a child of god
this is the way, run in it
Undignified?! Yes, that's right. Do you remember when King David was bringing the ark of the covenant of God back to Jerusalem, and he was worshiping with all his might in front of the ark as it made its way back home? David was leading the way, he was dancing and singing and shouting and half-naked - he, the King, humbled himself before God in delight, in praise, in love, with abandon. And his wife, Michal, dissed him for it. She scorned him and did not say, "Well done! What a way to bless our God and His people." No, she didn't say that. And she faced the LORD God's judgement for her heart attitude as a consequence.
And what did David say to her? "It was for the LORD, because He chose me..." (2 Samuel 6:12-23). It was almost like he couldn't believe that she didn't get it. The point I want to make is that David didn't mind looking foolish. He didn't mind being undignified and looking like a lowly person without much clothing on, making a spectacle of himself. Because he was giving all of himself, pouring out his heart and love and gratitude to his God. He abandoned everything, even the dignity due a king, to show how much God meant to him. And it occurred to me, David's actions and heart mirror God's heart toward us. Zephaniah 3:17 is a verse many people love, as it shows God's heart for His people. It says, "The Lord your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy." Here we see God with us, His people, He is here with us, and He is like a victorious warrior - for He is our defender, our Redeemer, our rescuer. He exults over us with joy, that means he is showing or feeling triumphant elation or jubilation. Other synonyms for exult are: rejoice, be joyful, be happy, be pleased, be glad, be delighted, be elated, be ecstatic, be euphoric, be overjoyed, be as pleased as Punch, be cock-a-hoop, be jubilant, be rapturous, be in raptures, be transported, be beside oneself with joy, be delirious, be thrilled, jump for joy, be on cloud nine, be walking/treading on air, be in seventh heaven, glory, triumph, be triumphant. God is like that over us! He's noisy about it. He broods over us quietly. He is absorbed with us, His people. This is the heart of God the Father. He's not afraid to be undignified - look at the father of the prodigal son who hitched up his skits and ran down the road to meet the shameful son - he wanted him back. Look at Jesus, who went to the cross for you and me, took on our shame, our sin, for us - so that God the Father could get us back. Jesus endured a lot, out of love for God the Father and for love of us. It's hard to imagine, sometimes. But think about it - if God rejoices over us, sings over us, quietly broods over us, seeks us out, pays for our sins, redeems us, loves us, isn't worried about looking undignified, is not ashamed to call us His own, what about us? what about our heart attitudes? Do we delight ourselves before God? Do we show Him how much He means to us? Are we more worried about our dignity or place of honor/role among others? Do we give God our time - one of the most precious commodities of our day and age? Or do we give all that we are to God, with abandon? Do we rejoice before Him, shout about it, sing about it, give and give and give, not worrying about getting back? Do we show God we love Him? He loves us. So much so He went to the cross for you and me, for the world - totally undignified, but displaying the greatest offering of love the world has ever seen. What a God! I'm so glad He came after me.
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2 Chronicles 34 - one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. Yes, truly. In this chapter, young King Josiah, son of Amon (who only ruled 2 years and you can guess why - he was a baddie), son of Manasseh (who was a baddie but became a goodie) - this young king, Josiah, did right in the sight of the LORD God, and he walked in his ways, from the age of 8. Check that out! Even from the age of 8. The bible says, "And Josiah did right in the sight of the LORD and ... did not turn aside to the right or to the left" (v.2). He was steadfast and he did not waver.
