In 2011 and 2012 we had less rainfall in Oklahoma than any consecutive two year period during the dust bowl. Ponds and lakes dried up and vanished. We were getting desperate. Many ranchers were forced to sell off much of their herds in order to protect themselves, the land and the future of the herds. Early in 2013 the Governor called upon the churches to begin praying for rain. We prayed in our church. Soon after the churches began praying, the drought broke, but we are still behind in rain. Some ponds and lakes still have not fully recovered. What was God trying to say to us about our spiritual state through the drought? Do you suppose that He was speaking to us about how we had twisted His glory?
So it had been three years since there had been significant rain in Israel. Like a mad-man, Elijah had appeared before king Ahab and pronounced the drought and then he promptly disappeared. Ahab has had time to think about it. They had to kill much of the livestock because of the drought. The land was now desperate. They were scouring the land for hidden springs to find water for what little livestock they had left. Elijah reappears to challenge the cultural and political mindset as to who Yahweh really is. Elijah challenged 50 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah to a dual. Whoever could call down fire from heaven would reveal himself as Lord. Archaeologists have found rock carvings of Baal holding a club in his right hand and a lightning flash and spear in his left hand. Elijah is going to challenge Baal to his own game-brining lightning/fire from heaven. Additionally, he challenges the 400 prophets of Asherah. Asherah was the goddess who was the escort of Baal. She controlled fertility.
It wasn’t just Jezebel that had wrong thoughts of Yahweh. Hershel Shanks wrote that in 1975 the archaeologist digging at Kuntillet ’Ajrud found pottery shards which might depict Yahweh as having the consort Asherah. The shards were from the late 9th century B.C. Elijah was from the middle 9th century B.C. Kuntillet would perhaps have been a location that Elijah went past on his way south when he ran from Jezebel (chapter 19). If that is indeed the proper interpretation of the shards, it presents an interesting insight into the conflicted cultural and religious mindset of Elijah’s day. Their concept was indeed warped and shaped by the other religions around them. That Yahweh should have a consort indeed warps His glory. It makes Him in our image, instead of we being a marred image of Him. The religious milieu of the day needed to be opposed.
Elijah was just the man that God chose to challenge that milieu! Elijah walks into the strength of the false prophets because he knew that His God was the Creator of the Universe and there was no other. It was no contest at all. He could boast and mock the false prophets because he knew His God. The false gods were no match for the glory of Yahweh. Their idols have ears, but they do not hear. Their idols have eyes, but they do not see. Their idols have hands, but they do not deliver. Our God has no physical ears, but He hears our cries. He has no physical eyes, but He sees our distresses. He has no physical hands, but He delivers us from sin. How do you think we have twisted His glory? Do we redefine holiness to excuse our sin? Do we redefine blessing to excuse wasting wealth on ourselves? Do we have a passion for seeing our world through God’s eyes, or through our own desires? How we view His glory makes all the difference in how we answer those questions. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
Go to: http://genesistochroniclespictures.blogspot.com/ “Jezreel Plain”
PSALM 106
God is full of lovingkindness and mercy, but He is also full of justice. It is His glory to reveal both. His lovingkindness and mercy postpones the day of judgment that we might have time to repent and receive a greater measure of mercy. The history of the nation of Israel, recited in this psalm, is an example of God’s mercy extended over centuries of waiting for the corporate repentance of the nation, but finally the day of judgment had to come. That day was foreshadowed in the wilderness:
They soon forgot His works; They did not wait for His counsel, But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, And tested God in the desert. And He gave them their request, But sent leanness into their soul.
I often marvel at how quickly they forgot His works. They were less than a week into the desert, after the miraculous Passover, when they forgot those works. They lusted exceedingly for water (Exodus 15:22-26), meat and bread (Exodus 16:1-16). Those are things that every one of us would call the basic necessities of life. Each of us would have lusted for the same. Rather than wait for His counsel, they murmured against Moses. Why would they not wait for His counsel? They forgot His glory. The focus on their desires instead of His glory spiraled into murmuring, testing God. When His glory appeared, it was not enough for them. He gave them the manna and quail. Greedily they gathered and ate the quail (Numbers 11:31-34). They received the meat they wanted, but their souls were dry.
Hmmmm. . . God’s glory is constantly available for me to gaze at in His word. His Spirit is ever present to illuminate it. Are my requests of Him for the increase of His glory, or are they for the fulfilling of my desires? Maybe that is why my/our prayer life exhibits a leanness of soul. O sure, He does grant requests in prayer. They are indeed ‘blessings,’ but do they bring a fatness or leanness of soul? Do the requests of my/our prayer life bring an increase to His glory or my/our desires? O Lord, let my gaze and desire be upon You and Your glory! Satisfy me only with Your glory and not my desires! “Save us, O LORD our God, . . . To give thanks to Your holy name, To triumph in Your praise.” Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
JOEL 1
The road ahead looked like a thin cloud. As we approached it, we realized it was a cloud of grasshoppers. It was a 100+ degree August day in 1978. We were traveling east on the plains of eastern Colorado. Our ’72 Pinto had no air conditioning, and we had to roll up the windows to keep the grasshoppers from dive bombing through open windows. It lasted for miles and miles. Man it got hot inside! When the grasshopper plague finally eased up, the thought occurred to me that my radiator might be covered with smashed grasshoppers which would impede the cooling process for the engine. I pulled over. Sure enough, the radiator was covered in smashed grasshoppers. I did my best to brush the majority of them off without burning my hands. That was almost like a plague of “Biblical Proportions.”
The Locust in the Middle East have a 17 year cycle. My OT professor in seminary brought back a specimen that he had purchased in Israel. It was at least 4 inches long. They can be quite destructive at the peak of their cycle. Apparently, the peak that Joel speaks of was worse than the normal peaks. It killed everything. In an agrarian society a locust plague would be devastating. If it were nationwide, it would be crippling to the nation. The prophet calls upon the people to “Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.” Sometimes plagues, famines, droughts, economic difficulty, relational difficulty, natural disasters are just the result of living in a fallen world. Sometimes God orchestrates them to get our attention. Always God wants us to turn to Him in the midst of them. Why? So that we will learn our need of holiness before a Holy God and that we will seek Him for it.
In the midst of those times we can call upon the Lord, and if there is repentance in our hearts, He will hear us. Is it time to call a sacred assembly? Do our lives individually and corporately seem to be covered with a cloud of locust. Do the grasshoppers seem to be dive bombing through the open windows of our lives. If we roll up the windows, do we feel like we are in an oven? Maybe the Lord is shouting at us, “Repent!”
“To you, O Lord, I call, for fire has devoured the open pastures and flames have burned up all the trees of the field. Even the wild animals pant for you; the streams of water have dried up and fire has devoured the open pastures.” Sounds like Oklahoma this past summer. The glory of the Lord in this is that we can call upon Him. He invites us to call upon Him. He is most amazing in his mercy! Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
1 THESSALONIANS 3
This is the glory of Christ that we are not shaken when we or our loved ones are afflicted. It brings great honor to Him that we remain steadfast in the midst of affliction. It demonstrates His great power in all things and situations. He is able to make it well with our souls. In the midst of affliction He is able to pour out abundantly upon us His love, because He is abundant love. That love is able to flow fully, if we allow it, even to those who afflict us. His power is able to establish our hearts. His love and power are a bedrock upon which we can build our lives. When we let Him establish our foundation in His bedrock, no flood of affliction is able to undermine our lives. The result is a holy conduct in our lives in the midst of adversity that honors Him. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
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