Devotional – Page 13 – Considering the Bible

Let Me Tell You a Story – Jeremiah 12:5

2024-07-23

Jeremiah 12:5

If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses? And if in a safe land you are so trusting, what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?

Years back I was called upon to provide a eulogy for my father in law at his funeral.

As you may know if you have read my testimony, my father passed when I was a young boy, thereby growing up without a strong father figure in my life. When I met my wifey, I naturally sought her father’s approval, not only to best my chances at snagging his pretty daughter, but also since he was a man willing to take on this mess of a fella, a young man who needed some guidance from one who had went before.

So as I entered into my wife’s family, I found my attachment to Pop became stronger and stronger, seeking him out every time we visited, looking for chances to have coffee with him, or maybe go on a call with him. Pop was a man who serviced furnaces in a small town north of Toronto, and his winters were busy!

Nevertheless, as I grew closer to him, I found I thought of him as a father, and not just a man who provided me a wonderful wife. So, when he passed, I was struck. And as was obvious to all, many in the family saw my connection with Pop and asked me to share a story or two of his impact on my life at his funeral.

To my shame, I could not control my emotions. I stood there, crying like a little boy, uncontrolled and of no use to those Pop left behind, of no benefit to his memory. They all knew I loved him, but my tears didn’t add anything to his memory for their sakes.

I hadn’t thought of this incident until recently, when I again was in a position where my emotions may steal away an opportunity to be of use to the Lord and to one of His.

A dear lady, who has been experiencing great pain due to witnessing her husband suffer the onslaught of cancer for over 4 years, has now been informed there is nothing the medical profession can do to provide hope. As I watch this young lady live her life, I am amazed at her faith, at her resiliency, at her willingness to be faithful and suffer pain for the one she loves. I have known her for many years, and as I consider her many trials, I stand back and am thankful for knowing her.

It was only a night or so back when I had the opportunity to pray with her, and when we held hands to pray, the emotion welled up in my heart and I fell apart.

At this point of weakness, I thought of Pops, and of the verse I began this post with. Though the Lord can hear our heartbreak, this young lady needed to hear more than an old man weeping.

You know, when things are good, it is easy to keep up, to say the right things, to be the one who appears to be in control. It is when things are tough, when we are competing against things greater than us, that we need to stand up and be counted, to control our lives in order to be a blessing to those about us, to forget about ourselves.

I think back on Pops, and realize I was consumed in my own grief, and my own memories and my own thoughts. It was about me at that time. Me me me.

My goodness, may the Lord rescue me from my self absorbed life and help me run with the horses when the times come.

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion

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Names of God – CROWN OF GLORY – 94

2024-07-22

My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.

The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.

The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.

May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.

94

CROWN OF GLORY

Isaiah 28:5 In that day the LORD of hosts will be a crown of glory, and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people,

What is it to be a crown? Is it simply a mass of costly metal, fashioned in a ring to fit on a head, with multiple rare stones dispersed on it?

That is my first thought, but is that the picture intended by the prophet?

So my question should be – What is the message Isaiah is communicating to us by calling the LORD of hosts a crown of glory?

The first thing to notice in the development of this passage is in the previous verses, Isaiah is delivers a woe to the drunkards of Ephraim, and describes them as the crown of pride.

A crown is a statement, representing splendor, dignity, authority and honor. For Isaiah to describe the northern kingdom (Ephraim) in this manner brought shame to the nation. A crown of pride is not to be the outcome of receiving splendor, dignity, authority and honor, as the nation of Israel had centuries before. To be degraded to drunkards is a statement of the utter failure of the northern kingdom, and of their willingness to enter into a shameful existence. They had fallen, and were about to be conquered.

After describing the northern kingdom, Isaiah turns to Judah, and reminds them where their splendor, dignity, authority and honor may be found.

To consider the beginning of Isaiah’s discussion of crowns as discussing the shame of the northern kingdom, and then to describe the Lord using the same term – “crown” speaks volumes.

He is diametrically different than our typical experience, an experience of falling into vices and sin. He is the polar opposite, One who is an ultimate crown, and is described not only as a crown, but a crown of glory. He is a crown that not only represents splendor, dignity, authority and honor, but in Himself is splendor, dignity, authority and honor.

He is our crown of glory, an indescribable blessing for those who seek Him out. He rescues us from shame and provides splendor, dignity, authority and honor.

He is good!

I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.

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Psalms for Psome – Ps 62.04

2024-07-20

Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 62:8 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah

Let’s remember that David is in himself during this psalm, that he is ruminating on the goodness of God in a very difficult situation. He is all prayed out, made his requests known to God, struggled with his thoughts and concerns, and is now in a settled stage of waiting on the Lord.

Trust in him at all times.

As I consider the ramifications of this phrase, I want to consider an alternative frame of reference in a relationship with God. For you see, I have spent a good portion of my life in utter fear of God, not the type defined by respect and acknowledgement of His greatness, but paralyzed by fear, struck down by the sheer concept of the All Powerful.

In that fear, I had no freedom to ask a question, no rights of privilege before Him, no ability to please Him, for I could not perform all the requirements on my own, and I “knew” I couldn’t ask Him for help. The fear was paralyzing, but it is an experience that has taught me the blessings of trust.