At the age of 16, he began to seek God actively, and when he was 19, he began to clean house - he set about purging/cleaning up Judah and Jerusalem of the pagan sacrificial places and the idols. He totally destroyed them. The bible says he not only tore them down, but ground them up into dust and then burnt that. It took 8 years before he could turn his hand to the next task - and I'm sure these were tasks given to him by God, because the bible says we are all created not only to know God but to do the tasks and fill the roles that He purposed for us before we were born (Ephesians 2:10). When he was 26, he set about repairing the house of the LORD God. He had the priests bring out the money stored for this purpose, he paid the workers up front, and everyone got on with the task of repairing and restoring the house of the LORD God. And here we get to the point, where I want to stand up and shout, Yes! While they are busy restoring the house of God, they find a book. They found the book of the law of the LORD given to the people by Moses. They found the bible (OT/Pentateuch)! They discovered it, dusted it off, and the priest Hilkiah informs Shaphan the scribe that he has found this book and gives it to Shaphan. When Shaphan goes to tell the king how the work is getting on, how the workers are doing, he gives his report, and then he says as an afterthought, oh, by the way, Hilkiah found this book. Shaphan reads it out loud to King Josiah. "And it came about when the king heard the words of the law that he tore his clothes" (v. 19). His instant response was one of repentance! He was aware of the gravity of what the Word had to say, he heard what they, the people of Israel, had fallen away from doing, living, for generations. He was cut to the quick. His heart was convicted. He then sends Hilkiah the priest, Shaphan the scribe and his son Ahikam, Abddon the son of Micah, and Asaiah the king's servant to ask the prophet of the day, a woman, Huldah the prophetess, what God wanted them to do about this. King Josiah wants to know what God has to say and what they should do. He enquired of God via the prophetess. They bring back to the king what Huldah spoke as the word from the LORD God, of judgement that was due on the people of Israel for forsaking God, and how the wrong had to be made right by this, but, to Josiah himself, God said this, "Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God, when you heard His words against this place and its inhabitants, and because you humbled yourself before Me, tore your clothes (a sign of mourning and grief for the Israelites), and wept before Me, truly, I have heard you," declares the LORD" (v.27). How awesome is that? God sees Josiah, He sees his heart - that it is humble, that he was tender towards God and His ways as evidenced by his concern, as well as the actions of his life, He sees Josiah's tears - God is moved by Josiah's heart response. And God says further that He will not bring the judgement of doom on the people during Josiah's lifetime, instead Josiah will see peace. Josiah's next act speaks volumes! He gathers all the people from the greatest to the least, and he reads the book of the law of God to the people of Israel! Then he made a covenant with the LORD God for himself and for all the people, "to walk after the LORD, to keep His commandments and His testimonies..." (v.31). In Josiah's time, he and the people did not turn from following the LORD God. All of this came from hearing the Word of God read out loud. The power of God through His Word is life changing. A lot of us know the theology of this - that the bible, OT and NT, are inspired - God breathed - by the Spirit of God, written down by men moved by God, we know that Hebrews 4:12 says the bible is "living and active," sharp, able to bring discernment, shine its light on a situation, into hearts, "able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." But look at this - the course of a nation was changed by God's Word being read out loud to the people. And what about the course of our lives, our hearts, our gatherings of people? I love God's Word. It is like treasure, great treasure, that is worth everything. I want my heart to respond like King Josiah's did - instantly quickened, instantly convicted, instantly acted upon to seek God and get back close to Him and His ways. The power of the Word of God will not fade or change until Jesus comes back. The bible says so. Matthew 24:35; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; 2 Peter 1:21. Home from church today with a cold, so hanging out with God on the sofa, reading Psalm 73. This is an interesting psalm as the guy who wrote it records how he nearly lost the plot - because he was upset over observing how the wicked and the arrogant were prospering. And we can all get like that. How can they keep going from strength to strength? Where is the justice in that? Why are they getting away with... The psalmist takes it a step further and questions why he has bothered doing good, keeping his way in the right way with God.
