OUR FATHER WHO GIVES WISDOM TO THOSE WHO ASK

Solomon, the king of Israel, having inherited the throne of his father David as a young man, asked God for wisdom to help him govern the kingdom and he was granted a great endowment of wisdom by the Lord.  

With this wisdom, King Solomon undertook to find the meaning of life and he endeavored to see if any good could be found in pleasure but he was disappointed because he found that all pleasures were meaningless.

Starting with comedy, he concluded that laughter was madness  and when he tried drinking wine and pursuing folly, he did not find happiness.

He searched for pleasure by engaging in huge projects: He built houses, great gardens and water reservoirs. 

He acquired many slaves and owned huge flocks of cattle as he sought pleasure and meaning in material accumulation. 

He then put together a band of musical entertainers as well as a harem of women to seek pleasure in the things that delight men.

Ecclesiates chapter 2 verses 9 - 10 gives a progress update of his pursuit of pleasure;

I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.

I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;  I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all my toil.

This passage describes the limitless search that Solomon, as the king of Israel, conducted in his pursuit of meaning.

While still seeing things from a vantage point of wisdom, he attained social, political and economic supremacy in Jerusalem. Finding no meaning in status, he plunged himself into the desires of the flesh denying himself nothing that his eyes or his heart fancied.

He then searched for pleasure in his own toil to see if he could produce work that would reward him with satisfaction but when he stopped to assess if there was anything of value that had come from his pursuits, he concluded that  everything was vaporous and pointless. Ecclesiastes chapter 2 verse 11 says it this way;

Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;  nothing was gained under the sun.

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OUR FATHER WHOSE MYSTERIES ARE MADE KNOWN TO US BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD

1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 10 says this;

 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 

Paul the apostle, writing to the Corinthians, tells them that the  Spirit of God had revealed to them the great mysteries written of in Isaiah chapter 64 verse 4 saying;

“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”—the things God has prepared for those who love him

These mysteries were hidden so effectively that the rulers of this world did not comprehend what was underway and they put Jesus to death. If they had been able to decipher the encrypted plan of salvation, they would not have crucified the king of glory.

However, the Spirit of God was able to reveal these deep mysteries to believers because the Spirit searches the deep things of God and just as the spirit of a man is the one who knows the mind of the man, the Spirit of God knows the thoughts of God.

The great mysteries of God are revealed through the Spirit of God to us who believe and we are able to comprehend these mysteries by the Spirit even though they are but foolishness to those without the Spirit.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO RESPONDS STRONGLY TO FAITH

A centurion, an officer in the Roman army who would have commanded about a hundred men, had a servant whom he valued highly who got deathly sick.

The centurion had heard about Jesus and so he urgently sent his Jewish contacts to give a message to Jesus to come and heal his servant.

The Jewish envoys reached Jesus and implored Him to help the centurion's servant because the centurion was a strong supporter of Israel and had built the local synagogue.

Jesus went with them and they were about to get to the house when the centurion sent another message via his friends as captured in Luke chapter 7 verses 6 - 8;

 “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof.  That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

Luke chapter 7 verses 9 - 10 records Jesus' response to the centurion's word's;

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.

The Lord Jesus was deeply moved upon hearing the centurion's discourse on the nature of authority and his deduction that Jesus' miraculous power worked on the same principle.

Jesus, speaking to the crowd, said that even in Israel, He had not encountered the level of faith demonstrated by the centurion.

The centurion understood that supernatural power, being a function of spiritual authority, did not need the physical presence of Jesus to be carried out.

His message to the Lord was,  "say the word, and my servant will be healed." He was humble before the Lord but he also knew that the issuance of the word by a person under authority and carrying authority was enough for the word to be obeyed in the spirit so that the healing miracle was carried out.

The centurion's servant was healed by the great faith of the centurion without Jesus being present.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER ESTABLISHED A NEW COVENANT

Hebrews chapter 8 verse 13 says this;

By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.

