Psalms 18-19: The Heavens Declare

The heavens declare the glory of God;
   the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
   night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language
   where their voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out into all the earth,
   their words to the ends of the world. - Ps 19:1-4 NIV

God is not hidden.  Though man may try to ignore him, he is not hidden.  He is seen in the vast expanse of the skies.  He is seen in the crashing waves of the ocean.  He is seen in the majestic sweep of the mountains, the depths of the great canyons and, where I live, he is seen in the endless sweep of the prairie.  He is even seen in the masses of humanity that populate and swirl through the great cities of our generation and he is seen in the wandering pilgrim in the most remote place on earth.

God is all around.  We can choose to accept or ignore him, but he is all around. 

2010 Post - Psalms 18-19:  You're My Rock

Psalms 12-17: Apart From God There is No Good Thing

I said to the LORD, “You are my Lord;
   apart from you I have no good thing.”
As for the saints who are in the land,
   they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.
The sorrows of those will increase
   who run after other gods. - Ps 16 2-4 NIV

As David said to the Lord, 'Apart from you I have no good thing.'  There is nothing, nothing that any amount of money can buy, nothing that we can beg, borrow, or steal that has any worth apart from God.  The whole world seems caught up with acquiring or protecting what they want or already have, but it's chasing the wind. Nothing will give us the satisfaction that our heart craves.  Nothing will fill the empty places.  Nothing will make us more loveable or beautiful.  In the end, we're all perfection addicts, seeking the next face lift and instead becoming more and more repulsive to ourselves and others. We may look to the world like we have it all, but if we're running after any other god, in the long run, only our sorrows will increase.  Apart from God there is no good thing. 

2010 Post- Psalms 12-17:  Lord Help for the Godly Are No More

Psalms 5-11: What Is Man?

When I consider your heavens,
   the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
   which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
   human beings that you care for them? - Ps. 8:3-4 NIV

It's easy to say these words, but do we really get it?  In the minds of most of us, we are the center of the universe.  Or if we're being very magnanimous, we may allow room for those that we love, our family and friends, to also reside in that center.  But God, he's off to the side somewhere, but he certainly is not the center.

Contrast that with how God feels.  For God, who doesn't need an of us, the fact that he would hear our feeble praise and prayers is amazing.   What is man that he is mindful of us?

2010 Post - Psalms 5-11:  In the Lord I Take Refuge

Psalms 1-4: Who Will Bring Prosperity

Many, LORD, are asking, “Who will bring us prosperity?”
   Let the light of your face shine on us.
Fill my heart with joy
   when their grain and new wine abound.
In peace I will lie down and sleep,
   for you alone, LORD,
   make me dwell in safety. - Ps. 4:6-8 NIV

It's beginning already, all the talk and discussion of who the 2012 presidential Republican candidates for president will be.  The media and pundits are asking the same question as asked in David's time.  "Who will bring us prosperity?"  If recent history is any lesson, we should know by now that prosperity, peace, whatever we are seeking cannot be provided by some politician, no matter how visionary and articulate they are. 

They may give us what we think we want, but they cannot give us what we need.  Never.  It has always been, and will ever be, only the Lord God that can provide what our hearts need.  It is only he that can give us peace.  All we can ask is that the light of his face shine on us.

2010 Post - Psalms 1-4:  Taking Stock

Job 38-41: What Was the Question?

Finally, Job is able to hear God.  But what he hears are not the answers he has been seeking.  Instead, he gets questions from God, the first of which is
“Who is this that darkens my counsel
   with words without knowledge?
Brace yourself like a man;
   I will question you,
   and you shall answer me.
“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
   Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
   Who stretched a measuring line across it?
On what were its footings set,
   or who laid its cornerstone—
while the morning stars sang together
   and all the angels shouted for joy?- Job 38:2-7 NIV

Most of the time, we think God is our size, someone we can demand answers of and command to appear.  He isn't.  He is the creator of the universe, the one who dreamed up this crazy, wonderful world that is our temporary home.  He's the owner, we're merely travelers here and he owes us no explanation.  Job finally gets it.  "I spoke of things I did not understand," he said, "therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes."  If the Lord ever answered our cries for him to 'show us your glory', we would have the same reaction.  We don't have the answers, how dare we ask the questions.