Then the psalm says that he came into the temple of God and was pondering over this, trying to understand, trying to come to terms with it, and he found it difficult, "it was troublesome in my sight." And God helps him. "until I came into the sanctuary of God; then I perceived their end." God helps him get a different perspective, a godly perspective. He got a view of God, remembered that God is in charge and will judge all people - good or bad - and that righteousness and holiness and goodness are God's alone. After this epiphany, he looks back at himself, caught in his anger and turmoil over the state of the world and those who lord it over and oppress others for their own gain, "when my heart was embittered, and I was pierced within, then I was senseless and ignorant; I was like a beast before Thee" and he sees that his anger and lack of peace and perspective had kept him from a godly understanding. He also says, and I love this, that even when he was struggling with all this, God was still with him and had not abandoned him - "nevertheless I am continually with Thee; Thou has taken hold of my right hand. With Thy counsel Thou wilt guide me, and afterward receive me to glory." God is with us! He holds us by the hand. When we belong to God, even when we struggle, He is with us and will help up. But note, that it was when the psalmist drew near to God, went to God's temple, that the Lord helped him understand and see it from God's perspective. We need to run to God when we are struggling. He will more than meet us halfway. He is faithful. Verses 25-26 are some that I have memorized in the past and used as a prayer. Remembering that today, I'm going to start using them again for a while: Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And besides Thee, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. And today, my epiphany from God as I drew near and spent time with Him, and that I prayed over all God's people for today, is in verse 26. "But as for me, the nearness of God is my good." It wan't until the psalmist drew near to God that he was refreshed and restored, taught, reassured, felt God's love again. May we all, today, draw near to God that He may draw near to us. May we, all His children today, meet with the only true and living God, the LORD God almighty, and be changed a bit more by our time with Him. In Jesus' name, Amen. Sometimes, when God wants to speak, we say, "What? Now, Lord?" to Him.
I'm reading in 2 Kings today, Chapter 20, about how the time came for King Hezekiah to die, and the LORD God sent His prophet, Isaiah, to tell Hezekiah that and to instruct him to "put your house in order." Hezekiah's response was to "turn his face to the wall and pray to God." He asked the LORD to spare his life, and weeps bitterly. Hezekiah was a good king. He wasn't perfect, but then none of us are. But he loved the LORD God and led the people of Israel to worship Him and walk in His ways. He says to God, "Remember now, O LORD, I beseech Thee, how I have walked before Thee in truth and with a whole heart (God is all about the state of our hearts), and have done what is good in Thy sight" (God also loves obedient action). And here comes the "What, now, Lord?" point. Isaiah, the LORD's prophet at the time, having delivered the word from the LORD that he was given, is on his way out of the house of King Hezekiah. He's walking through on his way to the door/gate, and I can see him in mid-step, one foot up in the air, about to come down, as he walks, and God speaks to Isaiah. He tells him to turn around and go back. That he's not done yet. God has something else to say. Can't you just see Isaiah, going, "What? Now, Lord? I thought we were done." This reminds me of two people I knew who had a ministry together of delivering words from the LORD when He indicated. They were godly guys, who prayed, and gave their time and hearts to God, and would speak when He indicated. One guy would feel like the Lord wanted to speak a word through him in tongues, and the other man would receive the interpretation. I remember the one guy telling us how they had only just arrived at a conference, and weren't even seated yet, hadn't had time to "get in the zone" by praying and waiting on God, and the other man said to his friend and ministry partner, "I think God wants to speak." The other guy said, "What, now?!" When God wants to speak, it doesn't really matter whether we are ready. Or feel spiritual. Or have spent tons of time in preparation. What matters is the time we put in with God, day in day out, that helps us in a crucial moment and shows whether we are paying attention to God, if we know how to hear His voice, and if we are willing to be available for Him to speak through, with humble, clean hearts, submitted to Him. But back to Hezekiah and Isaiah. So Isaiah turns around and goes back in to deliver another word from the LORD God. That's how quick God's response was to Hezekiah. Isaiah hadn't even made it out of the building, and God was answering Hezekiah's prayer. He didn't make Hezekiah wait. God says this to Isaiah, "Return and say to Hezekiah the leader of My people" - now that is interesting. God hears Hezekiah and is moved by his prayer, but He is interested in Hezekiah not just for who is he as a person, but for who he is in terms of roles - the leader of God's people, not Hezekiah's people. And say to Hezekiah, God goes on, "I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will heal you." I almost never get over the fact that God is so personal. That He sees my tears. That He hears my