The Lord seems so stern at times. Utterly destroy everybody? Wow, that is tough! When Saul does not destroy everything and everybody, the Lord “regrets” having made him king and decides to remove him as king. Wow, that is stringent! But wait a minute; who were these Amalakites? They were the descendents of Esau’s grandson, Amalek. Esau despised the blessing of Abraham and demonstrated it by selling his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of porridge. Esau’s lack of respect for the Abrahamic blessing and the glory of God was passed on to his descendants and intensified by them. Consequently when Israel came out of Egypt. The Amalekites attacked them. The Lord swore that He would always be at war with them. Why? Because they would not respect the glory of the Lord.
Saul would not obey the Lord. Why? Look at verse 24. Saul says, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.“ Saul was more concerned about how the people viewed Him than he was concerned about the glory of the Lord. God is looking for men who are more concerned about His glory than about how people view them.
The Lord “regrets” making Saul king. That same word is used in Gen. 6:6 when He says that he was “sorry” that he had made man. He was pretty stern at that time also. He wiped out everyone on the earth except Noah and His family. What does that tell us about the glory of the Lord? It tells me that the glory of the Almighty is more important than anything else. I must seek His glory with all that I am. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
PSALM 53
Comedian Jeff Allan said in the date night challenge produced by Focus on the Family, “I know why God created teenagers. He wanted us to experience what it was like to create someone in our image, who denies our existence.” The Psalmist says that “God looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God.” What did this glorious God find when He looked? There is no one who seeks God. Paul quotes these verses in Romans 3:10-12 in order to demonstrate that all have sinned. So how is it that this glorious God could create us in His own image, and we refuse to acknowledge His existence? What should a righteous God do with this enigma? Here is what the righteous God did. He said that sin required the death of the sinner.
If we fail to acknowledge God’s existence and claim upon our lives, how will that affect our relationships with each other? If we are made in the image of God, and we are, then every time we see another human, we see the image of God. We are then faced with a subconscious choice. We must either acknowledge God’s existence in them or deny it. If we deny it, if we view them simply as a big bag of chemical electrical reactions, what is wrong with killing them, if leads to my survival? After all, if there is no god, then the ruling force is survival of the fittest. Naturally such a mindset would lead to much killing, or as the Psalmist puts it in verse 4, “Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge, Who eat up my people as they eat bread, And do not call upon God?” So when I desire the demise of another is not part of the reason because I have failed to acknowledge the image of God in them?
So what do I do with this knowledge, for I know that I have desired the demise of others and others have desired my demise? And the problem stems from my failure to acknowledge God’s existence and claims upon my life. What should or will this Holy God do? He should kill us, but His holiness extends beyond His justice to His mercy. Because of His great mercy, He brings us salvation, so we can call out with David, “O that salvation would come out of Zion!” He provides salvation for us. So, when we continually receive that salvation and gaze upon His image, it changes us. He delivers us out of our captivity to sin. He restores us to right relationship with Him. He causes us to rejoice and be glad. It is a gladness that is not dependent upon circumstance. It just flows from him. Wow! Instead of death, we receive joy and gladness. What an amazing God! ? Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
Ezekiel 22
It was kind of an eerie glow. The molten aluminum glowed in the dark. Working second shift at Mercruiser, I would on occasion walk back into the die cast department during break. There was no second shift, so the lights would be out. It was too inefficient to turn off the vats that fed the molten aluminum into the machines, so they would remain heated through the night. The glow from the vat was beautiful. It was almost transparent. There was no impurity, no dross, nothing to fowl the aluminum. It was enchanting.
Listen to what the KJV Commentary says of this passage.
A stronger indictment against a city, people, and land wholly gone into moral decay could not be expressed. They have served idols instead of the Lord; by bloodshed they have despised the sanctity of life; by sexual perversion they have despised the highest form of creation, man’s body; by seeking material gain at any cost, they have put the material above the spiritual. They have done all of this because they have forgotten the Lord GOD.*All segments of the social structure have become involved in this decay: prophet, priest, prince, and people. Therefore, the Lord must bring judgment by dispersion to a remnant, and fire, sword, and plague to the others. God’s holy purpose in this is to purge out filthiness and dross, appease His wrath against sin, and bring His people back to Himself. . . . He must deal with His sinful people in judgment.
The fire of God’s wrath produces that which is beautiful. The nation was so corrupt that there was no one to “stand in the gap and close up the wall.” There was nothing left to do but to melt the nation down consume the dross and inject the molten metal into a new mold. I am so thankful that the Lord is melting me down. He consumed my dross on the cross. He is injecting me into a new mold, one that looks like His Son. It is sometimes painful, but he has promised not to leave me nor forsake me. What remains will be beautiful. Someday I will glow because of what He has done. Some say that I’m already kind of eerie, but I don’t think they mean it in a good way. Anyway, if there is any glowing it will be from Him for He is the beautiful One. Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
*KJV Bible Commentary. electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1994, S. 1574
1 CORINTHIANS 6
"WE will judge the world." Now, if I didn't understand the glory of Christ, that would be a most disturbing thought! Just, look at our judicial system now! Just look at our churches now! We will judge the world? How can one keep from throwing up his or her hands and crying out, "I don't think so?" ONLY by looking at the glory of Christ can we keep from that. What is His glory? He takes the wretched refuse of our sin and washes it clean with His blood. We were once fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, sodomites, thieves covetous, drunkards, revilers, and extortionists. But He washed us, made us holy and declared us righteous. If He can do that, and He has, He can change us so that eventually we will have the ability to righteously judge the world. Isn't He glorious? He can take our vileness and make us holy! He can take our foolishness and make us wise! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John
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