2010 Post - Job 38-39:  Out of the Storm    

2010 Post - Job 40-42:  My Eyes Have Seen

Job 36-37: In His Hands

Elihu, the youngest of those gathering around Job to console him, sees things from a different perspective than Job's other so called friends. 
I get my knowledge from afar;
   I will ascribe justice to my Maker.
Be assured that my words are not false;
   one perfect in knowledge is with you.
“God is mighty, but does not despise men;    he is mighty, and firm in his purpose.  - Job 36:3-5 NIV

'God is mighty, but he does not despise men', Elihu says.
But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering;
   he speaks to them in their affliction.
“He is wooing you from the jaws of distress    to a spacious place free from restriction,  - Job 36:15-16 NIV

 So that all men he has made may know his work,
   he stops every man from his labor
The animals take cover;
   they remain in their dens.
The tempest comes out from its chamber,
   the cold from the driving winds.
The breath of God produces ice,
   and the broad waters become frozen.
He loads the clouds with moisture;
   he scatters his lightning through them.
At his direction they swirl around
   over the face of the whole earth
   to do whatever he commands them. - Job 36:8-12 NIV

Contrary to what it often looks like, God does not despise men but is instead wooing them from the jaws of distress, so that all men he has made may know his work.  There is no other explanation.  The knowledge of science may increase, but they will never be able to explain the why of what they usually term "nature".  They may be able to read the signs and predict with some accuracy the approach of violent storms.  But they cannot create the conditions or stop them from happening.  After all these centuries, the whole of life is still in his hands.

2010 Post - Job 36-37:  The Right Perspective

Job 32-35: Blessed Be the Name of the Lord

In light of the events of the past few days in Joplin and other parts of the Midwest, some of the discussions between Job and his friends seem frivolous.  Like much of our worship today, there is a little too much "I" this and "I" in their conversations to really address the scope of the issue.

Job has lost everything, his house, his car, his church, his hospital, his school, all of his children, everything but his wife, and his friends have been trying to convince him that he must have done something wrong to deserve that.

How would the citizens of Joplin respond to those words of encouragement?  It's easy to be the accuser when you still have everything that you consider most precious.  It's a different story when you look out at the devastation that surrounds you.  The only response one can have is that which Job uttered when a messenger told him that,:
 " And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee."
   Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,
    And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.   - Job 1:19-21 KJV

We all start with nothing and end with nothing.  Everything we have in between is a blessing from the Lord.  God gives and takes away.  He gives good things and sometimes he takes away those very same good things.  But in every circumstance, the declaration of our heart should be like Job's.  'Blessed be the name of the Lord.'

2010 Post - Job 32-35: Wise Beyond Years

Job 29-31: Those Were the Days

Job continues his lament to his friends,
“How I long for the months gone by,
   for the days when God watched over me,
when his lamp shone on my head
   and by his light I walked through darkness! - Job 29:2-3 NIV

Though at the time, Job thought those days would never end, now he lives with an entirely different reality.  Those days are gone
We all encounter that reality on some level and often it is the time when we first became believers that we look back on most fondly.  The days when our spirit was on fire and, as Job said, 'when God’s intimate friendship blessed my house, (Job 29:4 NIV)   God has not taken his presence from us, just as he did not desert Job.  His protective hand is always on us, no weapon formed against us will prosper, but we may not always see that when we're in the midst of slogging through life as Job was.  Looking back is good as a reminder of what God has done, but we cannot make it the high point of our lives.  Just as it turned out to be with Job, the best days are yet to come.

2010 Post - Job 29-31:  It Isn't Fair

Job 24-28: Where Does Wisdom Come From

But where can wisdom be found?
   Where does understanding dwell?
No mortal comprehends its worth;
   it cannot be found in the land of the living. - Job 28:  12-13

'Where does wisdom come from,?' Job asks.  'It cannot be found here on earth as proved by all of the fruitless discussions we have been having.'

