OUR LORD WHO GUIDES US TO RIGHTEOUSNESS FOR HIS NAMES SAKE

Psalm 19 verse 13 says this;

Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression.

Here, the psalmist asks the Lord to intervene and save him from committing willful sins so that they would not dominate him. If he is kept from willful sins, he reasons, he would avoid committing great transgressions.

Verse 13 asks for help to avoid external sins but the next verse speaks of that which is cultivated in the psalmist's mind. Psalm 19 verse 14 says this;

May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

What is in our private words and even in our secret thoughts are always before the Lord and the prayer here is that the God who knows all things would be pleased by the thoughts of our minds and the words of our mouths.

May our outward conduct and our inner lives be pleasing to the Lord our God.

Amen.

THE HEAVENS DECLARE  (Psalm 19)

THE HEAVENS DECLARE THE GLORY OF THE LORD

THE SKIES PROCLAIM THE WORK OF HIS HANDS

DAY AFTER DAY WORDS POUR FORTH QUIETLY

NIGHT AFTER NIGHT  KNOWLEDGE SHOWN SILENTLY

THE STARS THROUGHOUT THE EARTH THEY SPEAK

THEIR WORDS THE ENDS OF THE WORLD TO REACH

OUR FATHER WHO RESTORES US FOR HIS PURPOSES

Jeremiah chapter 15 verses 10 - 12 says this;

Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth, a man with whom the whole land strives and contends!

I have neither lent nor borrowed, yet everyone curses me.

The Lord said, “Surely I will deliver you for a good purpose; surely I will make your enemies plead with you in times of disaster and times of distress.

“Can a man break iron—iron from the north—or bronze?

This passage captures a conversation between Jeremiah the prophet and the Lord.

Jeremiah tells the Lord that he regretted being born because the whole land was against him and even though he was not financially entangled with anyone, he was cursed by everyone.

The lord responds to Jeremiah by saying that he would deliver him from his enemies for a good purpose; a time of disaster and distress would come and his enemies would be forced to plead with him.

The Lord asks Jeremiah, can a man break iron from the north? Or Bronze? The question is asking whether men can successfully contend with a person who is protected and  fortified by God.

Even though Jeremiah was among people who sinned, the word of the Lord came to him in Jeremiah chapter 15 verse 19;

Therefore this is what the Lord says: “If you repent, I will restore you  that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my spokesman. Let this people turn to you, but you must not turn to them.

Bless the Lord who restores us when we repent of our sins so that he can use us for his purposes. We must reflect the Lord and not the people to whom he has sent us.

Amen.

OUR FATHER WHO RESTRAINS HIS ANGER FOR THE SAKE OF HIS PEOPLE

Isaiah chapter 64 verse 9 (19 X)  says this;

Do not be angry beyond measure, Lord; do not remember our sins forever.

Oh, look on us, we pray, for we are all your people.

The prophet Isaiah writes chapter 64 as a representative of God's people asking the Lord for mercy and consideration.

Isaiah, on behalf of God's people, confessed to the wrongdoing they had  participated in.

They had sinned against God and prolonged their sinful activities. They were ceremonially unclean and they got carried away in their wrongdoing and sin and did not restrain themselves.

They did not call upon the Lord nor did they stir in the night to seek fellowship with Him.

As a result, God widthdrew from them and hid His face from them and turned them over to the destructive power of their sin which caused them to wither and decay like a leaf.

After being in this miserable state for a protracted period of time, the people turned to God and ask Him not to be angry without limit and to remember that they were His people.

As they looked at the smouldering ruins of their kingom, they realised that they had neglected the One for whom all the splendor of their kingdom had been built to honor. 

Now, having squandered their favored position with the Almighty, they asked the Lord if He would be able to keep Himself from helping them and if  He would remain silent forever and continue humiliating and oppressing them.

The Lord is great and full of mercy and does not ruin all His people but He does make a distinction between those who serve Him and those who rebel against Him.

As Isaiah chapter 65 verse 14 says;

“Indeed, My servants will shout for joy from a happy heart,But you cry out with a heavy heart, And you shall wail and howl from a broken spirit.

Let us humble ourselves and pray.

Amen.

OUR FATHER WHO PROVIDES WARNING OF THINGS TO COME THROUGH HIS PROPHETS

Joel chapter 1 verse 9 says this;

Grain offerings and drink offerings are cut off from the house of the Lord. The priests are in mourning, those who minister before the Lord.

The grain offerings and drink offerings are no longer coming into the temple because the economy of the nation has fallen under severe judgement and every resource has been devoured and exhausted.

Joel chapter 1 verse 4 puts it this way;

What the locust swarm has left the great locusts have eaten; 

what the great locusts have left the young locusts have eaten;

what the young locusts have left other locusts have eaten.

The ministers of God lose all the offerings that came into the house of God and they are in mourning.

The land is ravaged by an invader who strips bark off trees with teeth like a lion. All the grain and vines are destroyed along with all the fruit trees. Joel chapter 1 verse 6 says it this way;

A nation has invaded my land, a mighty army without number; it has the teeth of a lion, the fangs of a lioness.

