“According to the commandment of the LORD you shall do.” As communicated in earlier meditations, the killing of people is no longer part of God’s plan for His people. So what do we do with this? The conquest of Canaan is a type of spiritual warfare that we experience now. How do we deal with the enemy of our spiritual flesh? We kill it, thoroughly and completely according to the commandment of the Lord. When we do this, He leads us in victory. He leads us into the valley of Shechem between Mt. Gerazim and Mt. Ebal where we see the provision that Jesus has for us. There the cursings and the blessings of the law are fulfilled in Jesus, and as we are in Him, they are fulfilled in us. This is His glory. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
PSALM 5
I was once a machining floor inspector at Mercury Marine. The basic idea of quality control at that time was that when a machine was set up to run a process, the inspector would examine a part produced by the machine. If the part met all of the specifications, then they could begin performing that process on the part. Periodically during the run of that process, the operator of the machine was required to check for the quality of the process. The inspector would make rounds of the different machines to consider each process and to determine if the parts met the standards. If they did, then everything was fine. If they did not, then the operator and foreman would be informed; the process would be stopped until corrections were made. The parts produced since the last inspection would be individually inspected until the point was found where the parts were properly machined. Some machine operators were always nervous when I came around. For various reasons, they did not like having their work inspected. Others did not care. They had confidence that their work met the required standard. The inspection only confirmed their confidence.
“Consider my meditation.” Would you be able to declare with David the same request? How could David make such a request? After all, he was a man of bloodshed. The common declaration of Him was, “Saul has slain his thousands, but David his ten thousands.” When Nabal refused to reward David’s men for their volunteer work, David strapped on his sword and was on the road with his men to kill him, and he would have if Abigail had not interceded. He had Uriah killed in order to cover up his adultery. It sounds pretty blood thirsty to me. David had seven or eight wives before he ever met Bathsheba. It sounds pretty lustful to me. Adultery and blood thirstiness begin in the mind. How could David request God to consider his meditation?
David knew God’s character well enough to know that he (David) was flawed. He knew that in the process of life, he needed correction. He knew that God is also merciful enough that if he daily came into the presence of the almighty King, he would receive the mercy that he needed for the meditations of His heart and the grace that he needed to follow the corrections that needed to be made. He had to make it a daily morning cry, or his heart would lead him out of God’s specifications. He knew that he was a man of bloodshed and that he needed the Lord to lead him into righteousness. He knew that he was an adulterous man and that he needed the Lord to straighten him out. Was he not afraid of the wrath of this stern God? Yes he was, but he was also convinced of His mercy. He knew God well enough to know that he had to come to Him.
Why then did David go into adultery with Bathsheba and murder Uriah? I can only think that as years progressed, He let that morning appointment, that morning correction go fallow. Bit by bit the glory of God was obscured in His meditations. Step by step he let himself be carried away. Without realizing it, his morning meditations were no longer God centered but David centered. Like the frog in the kettle he did not realize that the water was heating up. Only when it was too late, did he realize it. Only after the prophet came to correct him, did he come to his senses.
But praise to our Lord, He does forgive. That is part of his glory! Even though David was forgiven, he still had to live with the horrible consequences of his sin. Let us never use God’s forgiveness as a justification for permission to sin. But let us not shrink from God because we think he will not forgive. Let us daily enter into fellowship with Him inviting Him to consider our meditation. In so doing we enter into His joy and love His name. He in turn defends us and surrounds us with His shield. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
JEREMIAH 31
What kind of love is this?:
Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you. 4Again I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt, O virgin of Israel!
An everlasting love, it is a love that called in conquerors to defeat the nation and city. It is a love that has caused famine and pestilence. It is a love that demands purity in its object. It is a love that will stop at nothing to refine its object. It is a love that never lets go. It is a love that desires its object to return the love by being satisfied with His goodness. It is a love that yearns for its object. It is a love that yearns for faithfulness in its object. It is a love that satisfies its object. It is a love that even required the death of His own Son in order to purify its object. It is a love that uses that death to write His law upon the heart of the one He loves. It is a love that forgives iniquity, and sin. It is a love that chooses to never bring to mind again the sin that its object committed against Him. What kind of love is this?
I have been receiving about 3 calls a day M-F from people wanting help with rent/utilities/food/ gasoline. What kind of love either permits or designs for those things to happen to those people? I usually ask a series of questions. One is, “Do you have a church home? “ If they do, I want their church home to help them. If they do not, I usually tell them, “We prefer to help people with whom we have relationships. We would like to get to know you by you coming to our worship service or one of our Bible Studies.” That weeds out some of those who are not willing to think about a love that would permit or design a hardship in order to draw them to Himself. When they come it gives us an opportunity to speak the word into their lives. It gives opportunity to reveal the love that Jesus really has for them. It is not the candy store variety of love. Yes, His love is sweet, but it is also as hard as nails. It molds; it disciplines; it demands perfection. But it also does what it takes to provide perfection. That love is passionate. This is that of which this chapter of Jeremiah speaks. Wow! What a glorious love! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
ACTS 14
The glory of Jesus is never without witness. He is the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them. He is good all the time. He regularly sends rain from heaven and fruitful seasons. He fills our hearts with food and gladness. Yet on special occasions He performs signs and wonders, different from His daily acts of goodness. These acts thrill our souls. Perhaps you are one or have known someone who was miraculously healed by the Lord or had some mighty act done for you. Are these any less glorious than the daily things He does for us? If you really stop to think about it, no they aren't. They are just not as frequent.
In the midst of the mighty acts, Satan is always working. In the ones we see every day, he deceives us into believing that they are mundane and not glorious. In the infrequent ones, he stirs up opposition to rip our sails and cease our momentum. So it is with Paul. He is stoned and left for dead. You can be sure Satan, the world and the flesh were all behind that. But the Lord's glory will not be hidden. Jesus raised up Paul. Having been stoned and left for dead, Paul encourages the believers in Derbe with these words, "We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God."
Jesus is indeed glorified when He does infrequent mighty acts through us. However, which is easier, to follow a leader who is winning battle after battle with very little casualties, or to follow a leader who says you must constantly be a casualty through your lifetime before you may share in His glory? I think we would all prefer the former and avoid the latter. And yet, if that leader is so loved by His subjects that they would constantly be casualties for the sake of His glory, which leader is more glorious? I think the love and loyalty of the latter would make the glory of that leader more precious. That is what Jesus is doing in this passage and in our lives. But it is difficult to follow Him if we focus on the pain and not upon His glory. Indeed, we serve a glorious king! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John
No comments:
Post a Comment