August 17

2013 1 Samuel 9 This story of Saul marks the end of the judges. A member of the tribe of Benjamin, the smallest of the tribes, one of Saul’s ancestors would have been one of the few surviving men of the tribe when the other tribes almost wiped them all out in punishment for not bringing justice against the men of Gibeah. One of Saul’s ancestors would have been one of the virgins stolen from Jabesh-Gilead in order to be given as wives to the surviving men of Benjamin. Kish means ‘bent.’ Kish’s father’s name was Abiel, which means God is my Father. Do you suppose Abiel named his son ‘bent’ in memory of the travesty that had taken place in the Tribe? Maybe, maybe not. Saul’s name means ‘desired.’ Why did Kish name him ‘desired?’ Had he been difficult to conceive and thus desired and prayed for? At any rate, Benjamin is the least of the tribes and Saul was desired. Kish apparently was a wealthy man. The text says that Kish was a mighty man of power. That could mean that he had a small army, or it could mean that he had a small fortune, or both. Saul, the ‘desired’ one, was looking for his father’s lost female donkeys. TWOT indicates, “She-asses are listed among Job’s possessions but not male asses. . . Female asses are mentioned because. . . of their milk and their breeding. They are also better for riding than male asses.” Hence one only needed one male ass in a herd. If you had more than one, to lose a male was no big loss, but to lose several female asses was to lose much. Saul, the ‘desired’ one, was on a journey to recover his father’s wealth. Israel desired a king like the other nations. God gave them what they desired. Saul was tall, handsome, from a rich family. Everything you would want for a king. So the desired one, on a journey to recover his father’s wealth, finds not the she-asses, but the desire of Israel, the crown of the country. Everybody but God gets what they desired. Kish gets his donkeys; Saul gets a crown, and Israel gets their king. What does God get? He already had it, rejection. Where is the glory in that? Our Lord works through our rejection to accomplish His will. He would one day reject the desire of the nation to provide a King of His choice, David. He would promise to David to bring of his seed, the Messiah. He provided Jesus as that seed. The nation rejected Him. Yet still as many as receive Him, to them He gives the right to become children of God. Saul was desired and wanted, but evil. Jesus was despised and rejected, but good. Saul was handsome. Jesus was one from whom we hid our eyes. Saul was acclaimed; Jesus was mocked. Saul sought David’s death; Jesus endured the cross and loved us still. It is easy to love those who love you. Jesus loved us even while were yet sinners and hated him. What a contrast in glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john

August 16

1 Samuel 7-8 In January of the this year, I was reading concerning Obamacare. In the news at the time was how his program was requiring all companies to provide healthcare which provided abortion coverage and coverage for drugs which might cause an abortion. In as much as the Scripture indicates that human life begins at conception, and the taking of human life apart from self-defense or at the direction of God-ordained authority is murder, then to force companies to provide for abortion or abortive drugs is tantamount to forcing those companies to be accomplices to murder. Some companies such as Hobby Lobby objected that they were being forced against their conscience to provide such services. They are being forced to either comply or face fines which will drive them out of business. Naturally, I wrote Obama an e-mail which strongly expressed my dismay at such an evil practice. Two weeks to the day after I sent the e-mail, I received letter from the IRS that I was being audited. The audit continues to drag on to this day. I have a hard time believing that this was just a coincidence. Am I surprised? A little bit. Should I be surprised? Not really. Governments under the best of men have their faults. Governments under lesser men go south quickly. Is Obama a lesser man? Absolutely! It is demonstrated in his unwavering support of abortion at any age including partial birth abortion, which really is nothing less than infanticide. It is demonstrated in his unwavering demand that people like me acknowledge that homosexual relationships should be equivalent to marriage. I acknowledge that in our form of government homosexuals have the right to practice their sexual preference, but the government does not have the right to force me to pronounce it as morally good as marriage. That is just nonsense. It is similar to the government forcing me to declare that adultery, fornication and divorce & remarriage are all morally good. It is just nonsense! Yet Obama desires and demands that I agree with him. What does this have to do with the glory of God? In today’s passage the nation rejects Samuel’s sons as leaders for the nation. Instead they want a king. In so doing they were rejecting the Lord as their king. God wanted them to know what they would be getting when they asked for a man to rule over them. They would be getting military conscription, forced servitude for their sons and daughters, and taxes that are overwhelming. We are not far off. The further away from the Lord that we and our leaders wander, the greater will be our bondage to our government. Thomas Jefferson once said, “That government, governs best which governs least.” Only when a people voluntarily submit to the glory of God and obey him can a government afford to govern least. Unfortunately, we have a leader like Obama because we deserve him. We have rejected the Lord as our king in exchange for pleasure, prosperity and security. We have rejected the glory of the Lord. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john