Trust is a freedom to look to Him for decisions to be made, for outcomes to be controlled, to understand my weakness and failure, to consider Him as a loving Father, and not as a terror inducing All Mighty Person who only seeks to dominate and control.

Please do not misunderstand me. I am not seeking to relegate the Lord to a minor god, a weak kneed deity that has been cast aside by man.

He is the Almighty.

He has no challengers.

He is the Creator of all, and the mighty Redeemer.

Yet we are to trust Him, as David exhorts us, and that implies a relationship of son and Father, of friend and friend. He is approachable due to the blood He has shed, He is One that has an open door policy due to His heart of love.

O people; pour out your heart before him

Out of this trusting relationship, David exhorts the people of God to pour out their hearts to Him. I don’t know about you, but I do not pour out my heart to my boss, or to any authoritarian figure in my life. Rare as it is, this exercise of shedding my cares onto someone is shared with only the closest of family. It is a connection that provides safety and no condemnation, no fear of rejection, and the hope of solutions to be offered.

Do you see God in this way? Is He a Master over you, needing obedience of the law to be able to accept you, or a Father waiting for a deeper relationship, approachable and willing to hear of my fears failures and frustrations.

God is a refuge for us.

My friends, do not abandon God as a refuge by not opening up to Him. The image of a refuge is often used to describe God and most assuredly it is in the midst of trials that the people of faith are experiencing. As a refuge, He is there to protect, and to guard against the enemy, be they physical, emotional or spiritual.

He has experienced torture and an excruciating death to prove His desire to be with us. Consider His love for you. Trust will be a natural response to such great love.

Trust in him at all times

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Names of God – CREATOR OF THE ENDS OF THE EARTH – 92

2024-07-19

My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.

The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.

The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.

May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.

92

CREATOR OF THE ENDS OF THE EARTH

Isaiah 40:28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.

We have before us our third name of God that describes our Father as a Creator, the Creator of the ends of the earth. We have been introduced to God as the Creator, and as the Creator of Israel, but in this description we find He is speaking to Israel regarding that which they cannot see. The ends of the earth are the furthest distance from Israel, that part of creation that they have never seen, experienced or interacted with.

Yet God has created the ends of the earth, and as such, has a heart for those who have not been seen, experienced or interacted with.

As believers, we tend to be concerned only with our own “world”, our own circle of family, friends and foes, but God is looking to far greater concerns than simply our concerns, valid as they are. His heart is not only for the individual believer, for the body of Christ as an organism and family, but also He is looking to the ends of the earth for their redemption and He will accomplish it.

Psalm 22:27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.

God has created the ends of the earth, so that they along with us, may worship Him together with us.

I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.

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Jesus in the Old Testament – Abraham – 05

2024-07-16

Jesus in the Old Testament is a series of posts that will offer my readers a chance to consider pictures or shadows of Jesus in the Old Testament. As mentioned in the introduction to this series, some may be obvious, some may be not so obvious, and some may simply be a facet of the Lord those reading may not have considered previously.

I hope as we venture through this series, we will see the Lord in many wonderful pictures throughout the Old Testament.

SEEING JESUS IN

Abraham

Father of Many Nations

Genesis 17:5
No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

Ephesians 4:6
one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Abram began his walk with God in obedience to the call of God, given the promise of being a blessing, and eventually being provided the promise of a land for his children. He would become a great nation, but as it is with the Lord, Abraham would not simply be the father of a nation, but the father of many nations.

It is commonly thought, that Abraham has lineage in many of the eastern nations surrounding Israel, but even greater is his status of being the father of three of the largest religions in the world.

Of course he is a founder of the Jewish faith, and by extension a father in the Christian faith. Many in the faith of Islam consider Abraham a father of their faith, though through Ishmael.

Gen 17:5 speaks of Abraham as being the father of many nations, and that can be understood in various ways, whether it be through geopolitical nations, or groups of people that are of a nation without land, but by faith.

Abraham was a father of many nations! Our God is the Father of all, no distinction of differences, no “us and them”. He is not the Father is all the nations, although is a sense He is, but in our thoughts for today, He is the Father of all.

Of all.

I don’t understand it, but that is alright, for He is the One in charge and not I.

May His name be praised, ab all who have breath.

Psalm 150:6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.

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Names of God – CREATOR OF THE HEAVENS – 93

2024-07-15

My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.

The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.

The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.

May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.

93

CREATOR OF THE HEAVENS

Isaiah 42:5 Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it:

This name of God is our last name for us to consider that includes the concept of creation. Earlier we have considered “Creator”, “Creator of Israel” and “Creator of the ends of the earth”.

With this name, we find we are hearkening back to the first concept, that of creating out of nothing. He is the Creator of the heavens, that which was described in the very first verse of Genesis.

The heavens. What most modern believers may think of as space, with all the galaxies, planets and stars flung into it. For the ancient Hebrews, their concept of the heavens may have been that of the firmament, the sky with the clouds. How they considered the sun and stars relative to the sky is an unknown for myself.

Nevertheless, God created all that is above us, an expanse that neither the Hebrew nor we can understand. It is not only physically above us, but it is greater than our imaginations, unfathomable in our understanding.

Yet He created it, a reflection of His eternality, His all mighty power, His unknowable wisdom and His abundant “over the top” provision for His people.

