be at peace. 

For us to be at peace, we must receive the Gift of Jesus the Prince of Peace. 

In a culture where it seems that rest, security, freedom, stability, and safety seem to be disintegrating on a daily basis; you can receive Jesus the Prince of Peace. 

You can receive the gift of being at peace with God and you can receive the gift of being at peace with yourself. 

These gifts are available to you, and these gifts are what we need if we are going to make it 

in this messed up world.  

God knows this and that is why He has given us the gift of Jesus the Prince of Peace. He has come to make peace a priority in your life. 

Will you receive the peace that He has to offer you?

The Baby changed everything!

Bret Harte—the author not the wrestler—tells the story of Roaring Camp, in his short story called “The Luck of Roaring Camp”

Roaring Camp was supposed to be, according to the story, the meanest, toughest mining town in the entire West. 

More murders and more thefts occurred at Roaring Camp then at any other place. 

It was a place inhabited entirely by men, and one woman who tried to serve them all. Her name was Cherokee Sal. And she died while giving birth to a baby. 

The men took that baby, and they put him in a box with some old rags under him. 

When they looked at him, they decided that didn't look right, so they sent one of the men eighty miles to buy a rosewood cradle. 

He brought the cradle back, and they put the rags and the baby in the rosewood cradle. But the rags didn't look right there. 

So they sent another man to Sacramento, and he came back with some beautiful silk and lace blankets. 

And they put the baby, wrapped around with those blankets, in the rosewood cradle. 

It looked fine until someone happened to notice that the floor was filthy. So these hardened, tough men got down on their hands and knees, and scrubbed that floor until it was clean. 

Of course, what that did was to make the walls and the ceiling and the dirty windows without curtains look absolutely terrible. So they washed down the walls and the ceiling, and they put curtains on the windows. 

Now things were beginning to look as they thought they should look. 

But of course, they had to give up a lot of their fighting, because the baby slept a lot and babies can't sleep during a brawl. 

Soon the whole temperature of Roaring Camp seemed to go down. 

These men used to take the baby out and set him by the entrance to the mine so they could see him when they came up. 

Then somebody noticed what a dirty place that was, so they planted flowers, and they made a nice garden there. 

They would bring the baby shiny little stones and things that they would find in the mine. 

But when they would put their hands down next to the baby, their hands looked so dirty. 

Pretty soon the general store was all sold out of soap and shaving gear and perfume... 

The baby, you see, changed everything.   

Just as this baby changed these rough and tough men, the Baby that was born in a manger over 2000 years ago has also come to change our world. 

John wrote the following: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1:14)

Author and Pastor Max Lucado, in his book Next Door Saviour, writes: “a just-God Jesus could make us, but not understand us. A just-man Jesus could love us, but never save us. Jesus was not a godlike man, not a manlike God. He was God-man.”

God stuffed Himself into a Baby and lived among us to make it possible for us to dwell with Him in heaven now and for all eternity. Will your life be changed by the coming of this God-Man

Life lesson from the OT #2.

I have been working my way though Pastor Craig Groeschel’s new book: Hope in the Dark. Excellent Read. I cant recommend it enough. Do yourself a favour and head-on over to Amazon and pick up this book.

While I am not here to review this book in it’s entirety— this is above my pay-grade— I did get a few sermon ideas, and I am currently working on one now— you can pray that I will be asked to share this at a church near you… especially if you’re reading this from Ghana or Florida.. but I digress. 

The character that Pastor Craig directs out attention to is the Old Testament Prophet by the name of Habakkuk. Not much is known about this old book; however this small book packs an enormous punch. 

God’s chosen people had been worshipping idols and rebelling against Him for years and refusing to listen to each prophet that God had sent their way to remind them to turn from their wicked ways and turn back to God… but the people would not listen. 

Habakkuk was upset that the chosen people were  running around sining; so he talked to God about it, and then he found out that the evil empire, AKA the Babylonians were on their way to bring ruin to the chosen people of God. (This kinda gives us a date of this book… the fall of Judah occurred in 586, but that’s neither here nor there.)

When Hab. learns of the impending destruction at the hands of the evil empire, he goes ballistic… He begins to question God and ask Him if He knew what the Babylonians were truly like…

God reminded Hab. that though the evil empire would destroy Judah, they would eventually get what’s coming to them. they themselves— the evil empire— would get it. 