August 15

1 Samuel 5-6 The glory of the Lord is such that He will avenge His own glory even if it means the destruction of His own people. He will not allow His people to wallow in sin. At the same time, He will not allow those who are not His to triumph over His glory. The ancients often believed that what happened on earth was a reflection of the struggle of the gods in heaven. Thus if the Philistines conquered the Israelites, it was because the god of the Philistines, Dagon, had defeated the God of the Israelites, Yahweh, in the heavens. In reality there is only One God. What happens on earth has nothing to do with a struggle of God, but has everything to do with how we perceive His glory and respond in obedience. I cannot help but think that God has somewhat a sense of humor as He deals with the Philistines. They place ark of the covenant, the central symbol of the presence, glory and covenant of God, in the temple of their God Dagon. In the morning the find the idol representing their god lying prostrate upon the ground before the ark. Hmm. . . must have been an earthquake. They set it upright again. The next morning it had fallen again. Its head and hands were broken off. Hmm. . . maybe something unfortunate is happening in the heavens. They still don’t get it. God strikes them with swellings. The Latin Vulgate says, “Swellings in their secret parts.” What might these swellings or tumors be? Boils? Hemmoroids? Cancers? STD’s? Whatever it is, they try to solve the problem by moving the ark closer to Israel. Maybe Yahweh will be satisfied if His ark is a little closer; send it to Gath. Didn’t work. Maybe it wasn’t close enough. Send it to Ekron. Didn’t work. Send it away from the city; maybe the people will not be struck with the swellings. Out in the fields rats came and ate their crops. Yahweh will not allow His glory to be trifled with. I personally think the way in which He dealt with them is humorous. It certainly is more gentle than He could have been. What should they do? They realize now that they have offended Yahweh, and He is greater than Dagon. Give sacrifices to Yahweh, and send the ark back! They make gold images of the judgments He used against them. They hitch to cows together who have never been yoked before and keep their calves behind. The cows immediately leave the calves on their own and work in unison to head toward Israel. That would be an unheard of happening in their agrarian society! God reveals His glory to the Philistines, and He returns the ark to Israel. The people of Beth Shemesh (House of the Sun) are delighted to see the ark coming back. They still have not learned. They treat the ark as a curiosity. They open it up and look inside it. They did not treat it as holy. Note how God deals so much more severely with them than He did with the Philistines. He kills 50,070 men of Israel as a result! That’s not funny. God expects His people to uphold and revere His glory. He holds us to a higher standard. We have been redeemed by the precious blood of His Son. He will not allow us to trample underfoot the blood of His covenant. That is something of which we should always be cognizant! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john

