You have rebuked the nations; you have made the wicked perish; you have blotted out their name forever and ever. ... The nations have sunk in the pit that they made; in the net that they hid, their own foot has been caught.The Lord has made himself known; he has executed judgment; the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands.
When I was in High School it was 'cool' to wear t-shirts with symbols of the Soviet Union. It still is today I suppose.
The sad part of this is that no one ... NO ONE ... in history murdered more people than the Soviets. Upwards of 60 million men, women and children were crushed under the wheels of that monstrosity.
Though that nation has been destroyed, and someday will only be remembered as a byword, men still lust after the same evil. They lay the same nets as the monsters of the past. But, do not expect them to succeed forever. The evil that they seek after will come back upon them. And it is not surprising that those who choose to surround themselves with evil will have that evil destroy them. It is what evil does.
Arise, O Lord! Let not man prevail; let the nations be judged before you! Put them in fear, O Lord! Let the nations know that they are but men!
... who does not put out his money at interest ...
What real profit is there in doing good only to get a return? There is no gain towards becoming a better person if we only give to get a tax write-off. Or if you give to get the accolades of praise.
Don't give anything of yourself ... time, money, sweat, blood ... with the understanding you will get it back and more. Give because it the right thing to do.
An orphan girl didn't know why her parents were taken from her. She was raised by her cousin who loved and treated her as his daughter. Then she was taken from him to be placed into the king's harem. Daily he would walk to the court of the harem just to find out how she was doing.
And from that beginning she became queen.
We may never know what God's plan is. But we have our part. All we can do is live it and look for where He leads us.
Esther threw her life on the line to save God's people. God raised her and Mordecai to a place where they could act. But, they were called to act.
When we come to the points of action we must act as well. When there is temptation ... walk, no, run away. When there is pain ... give comfort. When there is a child ... don't exasperate them, rather strengthen them. When there is loss ... give.
... if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail.
And there is our path.
When we do act are we acting for God or for man? I can't tell you how many times I took my own council and then went off before aiming. It isn't "ready ... FIRE ... aim!"
Getting ready and aiming is about getting in a personal relationship with God. About listening to wise council. About listening to the LORD. Once you are primed and your aim is true. Explode your life for God.
Teaching in these times I wonder if anyone prays for wisdom.
Today I feel like people would rather have oracles than wisdom. Have a math problem ... get the calculator. Have a harder problem ... get the answer from the back of the book. It's an even numbered problem ... ask someone else to do it for you. How should we vote ... listen to the talking heads on TV. Is the president a good man ... read the talking heads on the internet.
No one seems to want to work for understanding or to work for wisdom. It is a rare person who goes out of their way to become wise in knowledge. Let alone try to become wise in the ways of the LORD.
Solomon built the temple and his own house. He spent 7 years on the temple and 13 years on his own house.
God only asks for one day a week for us to spend with Him. I like to think of Sunday as a day of focus. A day where I focus on God and what He wants. The other 6 are for work. But are we like Solomon in spending twice as much time on ourselves than the Lord? Is that where your money goes? Your efforts? Your time?
For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.
As I said above, we are like Solomon. Out of our abundance we give, but the majority of our wealth we hold for back for ourselves. During the 2004 election I spent some time looking at the IRS information of wealth, taxes, and giving. I was curious about how people voted based on those three things.
What wasn't surprising to me was that the poorest states gave the largest portion of their money away. And the richest states gave, by far, the least portion of their wealth. Those that have can't imagine not having ... so they hoard. Those that don't have know what it is like to be without ... so they give what little they do have to help others.
There is a funny song by Berkley Hart called Elvis Einstein. The song is about an old man that finds a baby abandoned in a dumpster. The old man thinks that to make it in life you need to be pretty, smart, have money and friends. So he names the baby Elvis Einstein Rockefeller Jones. The rest of the song has the baby getting his name changed as he is moved from place to place.