The interesting part of all the exchange that Hab. had with God was how God interacted with him. To me, it reinforced how we have a God who is Completely Sovereign, but yet at the same time very personal and approachable. God wants to be involved in our lives. He wants to be consulted, He wants to be involved in our every day lives. 

another thing that stood out to me was Habakkuk’s response to the whole event that was going to transpire— here is chapter 3:16-18

I trembled inside when I heard this;

    my lips quivered with fear.

My legs gave way beneath me,

    and I shook in terror.

I will wait quietly for the coming day

    when disaster will strike the people who invade us.

17 Even though the fig trees have no blossoms,

    and there are no grapes on the vines;

even though the olive crop fails,

    and the fields lie empty and barren;

even though the flocks die in the fields,

    and the cattle barns are empty,

18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord!

    I will be joyful in the God of my salvation.

Basically he is choosing to believe that God is God and He can be trusted. Though His current situation didn’t make any sense to Habakkuk still trusted in God. 

I think there is a lesson in this for us. 

Sometimes things can happen to us that leave us scratching our heads. We hear of wildfires completely destroying parts of the world, and his being shot, and chaos seems to be the rule of the day. 

Its here that we need to join in what Habakkuk is saying: “Though the fig tree does not bud

    and there are no grapes on the vines,

though the olive crop fails

    and the fields produce no food,

though there are no sheep in the pen

    and no cattle in the stalls,

18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

    I will be joyful in God my Savior.” (NIV2011)

God can be trusted. All. the. time.

Life Lessons from the Old Testament #1

So, I have been doing some thinking and some reading and some meditating and I have been thinking about some good blog entires and well, here is something to think about. 

as I may have mentioned before, I have been working my way though the Old Testament with help from the good folks over at thebibleproject.com and my reading earlier on in the week took me to Deuteronomy chapter 10. 

In this chapter, Moses is reminding the Children of Isreal of their not-so-distant past, basically a reminder of all the things he’s been teaching them over the last 40 years or so. Chapter 10 kind of jumped off the page for me— see if you can pick up what I’m lying down:

And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? He requires only that you fear the Lord your God, and live in a way that pleases him, and love him and serve him with all your heart and soul. 13 And you must always obey the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good.

14 “Look, the highest heavens and the earth and everything in it all belong to the Lord your God. 15 Yet the Lord chose your ancestors as the objects of his love. And he chose you, their descendants, above all other nations, as is evident today. 16 Therefore, change your hearts and stop being stubborn.

17 “For the Lord your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords. He is the great God, the mighty and awesome God, who shows no partiality and cannot be bribed. 18 He ensures that orphans and widows receive justice. He shows love to the foreigners living among you and gives them food and clothing. 19 So you, too, must show love to foreigners, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. 20 You must fear the Lord your God and worship him and cling to him. Your oaths must be in his name alone. 21 He alone is your God, the only one who is worthy of your praise, the one who has done these mighty miracles that you have seen with your own eyes. 22 When your ancestors went down into Egypt, there were only seventy of them. But now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky!” (10:12-22, NLt2)

Just a few take-a-ways from this passage:

1. God is looking for obedience.Even and especially in the OT where the sacrificial system was everywhere and everything, God was really interested in His people’s obedience to Him. this is still all God is looking for, from us today. He wants obedience. while I don’t have time today to explain the complete context, read John 21:22— “You must follow me”- JESUS!

2. I also see the Love of God at play in this passage. (Vs. 15) God did not chose the biggest baddest nation on the planet to rescue and redeem, He chose the smallest nation and made them into HIs own special possession. Don’t doubt God’s Love for you. (See John 15:16

3. There is no one like our God! (17, 20-21) In a world where everyone wants to be king, this passage reminds us that there is only One King of kings and One Lord of lords. One. 

While He was here on earth, several times Jesus also claimed to be the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. (see each time Jesus used the Name that was reserved for God alone, I AM. At my count, it’s 8x in the Book of John. Also, See John 1:14.) There is only One God. His Name is Jesus and He has come to help you. He has gone to incredible lengths to come and look for you to bring you home where you belong. 

So, have you surrendered your heart and life over to the King of kings and Lord of Lords? What God is looking for from all of us is obedience. Will you surrender your way over to His Perfect way?