prayers. That He is concerned over me, over you, over each of us individually, and yes, also, corporately. God cares! He is moved by what moves us. He loves us like a Father, like a good, good Father. Better than we ever could love. It blows me away every time I realize that afresh. And Hezekiah, reminded by God of his role, reminded by God of the fact that God is the God of the whole people of Israel, and that Hezekiah is descended from King David, the man and ruler after God's own heart (yes, I know, not perfect, but again, none of us are), and has a lot to live up to. But yes, God says, I will heal you. And Isaiah, is he fed up with delivering words to Hezekiah, does he care if Hezekiah receives a stay of sentence and lives a bit longer? He does. Look what he does in verse 11, when Hezekiah asks for a sign that what God has said will really happen, and Isaiah and Hezekiah between them determine on a supernatural sign, "it is easy for the shadow on the steps to decline ten steps; no, but let the shadow turn backward ten steps," like the sun and time going backwards, Isaiah then prays to God for this to happen and it says, "he cried to the Lord." He put his heart and soul into that prayer. He prayed like he meant it. And God loves that! Isaiah didn't have to do that, but he cared, and he showed it. And God responded. When God wants to speak...life happens. Are we ready? Are we listening? Do we know Him? Manasseh! The very name causes people to hiss and say, ooooh, he was a baddie! And he was. He was very bad. He followed good King Hezekiah, his father, as King of Judah, and in 2 Chronicles 33 the bible says, "And he did evil in the sight of the LORD according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD dispossessed before the sons of Israel." Manasseh did really bad things like restore idol worship, even putting up idols to pagan gods (man-made gods) in the temple of the LORD, he also sacrificed his own sons to those pagan gods (child sacrifice), he practiced witch craft and consulted mediums and spiritists, and the bible says, "Manasseh misled Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the sons of Israel." So Manasseh led the people to out-pagan the pagans! He was a baddie.
Don't think God left them on their own to go down this path of evil and becoming like the sinful pagan nations and cultures around them. The bible says in verse 10 that "The LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention." How sad is that? The LORD God even spoke to them, and tried to turn them around the right way, but they refused to pay any attention to God. Does this ring a bell at all? I can recall times when I hardened my heart to what God was saying to me and then I went ahead and did what I wanted, and it never ended well. But, Manasseh had a change of heart. After he had been led away into captivity by the Assyrians - it says that the King of Assyria led Manasseh away "with hooks, bound him with bronze chains, and took him to Babylon" (v.11) - Manasseh, in his distress, entreated the LORD. He knew who to cry out to when he was in trouble! Manasseh prays to God and it says, "he humbled himself greatly" before God. He had a change of heart. And what is God's response? Verse 13, "When Manasseh prayed to God, God was moved by his entreaty" (check that out! the heart of God was moved by Manasseh's repentance and prayers and heart change), "and He heard his supplication" (God hears Manasseh's prayers), "and He brought him again to Jerusalem to his kingdom." God rescued Manasseh, after Manasseh had a change of heart and cried out to God again. God even restores Manasseh to his kingdom. And what was the result of that for Manasseh and the kingdom of Judah? The bible says, "Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God." This is spiritual revelation here, guys! Manasseh had an epiphany. He had a change of heart, that led to his turning to God again. He prayed, he humbled himself greatly, and when he saw God answer his prayer - he knew - that kind of knowing that is deeper than head knowledge - that the LORD, Yahweh, is God. I love that. What an outcome. So does Manasseh just say, thanks, God! Appreciate that. And then get on with his life the way he wants to? No! He cleans house! This is so important. He starts throwing out all the idols he had caused to be made, that he had led the people of Israel to worship, to whom he had sacrificed his own kids, he gets rid of them all. He also re-institutes proper worship of the LORD God and makes sure the people go back to worshiping God as well. He applied the lesson he learned. His knowledge, that profound moment of realization of the LORD God as the only true and living God, made a difference in his life and the lives of the people. We also see another key principle here. People will follow their leader. Most of the time. So the direction and principles that the leader sets are crucial. I love it that God can take a baddie and help him become a goodie. I'm thankful for that in my own life. But it took a heart change, it took a humbling, a great humbling of Manasseh's heart, and turning back to God and then a walking it out with God again. So the next time I hear Manasseh's name, instead of going, "ooooh! He was a baddie!" I'm going to say, "Hey! He was a baddie, but God helped him become a goodie!" May I walk out my life lessons from God as well as Manasseh did. May I have a humble, a greatly humbled heart before the LORD God. He's worth it. When God's word says something is going to happen, you can bet your bottom dollar it will happen.