As far as the name Nabal ... I pray that my wife will NEVER have to intercede on my behalf because I am a fool.
And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him.
I can't list all the pain that I see going on around me at times ... pain that hits on the outside of my life. Cancer, death of a child, death of a wife, death of father, broken marriages, broken lives, addiction. All things that only others and friends have experienced ... so far.
I wish I had the perfect answer to give when they ask where God is when they are in pain.
All I can think of is the stream back where I grew up in Ohio. At times it flowed it and at times it dried up. I have wonderful memories of it and painful memories as well. But, it was my stream. Where I played with my family splashing in the water and later got stuck knee deep in mud until I felt like I lost a pint of blood to mosquitoes. Where I saw and learned about life and death.
The knowledge we get is not just of good. Rather it is the Knowledge of Good AND Evil. The only answer I can think of as to why? ...
It rains when it rains. But, here is my hand. Take it and I'll help as best as I can.
When you give people a second or third chance to change do you give them the tools to change?
I would never expect to get a good crop in poor soil if I used no manure or fertilizer. If you keep coming back expecting someone to change ... it would be better if you stayed with them and nourished the soil of their life instead.
How many of us give to Goodwill brand new clothes? The youth at our church worked at a local shelter's store sorting out the clothing people dropped off. Most of it we just threw into the trash. Would YOU want to buy torn clothes with stains? And if you can't sell it you don't put it in the store.
We are not called to give the stuff we should have thrown into the trash. We are not called to give what we do not want anymore. There are uses for items in good condition, but charities are not replacements for the trash pickup.
Is what you give for the LORD without blemish? Or was it what you thought you could do without?
As I listened to the very first part of these verses I thought of all the times I picked up someone else's penny. Or received more than what I was do. I looked in my hand knowing that what I was doing was wrong. Yet, I still closed my fist. As long as I could keep it secret ... maybe no one would know. But, I knew. And God knew.
I pray that we all listen to God when He burdens our hearts with the desire of honesty. And I pray for His forgiveness for every timed I have failed.
I love that question. So often I look first to see what others expect of me. Like most people I tend to treat my boss better than the least of the people I know ( my boss does have the power to fire me ). And, at its heart, the reason I treat him better is because it is better for ME.
Me Me Me. It is all about me. If the person on the phone was your boss and not the co-worker you hate ... would you answer differently? Would you answer at all? Helping your boss maybe a positive for you ... and anyone would do that.
But, God knows our heart. It should not matter if there is a positive outcome for us. We are called to serve. To feed and welcome and clothe and visit and love.
I'm adding mp3 links for the text as well as the shockwave flash player that I used on Day 1. That way you can listen on data-plan cell phones or just download the mp3 to listen to on the way to and from work.
Hold nothing back. Leave it all on the field. We use those phrases often for sports. But, when it comes to God we tend to hold what we desire most back from Him. We don't give Him the best of our gifts. Abraham was called to give what he most loved and he didn't hold it back. He was going to leave it all on the field. All of the blood of his only son. God also gave it all ... so why can't we at least work to give our best?
After getting a stomach virus last week I didn't think I'd ever be hungry. Then I spent an afternoon helping my father-in-law clean up a hedge tree. After awhile, even with a lot of work to be done, I was willing to cut the work short just to get some supper. How often do we do that with our spiritual life? Just like Esau we cut the work God has given us short just for temporary comfort. Rather, tighten your belt and get back to work. The sun is going down and there is precious little time left to us.
And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region. Matt 8:34
I have been praying. Praying for the healing hand of God to stun the doctors. To reach into a life and leave everyone surrounding those whom I am praying for to just be stunned by healing. That they would go home speechless and confused about a miracle.
I have had that prayer answered before. And it was frightening ... even though I asked for it. Seeing God really work, to really answer us, can be a heart stopping event. An entire city came out to BEG Jesus to leave because of that same fear.
Maybe I'll also pray for the courage to accept answered prayers.