There is knowledge and there is history, but they are all tainted by our preconceived notions.  Some people look at the prosperous and are jealous.  Others look at the same people and see how empty and meaningless their lives are.  Some look at the wicked and are angry because they are enjoying success at others expense.  Others look at the wicked and have pity for the emptiness in their lives and the fate they will eventually suffer.  Where is wisdom, where is truth? 

God understands the way to it
   and he alone knows where it dwells,
for he views the ends of the earth  - Job 28: 23-24 NIV

Our view is limited, we cannot see the whole.  In Job's time, it was thought that the horizon, the place where the sea met the sky was the end of the earth.  Today, we know that is not true, but what other assumptions have we taken as truth.  As mortal men, it is impossible for us to have complete wisdom.  We may know a few facts, but we don't know the whole.  There is no way we can obtain God's wisdom.  Relying on him is our only hope.

2010 Post - Job 24-28:  The Beginning of Wisdom

Job 20-23: A Fate Worse Than Death

Job and his friends see things differently, much like many Christians today.  'It is the wicked who are distressed and destroyed.' they say.  'You must have done something wrong to deserve all of these calamities.' 
“Surely you know how it has been from of old,
   ever since mankind was placed on the earth,
that the mirth of the wicked is brief,
   the joy of the godless lasts but a moment. - Job 20:4-5 NIV
Not so says Job, 'Look around, you will see many of the wicked prosper. '
Why do the wicked live on,
   growing old and increasing in power?
They see their children established around them,
   their offspring before their eyes.
Their homes are safe and free from fear;
   the rod of God is not on them.
Their bulls never fail to breed;
   their cows calve and do not miscarry.
They send forth their children as a flock;
   their little ones dance about.
They sing to the music of timbrel and lyre;
   they make merry to the sound of the pipe.
They spend their years in prosperity
   and go down to the grave in peace. - Job 21:7-13 NIV

'Don't you see what I'm struggling with?' Job asks his friends. ' It's not a matter of me being wicked or not, of shutting out God.  I haven't shut him out.  He has shut me out.' 
 “But if I go to the east, he is not there;
   if I go to the west, I do not find him.
When he is at work in the north, I do not see him;
   when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him. - Job 23: 8-9

What his friends fail to see is that Job is not looking for justification for his life, an accounting of whether or not he deserves his fate.  He is looking for God and he can't find him.  That fate is far worse than any thing else that has befallen him thus far. 

 2010 Post - Job 20-23:  Confused But Not Bitter

Job 18-19: I Will See Him

Job's friends continue to heap accusation upon accusation on him.  Bildad asks, 'is the earth to be abandoned for your sake?' -  (Job 18:4 NIV)  and accuses him of perhaps not even knowing God.

That is really offensive to Job.  More offensive, he replies than any other accusation. 
My kinsmen have gone away;
   my friends have forgotten me.
My guests and my maidservants count me a stranger;
   they look upon me as an alien.
I summon my servant, but he does not answer,
   though I beg him with my own mouth.
My breath is offensive to my wife;
   I am loathsome to my own brothers.
Even the little boys scorn me;
   when I appear, they ridicule me.
All my intimate friends detest me;
   those I love have turned against me. - Job 19:14-19 NIV

But, in spite of all of this, Job says, 'I know that my Redeemer lives.'  Everything else may fail.  But he lives. My family and friends my scorn and desert me.  Even strangers ridicule me and I hear nothing from my God.  But I know he lives, and I know that even if nothing else good ever happens to me in this life, if I have already received all the blessings in store for me, if this is all there is, one day, when this life here on earth is over, I will see him.  I will see him with my own eyes.  Everything else may be taken away from me, but not that.  I know that my Redeemer lives and I will see him.

2010 Post - Job 18-19:  My Redeemer Lives

Job 15-17: Hopelessly Lost

If the only home I hope for is the grave,
   if I spread out my bed in darkness,
if I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’
   and to the worm, ‘My mother’ or ‘My sister,’
where then is my hope?
   Who can see any hope for me? - Job 17:13-15 NIV

These verses remind me of the time when we were lost trying to get out of Dublin in a rental car.  Not only were we anxious because we were forced to drive on the unaccustomed left side of the street, but we kept going around circles. We could not find the road we needed to get out of the city.  Finally, we stopped at a post office....if anyone should know the way, it would be the post....and asked for directions.  A woman waiting there in line looked at my husband and declared, 'Aye, you're hopelessly lost.'