Micah, Chapter 4, says this, "And it will come about ..." that means it will happen. What comes next, God will see to pass. And it goes on to describe it, "in the last days" so this has to do with the Millennial Kingdom, "that the mountain of the house of the Lord" that's Mt Zion in Israel, "will be established as the chief of the mountains. It will be raised above the hills, and the peoples will stream to it." And I love what comes next. I can see my friend, Rosemary, bouncing up and down on her feet in joy over this, "And many nations will come and say, "Come and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD and to the house of the God of Jacob..." Many nations! Check that out! This is God's purpose and intention. That many nations will come to Him, will come to Mt Zion. And there is a reason. They are going to come because they want this - "...that He may teach us about His ways and that we may walk in His paths." People from many nations will come (this will happen, God says so) will come to Mt Zion, to Jerusalem and the temple of the Lord because they want God to teach them! They want to get to know the LORD God, to know what He is like, and then to live it out - to walk in His ways. They want God to teach them. In this day and age, when people don't like the idea of being taught truths, when it is more popular to go with what the majority think and feel and where truth is relative - "well, if that is what you think is true, that's truth for you" - that kind of mindset is totally against what God thinks and what God foretells will happen in the last days. Jesus said He was the truth. Jesus the Word of God made flesh, walking the earth fully human and fully God. And before He went to the cross to die and pay for the sins of all of us, because we couldn't do it ourselves stuck and covered in sin - He prayed to God the Father and asked Him to "sanctify them in the truth; Your word is the truth" (John 17:17). We can be taught by God today, even before this day that He foretells will come to pass. We can read His word, listen to His Spirit, and then walk out the truths He teaches us. God's ways are perfect. They are full of love, justice, peace, holiness, mercy, righteousness, and the person who walks humbly in them before God, caring more about what God thinks than what people think, yet loving people and showing them Jesus - that person will want to be taught by God. God's thoughts and ideas will be precious to him and her. And they will declare, like Micah did, like the people of the nations will, in verse 5 of Chapter 3, "though all the peoples walk each in the name of his god, as for us, we will walk in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever." I can't get past these verses in Hosea. Chapter 6, verses 1-3. Today, my Bible reading started in Psalms, with Psalm 65. In it the focus is all on God - He is the One to Whom all people come, to Whom all of creation looks for sustenance, rain, light, seed, growth - in order to flourish. He is the One who forgives our sin - cleaning us up, freeing us up - to really live a deep spiritual satisfying life with Him, which is what He created us for in our mother's wombs. Psalm 65 says, "How blessed/happy/well off is the person whom You choose, whom You bring near to You, to live and dwell and stay with You in your temple." We will truly be satisfied when we find that the best place to be is with God, in His presence, knowing Him. Which brings me back to Hosea. I need to know God. I need Him so much. Not just an idea about Him, but the person of God Himself. We need God. We were made to know Him and be with Him. When we aren't, nothing else satisfies, and we do not flourish. Check out this definition of the word "flourish" from dictionary.com I love looking at words in depth. The word "flourish" contains all the elements that I see in Psalm 65 - which talks about all that God does for human beings and for the earth itself - He stills their ragings, He brings strength, He waters and causes growth, He increases the number of the flocks (multiplies, causes to proliferate, develop, burgeon), everything drips with abundance and the result of that is joy. And praise of God.
