OUR LORD WHOSE ANNOINTING ON PEOPLE  IS NOT TO BE TAKEN LIGHTLY

2 Samuel chapter 1 verse 7 - 10 narrates the report given by a man who came from the battlefield where Saul, the king of Israel, had died.

Saul was described as being in the throes of death and because he did not want to be captured by the Philistine army alive, called out to the man who was giving the report to kill him. The passage goes like this;

When he turned around and saw me, he called out to me, and I said, ‘What can I do?’

“He asked me, ‘Who are you?’ “‘An Amalekite,’ I answered.

“Then he said to me, ‘Stand here by me and kill me! I’m in the throes of death, but I’m still alive.’

“So I stood beside him and killed him, because I knew that after he had fallen he could not survive. And I took the crown that was on his head and the band on his arm and have brought them here to my lord.”

This report of the death of King Saul brought mourning to the people and David was grieved deeply.

He lamented in 2 Samuel chapter 1 verse 19;

“A gazelle lies slain on your heights, Israel. How the mighty have fallen!

Saul was the anointed one of God to lead Israel and that standing was not removed from him. 

David, upon learning that the young man had killed Saul, ordered that he be struck down because he had not feared to kill the anointed one of the Lord when even David himself, while being hunted down by Saul, refused to harm him when he had a chance to do so.

Such is the anointing of God that it makes it a terrible thing  to strike those who are annointed by the Lord no matter what the circumstance.

Let us ask the Lord to give us wisdom that we might not lash out at those whom he has annointed.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO PAID A VERY HIGH PRICE  TO SAVE US

Ezekiel chapter 19 verse 3 - 5 is an excerpt from a chapter that Ezekiel called a lament. It reads this way;

She brought up one of her cubs, and he became a strong lion.

He learned to tear the prey and he became a man-eater.

The nations heard about him, and he was trapped in their pit. They led him with hooks to the land of Egypt.

“‘When she saw her hope unfulfilled,  her expectation gone, she took another of her cubs and made him a strong lion.

A lament as defined  as a passionate expression of grief  and sorrow perhaps marked by weeping and wailing.

The portion of the chapter in view here, metaphorically describes a lioness who selected one of her cubs and trained him to be a strong lion. He became  mighty and fierce but he was captured in a pit and dragged to the land of Egypt. 

The lioness, upon seeing that her cub that she had placed her hope in had  failed, took another of her cubs and made him a strong lion.

The first cub represents the children of Israel entering Egypt and being trapped there as slaves. Snared as they were, the children of Israel needed the Lord's mighty hand to free them from the oppression and bondage they were under.

The second cub was the nation of Israel being raised to be a strong nation among nations. The second cub was raised to be mighty and able to enforce its own security.

The lioness represents the kingdom of Zion whose intention was to use the children of Israel to fulfill the mandates of heaven to establish the kingdom of God on the earth.

The lamentation of Ezekiel chapter 19 records the grief that accompanies the working of God's holy purpose on the earth while encountering the fierce resistance of mankind against the purposes of God sometimes even without them realizing it.

As Jesus prayed on the cross just before He died  in Luke Chapter 23 verse 34, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."

Saving mankind from the snare of their fall into sin and death and redeeming them back to life was an arduous, grievious and costly undertaking by the Lord our God.

Bless the Lord for bearing that cost to pay for our redemption. 

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO RESPONDS TO HUMILITY AND SINCERITY

Ezekiel chapter 14 verse 3 is a pointed question that God asked His prophet. The scripture reads this way;

“Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I let them inquire of me at all?

The prophet Ezekiel was asked this question when a group of elders of Israel visited him in order that he would inquire of the Lord on their behalf. 

The elders of Israel and some of the people of Israel had set up idols as priorities in their hearts and they had been accommodating of wickedness in their midst. After letting all these things occur among themselves and in the nation, they wanted to come before the prophet and inquire of the Lord.

When approaching the Lord, humility and sincerity are the appropriate postures to take before Him.

We must always remember that the Lord is holy and righteous and understanding that idols and wickedness are incompatible with the Lord's presence, we must sincerely and humbly renounce these things so that the Lord can engage us and give counsel to us on our paths forward.