That must be how Job felt.  He kept going around and around in circles with his friends, trying to fix the blame for his miseries on something or someone.  The only end sight that Job can see is the grave and even then that offers little hope.  I suppose we all feel that way occasionally, that is part of the human condition.  We're wandering around and around in unfamiliar territory and we can't seem to find the way out.  Sometimes the only thing we can do is what Job did, wait for the voice of the Lord even though it seems we will never hear it again.

2010 Post - Job 15-17:  Is There Any Hope

Job 11-14: What is Man

“Man born of woman
   is of few days and full of trouble.
He springs up like a flower and withers away;
   like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.
Do you fix your eye on such a one?
   Will you bring him before you for judgment?
Who can bring what is pure from the impure?
   No one!
Man’s days are determined;
   you have decreed the number of his months
   and have set limits he cannot exceed.
So look away from him and let him alone,
   till he has put in his time like a hired man. - Job 14:1-6 NIV

'Leave us alone', Job is saying. 'Why are you watching us? What is man?' Job poses this question over and over again.  What is man?  This question was not unique to Job.  It has been asked by man down through the ages.  We have cried out in our frustration at the seemingly randomness and arbitrariness of life.  What is man?  Even the Psalmist, David asked the same question.

O LORD, what is man that you care for him,
   the son of man that you think of him?
Man is like a breath;
   his days are like a fleeting shadow. - Ps. 144:3-4 NIV

Sometimes it's good to get all of life in perspective.  It's not about us.  There's a greater cosmic picture that is going on all around us.  We are only a small part.  But, we are an intentional part.  The same power that created the universe, created us and loves each one of us individually.  Our lives may be fleeting shadows, but they are part of something much bigger, something we can not even imagine. 

2010 Post - Job 11-14:  Zophar's Accusation

Job 8-10: The Impossible Divide

There is a lot of truth hidden in the dialog between Job and his three friends.  Each one is trying to sort out, to put into words what they know about God and in doing so, they speak the truth from their perspective and some of those truths resonate down through the ages to us today.  Bildad speaks to us today when he asks:
“Ask the former generations
   and find out what their fathers learned,
for we were born only yesterday and know nothing,
   and our days on earth are but a shadow.
Will they not instruct you and tell you?
   Will they not bring forth words from their understanding?
Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh?
   Can reeds thrive without water?
While still growing and uncut,
   they wither more quickly than grass.
Such is the destiny of all who forget God;
   so perishes the hope of the godless. - Job 8:8-13 NIV

'We can't do it without God'. he says.  'The former generations would tell us that.'  And Job's response resonates as well.  'How can we approach God?' Job asks:
 “He is not a man like me that I might answer him,
  that we might confront each other in court.
  If only there were someone to arbitrate between us,
  to lay his hand upon us both,
  someone to remove God’s rod from me,
  so that his terror would frighten me no more.
  Then I would speak up without fear of him,
  but as it now stands with me, I cannot. - Job 9:32-35 NIV

Bildad and Job were both right, but they were seeing history from a different perspective than the one we have now.  God did become man.  He sent his Son to become the arbitrator between man and God.  A son who removed God's rod from us by taking the punishment himself.  The gulf has been bridged between us and an unreachable God.  Access has been provided by the Son.  

2010 Post - Job 8-10:  Leaning on a Spider's Web

Job 4-7: Mercy, Mercy

The dialog between Eliphaz and Job sounds familiar.  'What is God doing?' Job asked.  'I have done nothing wrong to deserve this treatment.' and his friend replies, 'You must have done something wrong.  Calamities befall people only because of their actions.'