He is the Creator of the heavens, and they speak of His glory.

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.

I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.

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Psalms for Psome – Ps 62.04

2024-07-13

Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 62:8 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah

Let’s remember that David is in himself during this psalm, that he is ruminating on the goodness of God in a very difficult situation. He is all prayed out, made his requests known to God, struggled with his thoughts and concerns, and is now in a settled stage of waiting on the Lord.

Trust in him at all times.

As I consider the ramifications of this phrase, I want to consider an alternative frame of reference in a relationship with God. For you see, I have spent a good portion of my life in utter fear of God, not the type defined by respect and acknowledgement of His greatness, but paralyzed by fear, struck down by the sheer concept of the All Powerful.

In that fear, I had no freedom to ask a question, no rights of privilege before Him, no ability to please Him, for I could not perform all the requirements on my own, and I “knew” I couldn’t ask Him for help. The fear was paralyzing, but it is an experience that has taught me the blessings of trust.

Trust is a freedom to look to Him for decisions to be made, for outcomes to be controlled, to understand my weakness and failure, to consider Him as a loving Father, and not as a terror inducing All Mighty Person who only seeks to dominate and control.

Please do not misunderstand me. I am not seeking to relegate the Lord to a minor god, a weak kneed deity that has been cast aside by man. He is the Almighty. He has no challengers. He is the Creator of all, and the mighty Redeemer.

Yet we are to trust Him, as David exhorts us, and that implies a relationship similar to that of son and Father, of friend and friend. He is approachable due to the blood He has shed. He is One that has provided an open door policy due to His heart of love.

O people; pour out your heart before him

Out of this trusting relationship, David exhorts the people of God to pour out their hearts to Him. I don’t know about you, but I do not pour out my heart to my boss, or to any authoritarian figure in my life. Rare as it is, this exercise of shedding my cares onto someone is shared with only the closest of family or friend. It is a connection that provides safety and no condemnation, no fear of rejection, and the hope of solutions to be offered.

Do you see God in this way? Is He a Master over you, needing obedience of the law to be able to accept you, or a Father waiting for a deeper relationship, approachable and willing to hear of our fears, failures and frustrations.

God is a refuge for us.

My friends, do not abandon God as a refuge by not opening up to Him. The image of a refuge is often used to describe God and usually it is in the midst of trials that the people of faith are experiencing. As a refuge, He is there to protect, and to guard against the enemy, be they physical, emotional or spiritual.

He Himself has experienced torture and an excruciating death to prove His desire to be with us. Consider His love for you. Trust will be a natural response to such great love.

Trust in him at all times

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.

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Names of God – CREATOR OF ISRAEL – 91

2024-07-12

My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.

The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.

The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.

May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.

91

CREATOR OF ISRAEL

Isaiah 43:15 I am the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.”

In our last post, we considered God as Creator. He who created out of nothing, or as the ancients used to say “ex nihilo”. Our passage this morning speaks of God as Creator, using the same Hebrew word as in Gen 1:1, but in a different sense.

God created Israel, the nation now in captivity in Babylon. He is reminding the people who have been dragged off into captivity that He is their Creator. The nation would not exist with His active work in the world.

Consider the patient work performed in the creation of the nation. The calling of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the expansion of this dysfunctional family, the rescue of Israel from Egypt though the plagues, the exodus through the Sinai of a thankless people, the giving of the law, the invasion and domination of the land of Canaan, the provisions of judges to provide leadership, the rejection of His authority in demanding a king, the calling and equipping of prophets to warn the nation, and finally, at this point in their history, the humbling of the nation by a cruel Babylon.

God created Israel through many processes and was calling on them to recall their past, in that He is their Creator.

Only a few lines later, Isaiah draws their attention the the current activities of God, in that He is doing a new thing. His creative powers, in that of the nation of Israel in not finished. Babylon will not have the final word. God is actively working and doing a new thing in the history of Israel.

He will make a road in the wilderness (v 19), a path back to the land they have been carried away from. Their story wasn’t over yet, and if truth be told, the Way they would be provided would be greater than all their hopes and wishes.

I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.

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Jesus in the Old Testament – Abraham – 04

2024-07-09

Jesus in the Old Testament is a series of posts that will offer my readers a chance to consider pictures or shadows of Jesus in the Old Testament. As mentioned in the introduction to this series, some may be obvious, some may be not so obvious, and some may simply be a facet of the Lord those reading may not have considered previously.

I hope as we venture through this series, we will see the Lord in many wonderful pictures throughout the Old Testament.

SEEING JESUS IN

Abraham

Altar Builder

Genesis 12:7 So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
Genesis 12:8 And there he built an altar to the LORD
Genesis 13:18 there he built an altar to the LORD.
Genesis 22:9 Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.

Hebrews 8:3
For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.

Early on in the Word, any place could be an altar, and Abraham in his travels built many altars. I often think of altars as places of quietness, calmness and peace. For those in the Old Testament, this might not be such an accurate picture, for the word altar, in the Old Testament can literally be translated as “a place of slaughter”.

I may have mentioned this in a previous blog, but my son took it upon himself to read through the Bible in a month, and in the reading, as he got through Leviticus, he made the following statement. Dang – those priest’s in the temple were more like butchers than religious priests today!