June 16

Deuteronomy 21 Outside of the one of the public buildings of Davie County, North Carolina, in Mocksville stands a tall granite monument. On the one side of the monument is engraved the names of all the county sons who died in the Spanish American War, WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam. On the other side are the names of all the county sons who died in the Civil War. The Civil War side of the monument is filled with names. The other side has many blank spots and gaps between the different war lists. My great grandfather, Charles Stanley Chaffin fought in the Civil War. He was 19 when he entered the ranks of the Army of North Carolina in 1864. Obviously his name is not on the monument, but there are a couple of Chaffins on the Civil War side. They must be cousins. There are no Chaffins at all on the other side. Somehow my Grandfather avoided being drafted in WWI. My Dad was in the Navy in WWII. My uncle was in Korea. My brothers missed the draft during Vietnam by being students. I turned 18 in 1973 when we pulled out of Vietnam. My son spent 15 months in Iraq. He lost a number of fellow soldiers. We are so grateful that he came home safe. I am not aware of any relatives that have ever been murdered. I guess my family has been preserved from violent deaths. I cannot think of a more unsettling thing to happen than to lose a loved one due to murder or war. Bloodshed must be a very serious offense in Scripture. From Abel on God has held accountable those who spill blood. Even in this chapter, which deals with various kinds of bloodshed, we find that when a murdered corpse is found, God holds the nearest village accountable. He even required a blood sacrifice and a public declaration of innocence by the village elders. But tucked away in these verses on how to deal with the problem is verse 5, which says, “Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for the LORD your God has chosen them to minister to Him and to bless in the name of the LORD; by their word every controversy and every assault shall be settled.” In the very midst of our inhumanity toward each other, while holding us accountable for sin, He still desires to bless. In the midst of terrible injustice, He seeks to bring us back to Himself and to bless us. All he requires is truth and repentance. I think this reveals the greatness of His heart. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john

June 15

Deuteronomy 20 In 2009 I had an English Composition student who was in the Oklahoma National Guard. He sometimes would miss class because of his Guard duties. In one of my discussions with him he told me that he had volunteered for active duty in Afghanistan. I asked him, “Why?” He said, “Because I really want to defend my country.” We have all heard stories of men and women who have done things like that because they love the glory of their country. That young man was rare. As I think about this chapter, how is it that the Lord could give so many opportunities for a man to get out of serving in the army and Israel would still be able to field an army? Look at the reasons listed which would keep a man out of the army: If he just built a new house, if he just planted a new vineyard, if he just got engaged, if he is afraid, all of these disqualified him from serving in the Lord’s army. Is there really anyone who is not afraid before going into combat? What drives a man to not be afraid? Certainly there are a number of factors that can subdue fear so that a man might not sense it. Adrenaline can do that, but you already have to be in the heat of battle to get the adrenaline. Hate can do that. One can be so overcome with hatred for an enemy that fear is funneled into the hate making the desire to kill, maim or destroy become even stronger. Fear is lost in a surge of hatred. Another thing that can drive a man to not be afraid is a strong sense of invincibility. What could cause a man to have a strong sense of invincibility? What is invincibility? Invincibility is that from of an eternal viewpoint, I know I will be better off eternally than I am now, no matter what happens between now and then. What would give the men of Israel a sense of invincibility? Would it not be that one understood that in the sight of the Eternal, Infinite, Almighty, All-compassionate God, one is fully loved and accepted, and that He is with me? It has much to do with His glory. My concept of God really does shape my emotions and my sense of security. What good would be a god who is not any of the things I just listed? Then again if I fully understood that He is all those things but was not convinced that I am fully loved and accepted and that He is with me, then what good would that be to me? The glory of Jesus is that the Eternal, Infinite, Almighty, All-compassionate God became flesh like me so that I could become fully loved and accepted to Him. When I become fully loved and accepted to Him, He is always with me. When I fully begin to grasp those things, it begins to give me a sense of invincibility. Wow! I can endure anything! Even so, I don’t think I will volunteer for Afghanistan, but I will volunteer for service in the Lord’s army! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john