It occurs to me reading these chapters that even if Job had committed grave wrongs, even if he had sorely tested God, where is the mercy.  As Job put it:
“A despairing man should have the devotion of his friends,
   even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams,
   as the streams that overflow - Job 6:14-15 NIV

I look around and mercy calls, but few answer.  Friends, brothers and sisters, fellow Christians, can all be strangely silent when disaster strikes or abandon one another all together.  Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy, (Matt 5:7 KJV) Jesus says.  I don't know about anyone else, but I have needed mercy, many times over and still need it.  I need God's mercy and I need the mercy of fellow pilgrims on this journey of discovery.  Perhaps that is all that Job was looking for...not the answers that his friends were so willing to give, but a little mercy.

2010 Post - Job 4-7:  Searching for Answers

Job 1-3: Where is the Peace and Rest?

Few of us have experienced all of the disasters, tragedies and health issues that Job faced.  We don't know what it is to be so beset upon, but in being blessed with relatively few inflictions, are we missing out on something that was clear to one so sorely troubled as Job?

Not just the idea that we should accept both good and trouble from God, but Job's knowledge that this earth is temporary, a place where as Job said:
   I would be lying down in peace;
   I would be asleep and at rest
with kings and counselors of the earth,
   who built for themselves places now lying in ruins,
with rulers who had gold,
   who filled their houses with silver.....
There the wicked cease from turmoil,
   and there the weary are at rest.
Captives also enjoy their ease;
   they no longer hear the slave driver’s shout.
The small and the great are there,
   and the slave is freed from his master. - Job 3:13-19 NIV

In the midst of life, it is hard to long for such a place, but there is something built into all of us that knows that the peace we long for will never totally be found on this earth.  My guess is that most of those who commit suicide are hoping to find that rest, but suicide is not the answer.  Jesus said, 'Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' (Matt. 11:28 KJV)  Herein lies the answer to all of man's problems, both for the here and now and the hereafter. 

2010 Post - Job 1-3:  A Blameless Man

Esther 6-10: No Weapon

Whether in exile or in the diaspora, there have always been people who wanted to annihilate the Jews.  Haman was not the first and Hitler was not the last.  All of their plans have been foiled, not by man's hands, but by the hands of God.  Even while Haman was building the gallows where he planned to have Mordecai hanged, God's was working behind the scenes.

That night the king could not sleep; so he ordered the book of the chronicles, the record of his reign, to be brought in and read to him. It was found recorded there that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s officers who guarded the doorway, who had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes. - Est. 6:1-2 NIV

It was no accident that on that night, the king could not sleep.  It was no accident that he ordered the record of his reign to be brought in and read.  After tossing and turning for hours, he may have thought it it would ease his mind to look over the impressive conquests of his kingdom or review the vast wealth he had accumulated.  But, what he saw was only what God wanted him to see, and it set in motion the events that ended in Haman's downfall and Mordecai's promotion.  Even now, when the odds often look like they are stacked against Israel, God's eye is on his people.  The promise that he gave through Isaiah remains:

No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD. - Isaiah 54:17 KJV

2010 Post - Esther 6-10:  Celebration of Purim

Esther 1-5: Tripped up by Ego

For a full 180 days he displayed the vast wealth of his kingdom and the splendor and glory of his majesty. When these days were over, the king gave a banquet, lasting seven days, in the enclosed garden of the king’s palace, for all the people from the least to the greatest, who were in the citadel of Susa. The garden had hangings of white and blue linen, fastened with cords of white linen and purple material to silver rings on marble pillars. There were couches of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl and other costly stones. Wine was served in goblets of gold, each one different from the other, and the royal wine was abundant, in keeping with the king’s liberality. - Est. 1: 4-7 NIV

Having great wealth does not make a ruler wise or even successful.  It only gives them power.  Despite all of his wealth, Xerxes' own wife refused to obey his command and he was not wise enough to see who was for or against him.  His life was spared by Mordecai, but Haman ended up being the one promoted and with that promotion, Haman decided to get even with Mordecai, because he would not bow before him, by destroying not only Mordecai, but the entire Jewish citizenry which included Esther who had become Xerxes beloved wife.  Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews—young and old, women and little children—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods....Spurred on by the king’s command, the couriers went out, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was bewildered. - Est. 3: 13 & 15 NIV

The king and Haman went on their merry way as if nothing had happened, but the ordinary citizens wondered what was happening.  What silly, silly games we play when we have power and authority thrust upon us.  Egos get so big that we would destroy anything good, even those we love most.  All for a respect that we have done nothing to deserve.  Lest we think this is just a curse that befalls kings and rulers, we need to look carefully at our own lives.  What things are so obvious to those around us that we refuse to see?  Where does an ego trip, trip us up? 