Sharp boy, that son of mine! He saw that the altar was a place of slaughter, blood and death. The slaughter of any animal has got to be a violent, possibly noisy endeavor, not to mention the gushing of blood, the experience of a life ending and the impact on the conscious of the one sacrificing.

The New Testament is no different, for it also refers to a place of slaughter. I am not convinced that the Altar was any less bloody during times of sacrifice, or that the practice was “sanitized” much from early times. To sacrifice an animal would be the forcing of one’s will upon a helpless victim, an animal with no choice.

Consider Jesus, who was not only the sacrifice, but the High Priest of the New Covenant. He officiated over His own sacrifice, and was the One who orchestrated the time, place and extent of His sacrifice.

He is the ultimate altar builder, and as such has eliminated the blood letting for His worshippers. There is no altar for the believer, no place to sacrifice an animal to appease God. This is an ultimate insult to consider this as being an acceptable approach to God. Our altar is Him, and our approach to the altar is to be in a state of humility, teachableness and with a thankful spirit.

Abraham was a shadow, but Jesus is the reality. Look to the Only Sacrifice offered up for your life!

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.

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Names of God – CREATOR – 90

2024-07-08

My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.

The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.

The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.

May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.

90

CREATOR

Romans 1:25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

When we think of creating a piece of art, making a machine, or writing a poem, we think we are creating something, that may have never been in existence before. Well – that may be true in some instances, but we should stop short of thinking we are creating in the same manner as God created.

We “create” out of a plethora of materials.

If we are making a piece of art, whether a painting, sculpture or a book, then all the material and subjects we broach in the art is found in the originally created world. We are merely recreating, or rearranging already existing thoughts feelings and ideas.

Similarly with the making of a machine. Whether that machine is a tractor, or a computer, the original machine is made from ideas and truths available to the one searching specific processes or methods already established and ready to be found in the originally created world.

In the writing of a poem or story, we are taking truths or observations and communicating these truths or observations in a hopefully unique way.

But in all these human creations, we can not claim that we are creating in the same way as God created the world we live in. For when we speak of God creating, He creates out of nothing.

He did not have any one previous to him to provide guidance in creation, or methods of creating, or materials to create out of. He did not have any materials to manipulate in order to create something new. He had nothing to work with, and by a simple spoken word, emptiness, what many call space, was created.

Space was created. Time was created. Material was created.

In the beginning (time), God created the heavens (space) and the earth (materials).

We have been made, created in the image of God, and yet though we are broken, we do mimic God in our creative efforts. But there are limitations to our mimicking, for He has provided us not only the materials and time to create from, but the space to perform all our necessary work.

He has established all things. We are simply trying to understand His creation, and in a small way create systems or things that may be of benefit for those around us.

There is a massive difference between our creating and His creating, and due to that huge distinction, He is truly the only actual Creator.

May His name be praised.

I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.

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Psalms for Psome – Ps 62.03

2024-07-06

Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 62:5 For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.
Psalm 62:6 He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
Psalm 62:7 On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

As we mentioned in an earlier post, this psalm does not ask anything of the Lord, but the psalmist is “in himself”, ruminating on the person of God, reminding himself of God’s active work in his life, of God’s presence and His character.

God

provides hope
is my rock
is my salvation (x2)
is my fortress
is my glory
is my mighty rock
is my refuge

Take a moment and consider each of these descriptors of God. Is there a common denominator, a common theme in these descriptors, something that indicates the condition of David’s heart as he reviews the character of God?

I would suggest that David is in a very difficult place, a place in which there appears to be no escape, no path to safety, no place of security or of strength, and no area that is stable, that is constant.

There are times when we, as believers will also experience this condition. In our lives, there appears to be many enemies, many difficulties, many obstacles and many temptations, that are seemingly insurmountable.

During these times, I have spent too much time looking for solutions, ways out of the problem, solutions to my difficulty. And in these difficult times, I have worried myself into a fit of doubt and despair.

But the rare time, I have turned introspective, remembered the goodness of God, His former guidance, His continued protection, (though not without some scrapes and bruising), and His constant care. During these times of dwelling on God, I have found that my worry machine has run out of gas.

Amazing – we can dwell on His goodness, on His person, on His care for us, or we can worry.

Let’s think on Him. He is good, and He is good all the time.

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Names of God – COVER OF YOUR PRESENCE – 89

2024-07-05

My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.

The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.

The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.

May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.

89

COVER OF YOUR PRESENCE

Psalm 31:20 In the cover of your presence you hide them from the plots of men; you store them in your shelter from the strife of tongues.

Decades ago, when I was courting my wife, we ended up in a little donut shop in my neighborhood, all alone with just the cashier behind the counter. It was a quiet area, and we were enjoying each others company (and a donut of course!) when it multiple groups of people entered the restaurant. Two young men, a couple on a date, some fellas from the bowling alley, three teenagers. It just seemed that the store was inundated with customers for no apparent reason.

After the crowds entered and we had finished our donut, we got up to leave and as we walked away, we both described a feeling of “apartness” or of being separate from “the masses”. It was a very identifiable experience that we both shared in, and though I am surely not implying those who entered the shop were of any malicious intent towards us, I think the experience is a parallel to David’s description of the Lord’s covering.

Other translations speak of “shelter of your presence” (NLT) or the “secret place of Your presence” (NKJV), even the “protection of Your presence” (CSB).