The writer of the book of Hebrews discusses the ministry of the high priests who made various offerings to God and  compares their ministry  with the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The first covenant which was served by the priests making offerings in an earthly tabernacle was going to replaced by  a new covenant because God found fault with the people who lived under the first covenant.

As Hebrews chapter 8 verses 7 - 8 says ( quoting the book of Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 31) ;

For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said:

“The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.

Here, the Lord announced the imminence of a new covenant with His people.

The new covenant is mediated by the Lord Jesus Christ as the High Priest who offers a superior sacrifice in heaven and it is a superior covenant because it is established on better promises.

In Hebrews chapter 8 verses 10 - 12, the new covenant, joined into by faith in the Lord Jesus as saviour, has these features that makes it better and that made the old one obsolete;

• God put His laws in our minds 
• God wrote His Laws on our hearts
• God adopted us as His people
• God's people will know Him directly
• God will be known by the greatest to the least
• God will forgive our wickedness
• God will remember our sins no more

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO JUDGES IDOLATRY

Jeremiah chapter 19 verse 41 14 says this;

Jeremiah then returned from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, and stood in the court of the Lord’s temple and said to all the people,

The  prophet Jeremiah returned to Jereusalem from Topheth where he had been sent by the Lord. 

Topheth, located just south of Jerusalem,  was a type or shadow of hell where dead bodies were disposed of and burned and the place represented defilement by idolatry and death.

The cities of Judah including Jerusalem had become like Topheth because they worshipped Baal and sacrificed their children in fire.

Because of this and because they would not heed the words of the Lord, Jeremiah spoke the prophecy of judgment and destruction over the cities.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO CONQUERS THEN SAVES THE EGYPTIANS 

Isaiah chapter 19 verse 17 says this;

And the land of Judah will bring terror to the Egyptians; everyone to whom Judah is mentioned will be terrified, because of what the Lord Almighty is planning against them.

This verse reveals a reversal of fortune that the Lord orchestrates.

Egypt, with her systems of worldly governance and her idols are enemies of the people of Judah who are God's people.

God's people will gain preeminence over those who threaten them because of the Lord Almighty. The land of Egypt will greatly fear Him because they will be aware of the judgment that is aimed at them.

Under the authority of the Lord, Egypt will capitulate and they will accept the governance of the Lord. The Egyptians will be saved from their oppressors and they will be healed by the Lord.

The manifold wisdom and kindness of the Lord is demonstrated towards all people .

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHOM JESUS CALLED WHEN IN DISTRESS

Psalm 17 verses 1 - 5 says this;

Hear me, Lord, my plea is just; listen to my cry. Hear my prayer—it does not rise from deceitful lips.

Let my vindication come from you; may your eyes see what is right.

Though you probe my heart, though you examine me at night and test me, you will find that I have planned no evil; my mouth has not transgressed.

Though people tried to bribe me, I have kept myself from the ways of the violent through what your lips have commanded.

My steps have held to your paths; my feet have not stumbled.

This passage captures the prayers of Jesus as He went through the ordeal of being arrested, being put on trial for His life and being crucified.

Jesus speaks to His Father to ask Him to hear His plea for vindication. He asserts that His lips are not deceitful even as He asks God to examine Him and test Him. Jesus tells His Father that even under scrutiny, no evil plan or verbal transgression would be discovered.

The Lord Jesus, under pressure, had people trying to bribe Him into deviating from what His Father had commanded but Jesus was steadfast and His steps stayed on the path set for Him and did not stumble even once.

In verses 11 - 12, Jesus prayed to God as His enemies searched for Him even to the garden of Gethsemane and they surrounded Him like ferocious animals.

They have tracked me down, they now surround me, with eyes alert, to throw me to the ground.

They are like a lion hungry for prey,  like a fierce lion crouching in cover.

Facing imminent death, Jesus stayed steadfast and declared that even though He would go through the trials and the sentence of death, He would be vindicated and when He awoke He would see His Father's face.  Verse 15 says it this way;

As for me, I will be vindicated and will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.

Bless the Lord who loved us so much that He, even though perfectly sinless, endured the bitterness of the cross to save us.

Amen.

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