In response to this, the Lord instructs His people to gather in solemn assemblies, to fast, to pray and to cry out to the Lord.

This invader sounds like the invaders from the bottomless pit in Revelation chapter 9 verse 7 - 8 which says;

The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns of something like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth.

The invasion described in Joel chapter 1 is parallel to the woe of the bottomless pit with both having locusts with lion fangs bringing destruction.

In Joel, the locusts focus on destroying the agricultural output of the nation.

In revelation, the locusts are focused on bringing direct harm to the human race by stinging them and making them languish between life and death for 5 months.

Bless the Lord who provides a way of salvation.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO WAS TEMPTED YET REMAINED PERFECT

Mathew chapter 4 verse 9 says this;

“All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

This verse records the words of Satan trying to temp Jesus into doing what was wrong.

Satan had taken Jesus to a very high place and had shown Him all the kingdoms of the world.

Satan then made an offer to Jesus saying that all the kingdoms of the world were his to give to whomever he wanted and he would turn them all over to Jesus and all Jesus would have to do to get the title deed to the earth, would be to bow and worship Satan.

This option presented an easier way for Jesus to gain the kingdoms of the world without dying on a cross for them but this would be a sin against God and if Jesus had yielded to the temptation, it would have made Him a subject of sin rather than master over it and so Satan would have been the ultimate ruler over Jesus and over the whole world.

Jesus, responding to this temptation, quoted scripture in Mathew chapter 4 verse 10, saying;

“Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

Thus the Lord Jesus rebuffed the tempter with scriptural rebuttals to the logic of sin as He did with all the other temptations brought to Him. 

When the time of testing came, Satan searched and found nothing in Jesus as it says in John chapter 13 verse 30;

I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me,

Bless the Lord Jesus who remained spotless and perfect as the Lamb of God who would lay down His life for our sins.

Amen.

OUR FATHER WHOSE KINGDOM WILL THRIVE

Ezekiel chapter 17 verse 3 says this;

Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: A great eagle with powerful wings, long feathers and full plumage of varied colors came to Lebanon. Taking hold of the top of a cedar, 

Verse 4 continues with these words;

 he broke off its topmost shoot and carried it away to a land of merchants, where he planted ij.it in a city of traders.

Verse 7 introduces a second eagle this way;

 “‘But there was another great eagle with powerful wings and full plumage. The vine now sent out its roots toward him from the plot where it was planted and stretched out its branches to him for water.

The prophet Ezekiel was given this parable to give to the people of Israel.

First, there was a great eagle who came to Lebanon and plucked the topmost branch of a cedar tree. He took the sprig and planted it in a land of merchants and traders.

Then there was another great eagle to whom the planted seedling grew toward and it stretched out to him so that it would find water and grow and produce fruit.

The Lord then asked these questions in verse 9, "Will it thrive? Will it not be uprooted and stripped of its fruit so that it withers?"

The Lord explained the parable when no one was able to  understand it.

The first eagle represented the king of Babylon who invaded Israel and took away the nobles of the land back to Babylon. This group of people is  the topmost branch that the eagle plucked and took back to his kingdom where  they were planted to bolster the industry and  commerce of Babylon.

The king of Babylon then took one of the nobles and after signing a treaty, installed him as king of Israel to rule over those who remained there. This noble was the second great eagle who was left to rule over Israel to make it a profitable client kingdom for Babylon.

The second eagle rebelled against the king of Babylon with whom he had a treaty and who had put him on the throne.  He tried to make a treaty with Egypt to get horses and an army to fight off the king of Babylon and declare independence.

The Lord's question in verse 9 was in response to this state of affairs. Would such a rebellious act thrive?

The answer, given by the Lord, was an emphatic, "no". Ezekiel chapter 17 verse 18 says this;

He despised the oath by breaking the covenant. Because he had given his hand in pledge and yet did all these things, he shall not escape.

This declaration by the Lord pointed out that the noble of Israel, who was installed as the King of Israel, had signed a formal treaty between himself and the King of Babylon.

For breaking the treaty, the Lord judged the noble and he was taken to Babylon where he was killed.

This uprooting of the rebellious tree in Israel  is contrasted at the end of chapter 17 in verses 22 - 23 with the tree that the Lord Himself planted.

The Lord said that He would pluck the topmost sprig of a cedar and plant it  on a lofty mountain of Israel and it would grow and thrive and bear fruit. 

This tree that the Lord Himself plants will become a splendid cedar  and birds of every kind will find shelter and nest in its branches. Verse 23 says it this way;

On the mountain heights, of Israel I will plant it; it will produce branches and bear fruit and become a splendid cedar. Birds of every kind will nest in it; they will find shelter in the shade of its branches.

This final tree planted by the Lord sounds like the one likened to the kingdom of heaven by the Lord Jesus as described in Mathew chapter 13 verse 31. With Jesus as the subject, the verse says this;

He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”

Amen.