2010 Post - Esther 1-5:  For Such a Time as This

Nehemiah 11-13: Remember Me with Favor

'Remember me with favor, O my God', Nehemiah ends his writing.  Nehemiah was waging an uphill battle.  .  He had to contend with the Levites neglecting their duties and going back to their fields instead.  He had to contend with people who were working and trading on the Sabbath.  He had to contend with priests who had married foreign women.  But in all of these circumstances, Nehemiah was not afraid to confront the evil doers.  He was fierce in his defense of God's law.

All this from a man who could have been content in his position of cup bearer to the King. He had the king's ear.  He was in an enviable position in Babylon.  He had a pretty cushy life.  He didn't need to get involved with the going's on back in Jerusalem.  But Nehemiah knew that there was one greater than King Artaxerxes.  While he dutifully served the king of Babylon, his heart knew that it was the favor of God that was the most important.  It didn't matter what the most powerful king in the world at that point in time thought of him.  His heart was set on winning the favor of God.

2010 Post - Nehemiah 11-13:  Dedication of the Wall

Nehemiah 8-10:

  Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is sacred to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.
  Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”
  The Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be still, for this is a sacred day. Do not grieve.”
  Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them. - Nehemiah 8:9-12 NIV

I pray the same prayer, "Go with me today." and it seems so repetitious and at the same time it seems to be all I need to ask.  "Lord God, go with me.  God of our fathers, go with me.  God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, go with me.  God who caused David to sing and the prophets to prophecy, go with me. God of the exiles who went back with the people to rebuild the walls and the temple, go with me.  God of Nehemiah the governor and Ezra the scribe, go with me.  God who sent his son for me, who sent his son to capture me and at the same time pay my ransom, go with me."

2010 Post - Nehemiah 8-10:  Stand Up and Bless the Lord

Nehemiah 5-7: Shaken and Emptied

Imagine what it's like to return from exile in a foreign land only to become enslaved to your fellow countrymen, the nobles and officials who lorded it over them.  That was the cry of the exiles to Nehemiah.

“We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our homes to get grain during the famine.”
Still others were saying, “We have had to borrow money to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards. Although we are of the same flesh and blood as our countrymen and though our sons are as good as theirs, yet we have to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but we are powerless, because our fields and our vineyards belong to others.”  - Neh. 5:3-5 NIV

Nehemiah confronted the officials then shook out the folds of his robe and said, “In this way may God shake out of his house and possessions every man who does not keep this promise. So may such a man be shaken out and emptied!” (Neh. 5:13 NIV)

In God's sight, it's a serious thing to not take care of our brothers, it has always been so.  God has never been the god of the individual.  God has always been about establishing a people, a community, not a person. He does not give us gifts, talents, and position for us to lord it over others.  Everything he gives us is to build up his kingdom and not our own wealth.  I confess I often get it wrong, and then I find that I have taken on an even greater burden from my possessions.  Even today, God will shake out of his house and possessions every man who doesn't keep the promise to not profit from the misfortunes of his brother.  I want to empty myself, I don't want to be shaken and emptied by God.

2010 Post - Nehemiah 5-7:  Safe Once More

Nehemiah 1-4: Prayer Changes Things

Then I prayed to the God of heaven,  and I answered the king.....And because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my requests.- Neh. 2:5-8 NIV

What courage Nehemiah had, what faith.  Jerusalem was in ruins, the ones who had returned from exile were living in despair and disgrace.  Who did Nehemiah think he was that he could fix the situation?  Someone who totally depended on the Lord.  When he first heard of the plight of the exiles, he wept, then began to mourn fast and pray for days.  Finally, when the opportunity presented itself,  he rose up and approached the king for permission to act. 