June 14

Deuteronomy 19 The dispensation of justice in this world is a difficult thing. We are all aware of folk stories of the Hatfields and McCoys. Generally it runs that one family begins to feel wronged by the other family, so they retaliate. The retaliation is a little bit stronger than the original offense in order to communicate to the other that they should not be messed with. Gradually or suddenly the retaliations explode until the acts toward each other are indeed horrendous. History is full of examples of this cycle as one nation rises up against another. Palestinian and Israeli confrontations are ones that are constantly in the news now. What really surprises me is that the media vociferously attacks Israel as an aggressor, when often (not always) Israel’s damage upon the aggressors is less than the Palestinians and is more surgical in hitting a military target than the Palestinians, and almost always in response to a Palestinian aggression. This passage addresses justice. Justice is a balance of the scale where moral acts are equal. Justice requires equality. The terms ‘life for lie’, ‘eye for an eye,’ and ‘tooth for a tooth,’ are examples of equality. For justice to be dispensed, it must not be more than or less than the equivalent act. Under the rule of law, justice must be equal. Israel was to be a country under the rule of law. They were to be sure that as such, justice was equal. Jesus refers to verse 21 in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:38,39, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. As followers of Jesus, we are to understand that justice was carried out upon our sin but not upon us. In as much as He Himself bore our sins upon Himself, “Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness— by whose stripes you were healed.”-1 Peter 2:24. Justice was carried out, but it was carried out upon Him in our place. We who have repented and believed in Him have received mercy not justice. Because we have received mercy, we likewise are to extend mercy to others. In so doing we reflect His glory in our lives. His mercy endures forever. May it also do so through us! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john

June 12

Deuteronomy 17 What if my wife said to me, “John, you are so harsh. I wanted to spend some time with other men, and that upset you. What is so wrong with me having dinner with another man, or even having a sleep over with him. Some of the men I meet are so protective. I feel much more secure around them than I do with you. There isn’t anything wrong with me enjoying their riches and their company.” If my wife said that and meant it, I do not think there would be very good odds that our relationship would last long. Some would say that the God of the Old Testament is harsh. Certainly there are some pretty harsh consequences here. Can you imagine if today we stoned anyone who worshipped other gods? We would be killing a lot of people. What would happen if we followed the other guidelines revealed in this chapter? Why couldn’t a king multiply horses? Horses were strategic weapons of war. A horse and chariot were the tanks of their day. To multiply horses was tantamount to raising a mighty army. If the king multiplied horses, he would be tempted to put his trust in the army rather than the Lord. What would happen if we applied that concept to our republic? One of the driving forces of our economy is the trust we have placed in our military industrial complex. I still sometimes wonder about our entrance into the Iraq war. Was it really about weapons of mass destruction, or was it to protect western oil interests? If it were not for the far superior military technology of our military, would we still have entered into the war? In whom or what were we trusting when we entered the war? Had we not had a superior military, where would we have place our trust? Why couldn’t a king multiply wives? The first response to that question is that it is just wrong to have more than one wife, and the king should model a righteous family. While that is true, it does not include the fact that marriage alliances were used to provide national security. When Solomon had 700 wives, I find it difficult to believe that he had a sexual relationship with 700 women. If he visited one per day, it would take him 2 years to make the rounds. So why did He have so many wives? It was another way of providing national security. The marriage alliances provided peace for the country. Seven hundred allies is a very formidable support group. One of Solomon’s main marriage alliances was his marriage with Pharaoh’s daughter. That one alliance secured his southern border, but at what price? She turned his heart away from the Lord. Would God have given him peace without the multiple marriage alliances. Maybe, maybe not, but he would have been less likely to have turned his heart away from the Lord. He lost the privilege of feasting on the glory of the Lord. Why couldn’t a king multiply silver and gold? When we are rich, it takes great discipline to resist the corruption of trusting in wealth rather than the Lord. Solomon became so rich that silver became devalued. Can you imagine that? You might be saying, “No, I can’t, but I would like the opportunity to try.” Solomon’s riches also were instrumental in turning His heart from the Lord. The Lord wants my heart. He wants me to enjoy Him as my security. He wants me to rest in Him as my protector. He wants me to value Him as true riches. Why? Simply because He is. To settle for anything else is to settle for poverty. He wants to give me Himself—that is true riches. How can I but give Him myself? His glory is too awesome! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john