Make no mistake about our little experience. I am not claiming we were under any attack from anyone, but only that the experience of being separate, of experiencing being apart from others is my intent.

David speaks of this covering, of this protection as being God’s presence, which is a most audacious thing to say, for David must surely understand the presence of God is only in the Temple. Just as the believer may understand the presence of God may only be found in a church building.

David also brings this description to our attention due to the fact that he is under attack by the plots of men, and is the recipient of the strife of tongues. David was under attack, and yet he knew of God’s protection, of God’s active work in hiding him in plain sight.

It is a truly mysterious and glorious God that we serve. May we understand His many ways of working in our lives and be a thankful people.

I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.

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Jesus in the Old Testament – Abraham – 03

2024-07-02

Jesus in the Old Testament is a series of posts that will offer my readers a chance to consider pictures or shadows of Jesus in the Old Testament. As mentioned in the introduction to this series, some may be obvious, some may be not so obvious, and some may simply be a facet of the Lord those reading may not have considered previously.

I hope as we venture through this series, we will see the Lord in many wonderful pictures throughout the Old Testament.

SEEING JESUS IN

Abraham

Offspring Benefits

Genesis 12:7
Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

Hebrews 10:34
For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.

Abraham as an 75 year old old man left his home, his land and his family, based on the message God provided him, that is a command to leave his home, family and country, in order to make him a great nation, give him a great name, and make him a blessing to all.

In the initial promise, it may safely be assumed that Abraham would have children, but the initial communication from the Lord did not specifically define any land that they would possess. Yes, the Lord told him that He should go to the land He would show him, but not until Abraham had committed, leaving family and friends behind, did the Lord mention the land as a possession of his offspring.

Abraham was on the move without a specific promise of a land as a benefit for his offspring, as a possession for his seed. Not until they came into the land of Canaan, did the Lord provide the promise of the land for his children.

He had the promise of a benefit for his children. Turns out it took centuries for the promise to be fulfilled, but a promise is not dependent on time, for a promise given 2,000 years is as valid as a promise given yesterday. For the promise is dependent on the promise maker, and our promise maker is faithful.

As Abraham, Jesus was provided promises of benefit for His offspring, a possession that is an abiding possession, based in the One who led the way. It is not a piece of real estate, but a real peace with God, and of God, a state of love and joy that far exceeds any benefit Abraham’s offspring was promised.

God the Father made promises to our “Abraham”, and by His faithful acts, and through the faithfulness of God, our possession is secure, and is waiting for us to enter into, to enjoy and to walk in.

May we find greater and greater joy in realizing the faithfulness of our God and His many mercies

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.

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Names of God – COVENANT FOR THE PEOPLE – 88

2024-07-01

My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.

The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.

The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.

May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.

88

COVENANT FOR THE PEOPLE

Isaiah 42:6 “I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations,

Many times, in our self centered viewing of the Word, we do not see the Lord Jesus when God speaks of His Servant, as we see in this passage. Many may think this passage is referring to the nation of Israel, and reconfirming their mission to the gentiles, their calling.

The message was relevant for the nation at the time, for they were going into difficult times and needed to be reassured of their status before God. This is surely a blessing that Isaiah provides for the nation, yet if we consider the Christ centered message of the Word, it is obvious that the Lord is referring to Jesus in this passage.

Other passages refer to Him as a light to the nations, and as a Righteous Branch, or a Righteous Servant, but this post is going to consider Him as “a covenant for the people”.

To be a covenant is to be a pledge, or an alliance, even a treaty. Jesus has been given us as a treaty, a peace offering, a unilateral pledge of peace, if we will simply understand and trust Him.

I would like to emphasize that the Lord gave Jesus as a peace treaty, not as a negotiation or as a threatening offering, but that He gave Jesus. A gift.

Secondly, who did the Lord give Jesus, the covenant, the treaty to? The people. The people, in this verse are not active, but are the recipients of the peace treaty.

A gift to the people. A treaty, or an alliance offered to the people, without stipulation or caveat.

This verse is a clear expression of grace toward the people, toward those who were in covenant (the Jewish nation) and to those outside of the covenant – the Gentile nations. You may want to restrict “the people” in this verse to only those under the Mosaic covenant, and you have the freedom to do so, but as we enter the New Testament, we know that the covenant is for “the people”, for those who have blood in their veins and breath in their lungs.

And with this breath, we can praise the Lord for His tremendous Gift of Grace in Jesus!

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!

I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.

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Psalms for Psome – Ps 62.02

2024-06-29

Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 62:3 How long will all of you attack a man to batter him, like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?
Psalm 62:4 They only plan to thrust him down from his high position. They take pleasure in falsehood. They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. Selah

In our previous post, I sought to explain my understanding of this psalm, and that David was silent before God, that he was not making any petitions or requests before God in the psalm. He was silent before God.

Not so much in relation to those who had attacked him. Remember – the attacker is his son, who also had enlisted David’s trusted counselor Ahithophel, one who David considered a friend.

In his silence before God, he questions his attackers.

How long will all of you attack a man to batter him, like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?

As attackers, they naturally sought to find victory when their enemy was weak, like a leaning wall or a tottering fence. David was on the run, with his forces decimated, and unsure who was loyal to him. Who could be trusted, when his very friend Ahithophel had rebelled?