Everything Nehemiah did was preceded by prayer, “O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands,  let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel." -(Neh. 1:5-6 NIV) and Nehemiah's prayers did not fall on deaf ears.  The king gave Nehemiah permission to go to Jerusalem with safe conduct and provision for the timber needed for rebuilding.  Nehemiah may have been surrounded by scoffers and enemies, but undaunted, the work went forward.  Nehemiah's prayers had laid the groundwork.  The gracious hand of God was upon the ones who delighted in revering God's name.

2010 Post - Nehemiah 1-4:  Cup Bearer to the King

Ezra 8-10: Relief in Our Bondage

“But now, for a brief moment, the LORD our God has been gracious in leaving us a remnant and giving us a firm place in his sanctuary, and so our God gives light to our eyes and a little relief in our bondage. Though we are slaves, our God has not deserted us in our bondage. He has shown us kindness in the sight of the kings of Persia: He has granted us new life to rebuild the house of our God and repair its ruins, and he has given us a wall of protection in Judah and Jerusalem. - Ezra 9: 8-9 NIV

The history of God's people has been for the most part a story of bondage.  A lot of which has been self-inflicted because of the flippant nature with which we have treated our God.  It happened to the Israelites time and time again and it has happened to Christian nations down through history.  God has always loved his people and there have been times when as Ezra said, 'God has given light to our eyes and a little relief in our bondage'.  One of those times was the blessing that was bestowed on this nation at it's founding. 

The same can be said on an individual level as well.  God has given light to our eyes.  He has not deserted us in our bondage, in fact, he has always been waiting and willing to take us out of that bondage if only we would call on his name.  Some of us know what it is like to have wandered away from God's love for a season and have experienced the new life and enabling to rebuild that he grants us when we return from exile.  Though we may have been slaves to sin, he has not deserted us.  There is still light for our eyes and relief from our bondage.

2010 Post - Ezra 8-10:  Less Than Our Sins Deserved

Ezra 5-8: Implicit Trust

What a wise man Ezra was.  He put his money where his mouth was.  'There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions. I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, “The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him.” So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.' - Ezra 8:21-23 NIV

I wish I had the same trust in God.  I do take my burdens to the Lord, but then, most often, I seek out the answer to my petitions from any available source.  If I am sick, I ask God for healing, then I go to the doctor.  If there is a financial need, I ask God, then go to the bank.  My guess is most of us, especially here in the United States where we have such great resources available, do the same thing. 

Ezra and the other exiles knew what it was like to be sent away because of trusting in other gods and governments.  Ezra was going to make sure that the same thing did not happen again.  He was not going to depend on the strength of the Babylonian armies to get them safely to Jerusalem.  He was going to trust solely in God.  God saw them through. 

What is it going to take for me to humble myself enough to trust in the gracious hand of God implicitly?  Do I have to be sent into exile in order to have that kind of trust?

2010 Post - Ezra 4-7:  The Eye of God Watches

Ezra 1-4: A Willing Heart

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing:
   “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:
   “‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah.  Anyone of his people among you—may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the LORD, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem. - Ezra 1-3 NIV

God will use anyone who has a willing heart as a means to advance his kingdom.  Such was the case with Cyrus, king of Persi...a heathen king, but one who recognized that it was God who had given him his kingdom.  Cyrus gave his blessing to the people of God to rebuild God's temple in Jerusalem.  It turns out that a heathen king was much more aware of the power of the Israelites God than their own priests, the ones who let the former temple be ransacked.

As always, man looks on the outward appearance, but God sees the heart. As the Lord declared through Jeremiah during the reign of Josiah before Israel was taken into captivity:

 “I the LORD search the heart
   and examine the mind,
to reward a man according to his conduct,
   according to what his deeds deserve.”  Jer. 17:10

It behooves us to realize that God often works through those that we Christians would consider to be more ungodly than we are.  Only God has the ability to search the heart.