Look at the opposite of "flourish" in the definition - it is to wither and die. When we don't seek to know God, when we don't live our life in Him and with Him, we wither and die. If we don't accept Jesus as our Savior and ask Him to forgive our sins and wash them away, we will wither and die eternally. We need God. And Hosea says, "Come on, guys! Let's return to the LORD. Even though we are withering and dying, He can heal us, He can restore us. He will revive us - for the purpose of living before Him." "So let us press on, press in, to know the LORD God. He is the One who will cause us to flourish, He is the One who will bring times of refreshing. He is the One who will come to us like the spring rain, watering the earth." He is the One we need. He is the One I need. Again, today. And every day. Lessons from Hosea today! As I was reading along in Hosea today, I came upon this verse in chapter 6, verse 2, where it says, “He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day that we may live before Him” and it caught my attention. This section is about how the people of Israel who have been turned away from the LORD God in rebellion, and have been sinning and acting foolishly, are saying to themselves, (v.1) “Come, let us return to the Lord! He has torn us (as judgement for our sins) but He will heal us. He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.”
And they are right! They had been sinning and therefore had to face the consequences of that sin – sin is no fun. It separates us from God, leads to unenjoyable, sometimes painful times, and almost always causes sadness and grief, consequences of sin, but, there is a way back. And that way lies in repentance. When we repent and turn back to God, He does heal us from sin and restore us to fellowship with Him. I’m usually just sorry it takes me a while to be willing to do that – as I’m sure the people of Israel were, too. But, back to this verse 2 in chapter 6. It was the two days, and a third day, that initially caught my eye. That, of course, is a foreshadowing and a prophetic picture of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection from the dead. And the end result for us, “that we may live before Him/God,” this is what Jesus died for! To pay the price for our sins so that we could be reconciled to God and live in His holy presence, not just now, but for eternity. We belong to God through Jesus! As I dug deeper into this verse, it led to Psalm 30:5, which says, “For His anger (and God’s anger at our sin is righteous, unlike some of our anger) is but for a moment, His favour is for a lifetime; weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy (Whoo!) comes in the morning.” Love this verse! With God, there is a shout of joy in the morning, there is a new day, there is restoration, hope and light and life. Then I looked at 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 which talks about the tension between living for God but in a sinful, fallen world. It talks about how to live in the Spirit, in the here and now, but with our eyes fixed on Jesus and what is to come. “Therefore, we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying (and boy do we feel that some days!), yet/more importantly/pay attention to this! – our inner man (our spirit) is being renewed day by day.” Each day, when we spend time with God, read from His word which is alive and speaks into our lives and hearts and spirits when we give it the time and space to do so, our life in God is revitalized, renewed, we get new spiritual energy and clarity of vision. And it goes on to say, “For momentary, light affliction (it ain’t all that bad, folks, the Lord says) is producing for us (it has a purpose) an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look (and here’s where our focus needs to be) not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal (temporary, fading, will not last), but the things which are not seen are eternal (last forever).” Of course we love all that talk about glory. We’re all about the glory of God, sometimes. But, it is the day in, day out, relationship, walking with God, talking with God, knowing Him better, loving Him better, and then being obedient to live that out, loving people better, living lives of humble service – this is what the glory of God likes to break into suddenly, to bless and to encourage us. And God’s revelations of glory do serve a purpose. 2 Corinthians 3 talks about this in verse 18, “But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as form the Lord the Spirit.” Here we hear again that phrase, being transformed. We are being made to look more like our Lord Jesus – by His very work within us. When we join His family, we begin to take on the characteristics of His family, we become more like the redeemed us He created to live and know Him. And here is the way to do that – back in Hosea, chapter 6, verse 3 now, “so let us know, let us press on/press in to know the LORD God.” And the result of that, “God’s going forth is as certain as the dawn (His suddenlies, when He breaks into our lives), And He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth.” Do any of us need that time of refreshing from the Lord today? Do we need Him to come into our lives today like a spring rain that waters the earth and causes growth and life to spring up? I do. I need God. I need Him today. And I want to press on, to press in, to know Him better today. And then to live and move and have my being in Him, today, and tomorrow. He is so worth it. |
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January 2019
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