This attack had the smell of death, not only in its eventual outcome, which David could not admit to, but also in the intent of his enemies. Their attack had all the hallmarks of the evil one, saying one thing and doing the other. Hypocrites!

Verse 4 speaks of taking pleasure in falsehood. How foolish and short sighted. Do they not understand the fountain of all truth is the Lord, and that this treachery cannot succeed.

Remember David’s attitude when he was on the run? The rogue king Saul chased him and on multiple occasions, David had opportunity to strike him down, and yet he would not. He would not touch the Lord’s anointed. No success would come of it, and it would frustrate the will of God.

How could David reconcile that his son and friend were doing that which was abhorrent to him.

David could have justified an attack on Saul, since he had been anointed the king of Israel, yet he waited on the Lord. Absalom had no anointing, nor call of God on his life. He was simply a headstrong, deceitful, self willed, spoiled young man.

This rebellion was, from David’s standpoint, utterly spawned in falsehood. Absalom and Ahithophel surely had heard of the previous exploits of David in his ascension to the throne, yet they decided to pursue a completely different method of attaining power. Through falsehood. Through lies to the people of Israel and by deception to the king.

How utterly shortsighted.

And yet, if we consider our own lives, how often do we seek to short circuit God’s will with the same motivation, the same “pleasure in falsehood”, looking to find advantage through another’s weakness and by deception taking advantage of a weakness.

Ephesians 4:20, 25

But that is not the way you learned Christ!–
Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

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Names of God – CORNERSTONE – 87

2024-06-28

My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.

The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.

The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.

May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.

87

CORNERSTONE

Matthew 21:42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

Jesus is referring to Psalm 118:22 when He speaks of the cornerstone being rejected by the builders.

This is a stinging prophecy Jesus is applying to the first century Jewish leadership. Although He speaks of Psalm 118, He also could have brought Isaiah 28:16 to the attention of the leadership.

Isaiah 28:16 therefore thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’

Of course this passage doesn’t speak of rejection. May I suggest, this is the emphasis of Jesus using Psalm 118 when addressing those who were seeking His death.

Not only was it their responsibility not recognizing the Messiah, and that in rejecting the chief cornerstone, they rejected the very stone the building relies on, but Jesus also declares the Lord is in the midst of this.

God will use the wrath of man, the rejection of these leaders, to do a marvelous thing, a supernatural salvation, in front of their very eyes.

He is the cornerstone, the key to the church, the first of all stones to be laid, the sure foundation and the only One to provide the salvation promised.

As Psalm 118:24, the very next verse in the Great Hallel, states

This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

The day the Lord takes the rejected stone, and makes Him the cornerstone – this is the day that we are to rejoice in.

The day of salvation, of His work on the cross and His resurrection from the dead.

The Lord’s doing is truly marvelous! Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.

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Jesus in the Old Testament – Abraham – 02

2024-06-25

Jesus in the Old Testament is a series of posts that will offer my readers a chance to consider pictures or shadows of Jesus in the Old Testament. As mentioned in the introduction to this series, some may be obvious, some may be not so obvious, and some may simply be a facet of the Lord those reading may not have considered previously.

I hope as we venture through this series, we will see the Lord in many wonderful pictures throughout the Old Testament.

SEEING JESUS IN

Abraham

Foreigner

Genesis 23:4
“I am a sojourner and foreigner among you; give me property among you for a burying place, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”

John 1:11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

In our last post on Abraham we considered his accepted status as a a sojourner, or a tempory inhabitant of the land.

In this post lest us consider Abraham as a foreigner. One who is not like those he lives amongst. Someone who is different than the general public, than the masses.

This surely was Abrahams condition, being a monotheist in a land of polytheism, a stranger wandering about. It may have seemed to those he rubbed shoulders with that he may be running from something, or trying to hide from something. Being a foreigner, brings a suspicious eye from the populace.

He was so different!

This also is so true of our Savior, for though he arrived amongst those of His own, He was looked upon with suspicious eyes, seeing that He was different, so different that the average Israelite. As he revealed who He was for those who would accept it, His differences, when compared with the common Joe only increased!

Both Abraham and Jesus were foreigners amongst their neighbors, but how much more for Jesus!

Upon arriving on this globe, Jesus also lived a life of a temporary inhabitant, though He possessed all things, and would eclipse all authorities and powers through His ministry and sacrifice.

He has established a new nation. Don’t be a foreigner!

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.

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Names of God – CONSUMING FIRE – 86

2024-06-24

My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.

The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.

The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.

May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.

86

CONSUMING FIRE

Deuteronomy 4:24 For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

A consuming fire. Moses wrote this by inspiration in relation to the topic of idolatry in the life of the faithful Israelite. Moses recounts to the faithful, in verse 15, that the nation “saw no form” when God spoke to them at Horeb.

There was no reason to resort to idolatry, for they had no form to duplicate. Of course they had the influence of their national neighbors, and of course a darkened heart that would expose itself as they sought to obey the law. These times of idolatry were inevitable without the faith that God was looking for.

Out of an idolatrous life, God would appear to be the consuming fire Moses warns them of.

The author of Hebrews resorts to this phrase, describing our God in relation to our refusing to hear Him who speaks (Hebrews 12:25).