2010 Post - Ezra 1-4: Joy Mixed with Sorrow

2 Chronicles 34-36: Until the Seventy Years

Josiah was only 8 years old when he became king, but by the time he was sixteen, he knew instinctively that something was wrong and began to seek God.  At the age of twenty, he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles, carved idols and cast images. Under his direction the altars of the Baals were torn down; he cut to pieces the incense altars that were above them, and smashed the Asherah poles, the idols and the images. These he broke to pieces and scattered over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. He burned the bones of the priests on their altars, and so he purged Judah and Jerusalem. - 2 Chronicles 34: 3-5 NIV

Josiah was even more contrite when the book of the law was discovered in the temple and he realized just how far the descendants of Abraham had wandered from God and his commandments.  But nothing Josiah or the people did would change the events already set in motion.  Judah, just like Israel, had to pay the price for their disobedience.as Jeremiah, the prophet during Josiah's time predicted:  This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. - Jer. 25:11 NIV

The people would pay the price for their disobedience.  They would be carried off into captivity and none of their altars, idols or images would save them.  Only God could restore them and he would do that very thing when the time came.  In the meantime, peace and quiet, the rest prescribed by God, would settle upon the promised land.

The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah. - 2 Chronicles 36:21 NIV

2010 Post - 2 Chronicles 34-36:  The People Have Spoken

2 Chronicles 32-33: The Chains of God

The LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. So the LORD brought against them the army commanders of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh prisoner, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon. In his distress he sought the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. And when he prayed to him, the LORD was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God. - 2 Chron. 33:10-13 NIV

Why is rebellion so attractive?  Often, rebellion is directed at anything previous generations subscribe to, especially the beliefs of our parents.  Such was the case with Manasseh.  His father Hezekiah had followed after God so Manasseh did exactly the opposite.  But the rebellion he followed after became a hard taskmaster.  Manasseh ended up bound in shackles with a hook in his nose, the same way sin binds us when we rebel.  His distress was so great that he finally sought the favor of the Lord and God's response, unlike that of most of us, was forgiveness and restoration. 

The freedom we think we will find by following the world rather than God is nothing but an illusion.  We can be bound by love or bound by sin which binds us twice as hard as God ever would.  Fortunately, God's love can break even the chains of the world.

2010 Post - 2 Chronicles 32-33:  With Him is Only The Arm of Flesh

2 Chronicles 29-31: The King Calls

In the first month of the first year of his reign, he opened the doors of the temple of the LORD and repaired them. He brought in the priests and the Levites, assembled them in the square on the east side  and said: “Listen to me, Levites! Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the LORD, the God of your fathers. Remove all defilement from the sanctuary.  Our fathers were unfaithful; they did evil in the eyes of the LORD our God and forsook him. They turned their faces away from the LORD’s dwelling place and turned their backs on him. They also shut the doors of the portico and put out the lamps. They did not burn incense or present any burnt offerings at the sanctuary to the God of Israel.  Therefore, the anger of the LORD has fallen on Judah and Jerusalem; he has made them an object of dread and horror and scorn, as you can see with your own eyes.  This is why our fathers have fallen by the sword and why our sons and daughters and our wives are in captivity.  Now I intend to make a covenant with the LORD, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger will turn away from us. - 2 Chron. 29:2-10 NIV

Sometimes it takes a king to challenge the priests, the ones who should have been following fast after the heart of  God, to repentance and re-consecration.  Imagine Hezekiah.  He is twenty-five years old and has just become king following the death of his father Ahaz who desecrated the temple and set up altars on every street corner and high places in every town in Judah.  Hezekiah must have watched the decline in Judah as his father became more corrupt and realized that there was no benefit to be derived from following the other gods.  But, it was the priests who had allowed the temple to be ransacked and the priest who had neglected their priestly duties and so it fell to Hezekiah to fling open the doors of the temple and challenge the priests and Levites to return to the role that God had prescribed. 

I wonder how God sees our temples today.  Not our churches, although that is a topic for re-examination, but the temple where God now dwells.  As the Apostle Paul said:   Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;  you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body- (1 Cor. 6:19-20 NIV)  Have our temples become defiled?  Have we adopted the world's attitudes and practices?  Have they become useless as a place of worship and consecration to God?  There is a king who opened the doors and repaired them.  Now he calls us to a new covenant.  He has flung open the door, will we answer the call?

2010 Post - 2 Chronicles 29-31:  Return to God and He Will Return to You