OUR FATHER WHO, IN THE FACE OF DESPAIR, IS OUR ONLY TRUE HOPE
Psalm 102 verse 8 ( x 101 verse 14 ) says this;
I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins.
The psalmist here is writing about being in great distress and under duress. Because he has been rejected by his people, he compares himself to an owl that has been relegated to the ruins.
His enemies surround him and taunt him as he suffers from physical pain that feels like fire burning him.
He can feel his life draining away and his strength fading but he retains his hope in the fact the Lord his God is eternal as he says in Psalm 102 verses 25 - 27;
In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment.
Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded. But you remain the same, and your years will never end.
Amen.
Thursday, December 08, 2022
OUR FATHER WHOSE JUDGEMENT BRINGS DEVASTATION
Jeremiah chapter 16 verse 4 says this;
“They will die of deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried but will be like dung lying on the ground. They will perish by sword and famine, and their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals.”
These words came to Jeremiah the prophet as a warning from the Lord about the judgement that was going to be brought against the children of Israel for their stubbornness, wickedness and forĺ q worshipping other gods.
Eqn more than their rebellion, the graven images and idols that the children of Israel worshipped, defiled the land they lived in with spiritual pollution and thus the severity of the judgement that was to befall them.
For their deeds, they would live and die without dignity and be treated like refuse lying on the ground and being eaten by scavengers.
May we avoid idolatry in our lives and seek the righteousness of the Lord.
Amen.
Wednesday, December 07, 2022
OUR FATHER WHO IS OUR ONLY TRUE SOURCE
The prophet Jeremiah, during a difficult drought in the land of Judah, received a word from the Lord about how the kingdom of Judah was being affected by the severe drought that had come as a judgement against them for their wicked ways.
The drought destroyed agriculture, urban life, the lives of the elite people of Judah's society and even wild animals were being decimated by the lack of rain.
The people of Judah had refused to follow the ways of God but instead rushed into the paths of wickedness.
Under the pressure from the drought, their introspection made them realize that their own faithless conduct had offended their God and they owned up to their sins and the sins of their ancestors as Jeremiah chapter 14 verse 20 says;
We acknowledge our wickedness, LORD, and the guilt of our ancestors; we have indeed sinned against you.
As the people began to accept their responsibility for their sins before the Lord, they also began to understand that they had taken their Lord for granted.
They had sidled up to foreign idols and had failed to notice that these entities were inert and powerless to sustain their lives. They also came to understand that nature itself was not what reliably provided for their needs.
They realised that it was their God, the God of Jacob, who was able to bring rain year-in and year-out so as to keep the ravages of drought away.
This realization is recorded in Jeremiah chapter 14 verse 22 this way;
Do any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Do the skies themselves send down showers? No, it is you, LORD our God. Therefore our hope is in you, for you are the one who does all this.
Amen.
Tuesday, December 06, 2022
OUR FATHER WHO SET UP THE LINEAGE OF OUR GREAT REDEEMER TO ITSELF, HAVE A KINSMEN-REDEEMER
Continuing with the story of Boaz and Ruth, a legal matter needed to be dealt with before they could marry.
Another man was first in line to redeem the land and the family members of the men who had died in Moab.
This man had the role of kinsmen-redeemer who is a senior relative who can take over the guardianship of a family if the family suffers the loss of its progenitors. This is done primarily to perpetuate the existence of the family and its name in the land.
Boaz, with integrity, in the presence of witnesses, presented the man who was first in line the option of redeeming the lineage of Abimelek. To do so, he would have to buy the land Abimelek owned from his widow Naomi and by marrying the widow of the son of Abimelek who had died before having children
The man who was first in line, realizing that the undertaking of such a redemption would complicate his own inheritance, relinquished his option to redeem the land in the presence of all the people who were there.
Boaz then announced to everyone that he would step in as kinsmen-redeemer and purchase the land from Naomi, Abimelek's widow and marry Abimelek's son's widow, Ruth.
Hearing this, the community leaders blessed Boaz as Ruth chapter 4 verse 11 records;
Then the elders and all the people at the gate said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem.
Those men in the humble village saying these words, knowingly or unknowingly, were making a eternal declaration that would reverberate throughout history regarding the continuation of the lineage that would bring forth the redeemer of the whole world.
Boaz and Ruth had a son whom they named Obed and Obed had a son name Jesse and Jesse had a son named David. David became King of Israel and it is this throne of David that our Redeemer Jesus the Christ will inherit.
The lineage of our great Redeemer Jesus Christ itself had a kinsmen-redeemer step in to redeem it and perpetuate it into the future so that our Lord could be born in Bethlehem as a son of David.
Amen.
Monday, December 05, 2022
OUR FATHER WHO ORCHESTRATES DESTINIES BY ARRANGING SEEMINGLY RANDOM EVENTS (video corrected)
A man from the town of Bethlehem named Elimelek, during a famine, took his wife Naomi and his two sons to the land of Moab to try find a better life there.
While in Moab, his sons married two Moabite women but after a time, Elimelek and his two sons died in Moab.
Three widows remained and for the sake of survival, Naomi told her two daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth, to go back to their own families while she tried to make it back to her homeland in Judah.
Ruth refused to leave Naomi and they traveled back to Naomi's country together. Once back in Judah, Ruth decided to go out into the barley fields after the harvesters had gone through to glean for grains of barley so that she and Naomi would have something to eat.
Ruth chapter 2 verse 3 continues the story this way;
So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.
This verse captures the seemingly fortuitous event of Ruth, the Moabitess, randomly selecting a field in which to glean and going into a field belonging to a man named Boaz who was from the same clan that Elimelek, her father-in-law, happened to be from.
Boaz noticed Ruth and gave her favor and protection among the people working on his land because he had heard of her love and care of Naomi.
As advised by Naomi, Ruth went to back to see Boaz to make a gesture of goodwill toward him and because he respected her, they solemnly agreed to take the formal steps needed and once complete, Ruth and Boaz married.
They had a son named Obed and Obed had Jesse and Jesse had a son named David who became known a king David and the lineage of king David went all the way to down to Jesus our Lord.
By a seemingly fortuitous selection of a field to glean from, a woman from Moab was enjoined to a stream of destiny that placed her in the line of the ancestors of the promised Messiah.
Amen.
Corrected version;
Sunday, December 04, 2022
OUR FATHER WHO SAFEGUARDS HIS PEOPLE FOREVER
Psalm 125 verses 1 - 3 says this;
Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever.
As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forevermore.
The scepter of the wicked will not remain over the land allotted to the righteous, for then the righteous might use their hands to do evil.
Verse 1 describes those who believe in the Lord as being like the place of the throne of God (Mount Zion) which is immovable and is eternal. This verse speaks of the eternal life that is granted to those who gain the salvation of God through faith in Christ.
Verse 2 likens how mountains surround the city of Jerusalem to how God surrounds His people. The Lord's protective envelope encapsulates His people presently and for all eternity.
Verse 3 is interpreted in two ways; the most common way of reading the verse is that the scepter of the wicked ( or the rulership of the wicked ) will be removed from the land given to the righteous because if it were not, the righteous might use their hands to do evil.
The other way it is interpreted ( which I believe is correct ) is that the scepter of the wicked will be removed from the land because the righteous do not stretch their hands to do what is evil.
The second interpretation seems to be more aligned contextually with the overall chapter.
The righteous, by not stretching their hands to do evil, cause the scepter of the wicked to recede from the land that is under the influence of the righteous.
Said another way, because the righteous do not do what is evil, the power of wickedness is curtailed and it is ultimately pressed out of the territory that has been gained by the righteous.