In both of these verses, for the faithful Israelite and for the faithful believer, God is described as a consuming fire.
Once in relation to idolatry, and once in relation to refusing to hear Him. Might I suggest that idolatry, evil as it is in many forms, has one effect on the believer. A decision to elevate one authority over another.

In this context, when a believer falls into idolatry, he is considering that which he worships (the idol) to be more authoritative than God Himself.

This is a logical thought toward idolatry.

The fuller and more powerful thought regarding idolatry comes down to one thing.

Who ya gonna love?

Who will you choose to love? In the culture I live in, 21st century America, there are multitudes of idols seeking my attention. I would hope my reader would agree that this culture is no friend to the sole worship of our God.

It is a battle of the mind to decide to worship Him. This is the warfare we sometimes do not recognize being in the midst of. Let us remember that our allegiance, our loyalty, our attention and our devotion is to be directed to the Lord Himself.

It is also important to recognize this does not demand we generate a warm fuzzy feeling all the time, for even when we are not “feeling it”, to express our love and gratitude to Him, and to act in obedience to Him because we want to no matter the feelings – that my friend is a very real expression of rejecting idolatry.

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.

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Psalms for Psome – Ps 62.01

2024-06-22

Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 62:1 To the choirmaster: according to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David. For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation.
Psalm 62:2 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.

As I take my time through the Psalms, I have an increased realization of the impact family conflict has on the Psalmist.

The Psalm we are entering this morning has no petitions to God, pleadings to God, requests of God, or praising to God. The Psalmist is quiet before God, having expressed his concerns previously.

He is alone with God.

But ever the curious fellow, I sought to understand what prayers and petitions were offered to God in which David was resting upon, in which he could simply express that it was only him and the Lord, and that he was content in this situation. What I found, thanks to Blue Letter Bible, was a timeline of each of the Psalms and their likely cause of writing, along with the time of their writing.

This little table was somewhat shocking, for in it we find that the a greater number of Psalms were written due to Absalom than I would have guessed. He surely was a thorn in David’s side, and his petitions to God were many during this rebellion.

With this understood, let us remember that during the upheaval and treachery of this time, that David had sought refuge and response from his God. In this Psalm David expresses trust only.

Nothing else.

He is alone with God, waiting in silence.

Quite possibly the greatest challenge David faced in life, and he is silent before God. No requests, no wrestling with Him. Simply recounting that God is the decider, the One in charge, the One who is.

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Names of God – CONSOLATION OF ISRAEL – 85

2024-06-21

My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.

The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.

The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.

May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.

85

CONSOLATION OF ISRAEL

Luke 2:25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

The Consolation of Israel.

Consider Simeon. He was a righteous and devout man, and my assumption has always been that he was a priest, but when I read the passage above there is no indication he was of the priestly line.

He was, I suppose, a simple man who followed the Lord, and was given an opportunity to see his salvation, to hold his salvation, and to speak of his salvation’s mission to the nation of Israel and the gentiles.

But let us not forget that the Gentiles Simeon spoke of included the very people who were oppressing the people of Israel. Simeon’s waiting for Jesus, the Consolation of Israel, was in the midst of living under oppression. And yet Simeon had the foresight to describe Jesus, the Consolation of Israel, as the One would be a light of revelation to the oppressors, those gentiles that dominated the people of God.

Even before Jesus could speak, His life was described by Simeon as the One who would provide for His enemies a light for the Gentiles.

I can’t help but think that Simeon had recently, by the providence of God, read from the scroll of Isaiah, where the Lord speaks of the Servant of the Lord, our Messiah.

Isaiah 49:6 he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

Simeon saw the writing on the wall, and though the physical nation of Israel was under oppression, a new nation would erupt due to the light extending to the nations, and that salvation would reach the ends of the earth.

For God had much bigger dreams for His creation than many had considered, and for that we should be eternally grateful.

We have a Consolation that provides light to those who oppress, to those who are enemies. Are we mimicking the Great Consolation?

I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.

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Jesus in the Old Testament – Abraham – 01

2024-06-18

Jesus in the Old Testament is a series of posts that will offer my readers a chance to consider pictures or shadows of Jesus in the Old Testament. As mentioned in the introduction to this series, some may be obvious, some may be not so obvious, and some may simply be a facet of the Lord those reading may not have considered previously.

I hope as we venture through this series, we will see the Lord in many wonderful pictures throughout the Old Testament.

SEEING JESUS IN

Abraham

Sojourner

Genesis 23:4
“I am a sojourner and foreigner among you; give me property among you for a burying place, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”

Matthew 8:20
And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

When Abraham was called out of his native land, he immediately became a sojourner, a temporary inhabitant. As he ventured through the land that would eventually provide his inhabitants nationhood, Abraham considered himself, even at the end of his travels, to be a “newcomer” in the area, one who did not exercise any rights over the land as yet. The promises were sure, but Abraham lived as having no rights.

Upon arriving on this globe, Jesus also lived a life of a temporary inhabitant, though He possessed all things, and would eclipse all authorities and powers through His ministry and sacrifice.

He was a temporary inhabitant, but now the Eternal King! May His name be praised!

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.

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Names of God – COMMANDER OF THE ARMY OF THE LORD – 84

2024-06-17

My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.

The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.