The Lord asked Ezekiel if He should even let the elders ask any questions at all meaning that the Lord was prepared to entirely resist their inquiries but, as Psalm 10 verse 17 says, "LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear,"

The Lord is prepared to hear from the humble. In fact, the Lord will help the humble gain the right standing before Him and hear whatever they ask Him.

Bless our Lord who makes a way for the humble and sincere to be heard.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHOSE WISDOM ENRICHES OUR LIVES

Ephesians chapter 6 verses 2 - 4 reads this way;

“Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”

Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

The apostle Paul, writing to the  believers at Ephesus, advised them to honor their parents so that it would go well with them and that they would enjoy long earthly lives.

As the apostle wrote, it is a commandment with a promise attached to it meaning that the following of the commandment necessarily yields the fruit of the promise associated with it.

Our mothers and fathers are the Lord's chosen vessels to bring us up in the world and the Lord's unequivacle command is to honor them.

The second part of the passage advises Fathers not to exasperate their children but instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. 

This exhortation implies that failing to bring children up in ways of the Lord results in them being exasperated or frustrated. When children are brought up under  uneven or capricious standards or even no standards at all, they may suffer demoralization as Colossians chapter 3 verse 21 says,  "Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged".

The Lord, issuing wisdom through the pen of His servant Paul, advises us to uphold the single standard of the ways of the Lord when raising our children.

As the book of Proverbs in chapter 22 verse 6 says, "Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it."

This verse is the mirror promise to parents that careful and faithful parenting in the ways of the Lord will yield the fruit of righteousness in the lives of their children for many years to come.

Let us bless the Lord who freely gives us wisdom for the enrichment of our lives.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO CALLS HIS PEOPLE INTO ACTION

Isaiah 13 verses 1 - 2 says this;

A prophecy against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw:

Raise a banner on a bare hilltop, shout to them; beckon to them to enter the gates of the nobles.

This prophecy describes an extraordinary scene where Isaiah saw an army arrayed  against Babylon which in this case, represents the rulership of mankind that contrary to the will of God. 

This shimmering army stands waiting in the flanks,  undetectable to all, when a signal banner is  waved from a bare hilltop and a shout goes out to the infantry and calvary to descend on the city and enter the houses of Babylon's elites.

This action brings about the conflagration right into the  dwellings of those who have usurped positions of authority over the people of God and have hastened  to bring destruction to them.

The Lord defends His people and the powers of darkness are brought down in a calamitous collapse.

Bless the Lord who frees us from the snare of the enemy and delivers us from entrapment.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO STRENGTHENS HIS PEOPLE

Isaiah chapter 41 verses 15 and 16 says this;

“See, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff.

You will winnow them, the wind will pick them up, and a gale will blow them away. 

But you will rejoice in the Lord and glory in the Holy One of Israel.

The Lord, the Holy One, speaking to those He has redeemed, tells them that even though they are little, He will turn them into a mighty crushing machine and that they will crush kingdoms and reduce them to empty husks. 

The Lord's redeemed will winnow  the chaff and they will be blown away.

And the might and power of the Lord will be evident and His people will rejoice and glory in Him.

Bless the Lord who anoints His servants and amplifies their strength so that none can withstand them. 

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO CONFOUNDS THE OPPRESSORS OF HIS PEOPLE

In Isaiah 19 verse 3,  Isaiah wrote about one way that the Lord will overcome His enemies. The verse goes like this;

The Egyptians will lose heart, and I will bring their plans to nothing; they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead, the mediums and the spiritists.

Here, we see that the Egyptians, who represent the systems of oppression in the earth,  undertake plans to subjugate people using enslavement, cruelty and murder.

The Lord, is His great power, demolishes their plans and they lose heart as their schemes repeatedly get uncovered and rendered impotent.

In desperation, the Egyptians consult idols, spirits and mediums to try to keep ahead of the spiritual and material dissolution they are encountering but to no avail.

The Lord is mighty to save and there is no power in heaven or earth that can snatch those who are His out of His hand

Amen.