The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.

May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.

84

COMMANDER OF THE ARMY OF THE LORD

Joshua 5:14 And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?”

Moses assistant became a great leader, leading the infant nation into many battles, finding victory after victory, until he had secured the extent of the national boundaries for the fledgling country. A truly amazing man, but in our verse here, we find one of Joshua’s greatest character reveals.

He was a mighty general, a terror to those who opposed him, because of his relation to the True Commander of the army of the Lord. Joshua had approached this unknown man, and immediately took to determine his stance before the nation of Israel.

Are you for us, or for our adversaries?

The theophany’s answer was amazing. He did not answer Joshua’s direct question, but described Himself as the Commander of the Lord’s army. He would not align Himself simply with either the nation of Israel or their adversaries.

Yes – Israel was the chosen nation to enter the promised land, and yes, God’s will would be to provide success to the armies of the Israelites as they conquered the land.

But here in this verse, the Lord describes Himself, not as the commander of the armies of the nation of Israel, or of any other nation, be they friend or foe, but of the otherworldly forces He led. He is not some national god that is competing with some other national god, warring and fighting to gain prominence.

He is the True God, over all and will not be relegated to a lower position, simply standing by to support the goals of a portion of His creation, against another portion of His creation. How ludicrous to think that of Him.

This concept, that the Lord is above our national interests, and that it up to us to decide to follow Him, and not for Him to align with our current desires, is repeated over and over again throughout the Old and New Testament.

The first time this idea became very clear to me was in Exodus 23:20-22. See The Lord’s Enemy for some additional thoughts on this topic

No matter, when we come to the Lord, we are to consider His will, and not how He is to conform to our wishes or goals. Joshua immediately took the correction, and we would be wise to follow his example.

After all, centuries later, we can hear the Master telling a woman at the well, that He is not a Messiah of the Jews only but of the entire world. She also sought to claim God as her national god, or at least questioned the truth, and Jesus would have nothing of it. He clearly described salvation as not being only for the nation of Israel, but for all who worship Him in spirit and truth.

He is the Commander of the Lord’s Army!

I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.

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Psalms for Psome – Ps 61.04

2024-06-15

My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 61

8 So will I ever sing praises to your name, as I perform my vows day after day.

In our previous post, I skipped over the concept of vows. He had mentioned vows in verse 5, and I find this repetition to be worthy of a short discussion. Let’s read verse 5 once more.

5 For you, O God, have heard my vows;

David had earlier mentioned that God had heard his vows. In our final verse, he speaks to the Lord, reminding Him that he will perform his vows.

It is interesting that the vows are not connected with the results he is requesting. It isn’t a tit for tat type of discussion here. David isn’t entering into a bargaining stance with the Creator of all, hoping to get one over on Him.

We have all heard of the fox hole vow – Get me out of this trouble God and I will serve You the rest of my life. Yet this rarely sticks, and as soon as the trial is over, so is the remembrance of the vow.

But notice that is David’s final statement to the Lord, the cause and effect seems to be turned on it’s head. My common understadning of vows in relation to God goes something like …

I will continually and constantly, out of a previous legal obligation, perform my promise as a payback for a previous rescue! (I know it sounds crass, but that is how my little brain works!)

No, notice that David states that he will sing praise, in order to perform his vows to God.

God does expect us to keep our vows, especially our vow to follow Jesus, but we cannot follow properly simply out of a spirit of obligation. Now don’t get me wrong, we are obligated to Him due to His great sacrifice, yet in the goodness of God, He has provided the power, the energy, the strength to perform our vow, to follow after Him as we sing praise to Him. As we have a spirit of joy in our lives, thankful for His goodness and mercy, may we be faithful “singers’ of His goodness.

Even for those of us whose natural singing voice leaves much to be desired. Yikes!

May our lives honor the One who is good!

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Names of God – CLUSTER OF HENNA BLOSSOMS – 83

2024-06-14

My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.

The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.

The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.

May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.

83

CLUSTER OF HENNA BLOSSOMS

Song of Songs 1:14 My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of Engedi.

In the Song of Songs, Solomon writes of the passion between a farm girl and the mighty King of Israel. Often the love between the two is described in words of beauty and grace, speaking of their unrelenting desire for each other.

In this verse, the farm girl is describing her love as a “cluster of henna blossoms”. At first glance, I thought this may describe a beautiful flower, a flower that provided a scent that was irresistible, a flower that was favored above all other flowers.

All of that may be true, but when I did a bit of research I found the Hebrew word translated as henna blossoms is כֹּפֶר kôpher, ko’-fer, and is primarily describing a cover, and by extension describes a redemption price, a ransom, even a sum of money.

Early in the Old Testament, this term was used to describe the pitch that covered the ark.

Genesis 6:14 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.

In our verse today, the farm girl refers to the King as her redemption, the ransom she needs for her life, her protection from danger and as a covering to keep her safe.

So much more than simply a favored flower, but the very protection only the King could provide her, for she speaks of the Kings redemption as for her, that is .. to me He is a cluster of henna blossoms.

This is her estimation of her lover. All the world might think something else of the King, but she knew He was her hope and life.

She represents the ones who have trusted the Messiah for their hope and life. May we constantly be of the same desire as this lowly farm girl.

I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.

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Category: Devotional

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