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.

OUR LORD WHO SET THE STANDARD TO FOLLOW

1 Corinthians chapter 4 verses 11 - 12 are two verses written by the apostle Paul where he describes some of the travails that he, along with the other apostles, had suffered. The verses read this way;

To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it;

Paul believed that this unrelenting assault on those who were  first called to  proclaimed Jesus and His kingdom to the nations, had been deliberately designed by the Lord to make them a  spectacle for all of creation to marvel at. 

Paul's description of hunger, thirst, nakedness, brutality and  homelessness  that they endured, was the example of perserverence that they were expected to set for all  other believers. 

Further to the harshness of their condition, the apostles were to remain working hard for their own living and as well, maintain an exemplary demeanor of graciousness towards those who cursed them and otherwise maltreated them.

Let us bless the Lord whose own example of perseverance and gentleness set the standard for His apostles to live up to. Their boldness and tenacity in proclaiming the gospel to the world, in turn, set the standard for all of us who came to believe in Christ through them.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO LEADS US BY HIS WORD 

Having previously looked at Acts chapter 9 verse 13, let's broaden the view to include verses  10 - 18 of the chapter. The passage goes like this; 

In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”

“Yes, Lord,” he answered.

 The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”

“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”

But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 

This excerpt from the story of Saul's conversion to Christianity is a case study of the way God communicates with his bondservants and how effective bondservants of Jesus  interact with the Lord and heed His instructions. 

First, we notice that Ananias was classified as a disciple which means he was in training in the things of the kingdom of God at the time of this occurrence.

Next, we notice that God chose the method of a vision to talk with Ananias. This implies that Ananias was awake but in an open vision where he could see the Lord and hear Him speak.

We then note that the Lord called Ananias by name to get his attention and to this call, let's also note that Ananais responded by respectfully saying, "Yes Lord".

The Lord, having Ananaias' attention, gave him a street address and a directive to go to that address to ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. The Lord then gave Ananias some background information about the preparation he had already done on Saul which was the vision he saw that informed him that a man named Ananias would be coming to him to restore his sight.

Ananias was concerned about encountering a man with a reputation for being violently hostile to Christians and he humbly mentioned these concerns to the Lord.

Jesus told Ananias to go and call on Saul in spite of his misgivings and the Lord reassured Ananias that all was well because He had plans to use Saul in His kingdom. Here, the Lord outlined to Ananias the destiny that he had reserved for Saul and Ananias, a servant of the kingdom, understood what such a destiny would mean to the kingdom of God and he heeded the Lord's command. 

Arriving that the address on Straight Street, Ananias boldly went to Saul and, knowing his destiny in the work of Christ, called him  "Brother Saul" and prayed for him to restore His sight and  history was forever changed by the straightforward obedience of Ananias to the Lord's word.

Let us prayerfully seek to follow the humble example of Ananias who obeyed the Lord's directive even though it was potentially dangerous. Ananias trusted the Lord's assurances and was recorded into history as a servant of God who, when called upon at a critical point in time,  faithfully served his Lord.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO SENDS US INTO WHAT CHALLENGES US MOST

Acts Chapter 9 verse 13 say this;

 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. 

This passage records the response of Ananias when the Lord Jesus, in a vision, gave him an instruction to go to talk to Saul who was fierce persecutor of the believers.

Ananias was abreast of the political situations of the day in Israel and knew who the hostile players were. When his vision from the Lord directed him to go to a specific address and ask for Saul, Ananias immediately knew who that was and mentioned to the Lord that Saul was an enemy of the people of God with the implication that it  would be dangerous to try and contact  him.

Ananias must have a close relationship with the Lord because Jesus, hearing the update from Ananias, told  Ananaias to go anyway but comforted Ananais by explaining that He intended to make Saul His instrument to proclaim the gospel to the gentiles and also to the children of Israel and also that Saul would suffer a great deal in the Lord's sake.

Let us bless our Lord who sends us into areas where our greatest insecurities lie and He shows us that our greatest fears are the Lord's opportunities to build the kingdom of God.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO WAS KILLED IN TIME BUT ROSE TO OCCUPY ETERNITY

Acts chapter 4 verses 9 - 10 record the words spoken by the apostle Peter to the leaders of Israel when he and John had been detained for proclaiming Jesus as the ressurection and for healing a man who was born lame. The passage goes like this;

If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.

The statement, made while Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit, was a withering indictment of the conduct of the leaders of Israel. They had plotted to kill Jesus and having succeeded, were confounded to find that Jesus was continuing to live through Peter and John and many more people as they stepped forward boldly with the gospel of Jesus and demonstrated the same healing power that Jesus demonstrated.

They were informed that Jesus, whom they had killed, was raised from the dead by God and it was through Him that the  lame man in front of them was restored.

This should have brought a sense of dread over the temple  leaders in the same way that crashing your car into a police car would bring dread to you. The leaders of Israel had been free to mistreat anyone who inconvenienced them with no consequences but now, they were finding out that it was God Himself  whom they had abused and mistreated. 

They did not count on what happened after they had killed Jesus.

Jesus, as a solitary man, could only minister to a limited number of people while he lived on earth.

However, those who killed Him, did not understand that they were actually releasing Him into eternity from where He, through the Holy Spirit, could reach out to all people at any time and live through hundreds and thousands and  millions and even billions of people  concurrently.

This why it  the scriptures say in 1 Corinthians 2 verse 8, "None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."

Bless our Lord who died to redeem us and also,  because He rose from the dead into eternity, is now able to meet every one of us where we are geographically and  where we are in time. 

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO IS OUR FORTRESS AND OUR REWARD

Genesis 15 verses 1 - 3 records a vision that Abram had  where a conversation between he and the Lord God took place. It reads this way;

After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”

But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 

 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”

In the preceding verses in chapter 14, Abram, after returning from the daring rescue of members of his household and other households that were raided, declined to take a share of the plunder that came from the rescue mission.

In this context, the Lord assured Abram that the Lord himself would protect him as a fortress and that the Lord would be his very great reward.

This was certainly a very lavish promise by the Lord to Abram but Abram responded in way that revealed the foremost fear in his heart.

Abram brought up before the Lord the fact that he had no heir and thus, the reward he would gain would only fall to his servant Eliezer.

Abram's fear may have concealed from him the depth of the assurance that the Lord God had offered him.

While Abram was considering the things like goods and land that could be inherited from one person to another, the Lord had offered Himself as Abram's shield and his very great reward. In other words, God was saying that Abram would be getting the Lord as his eternal protector and eternal reward which would  be a vastly superior inheritance to any earthly belongings.

The Lord, in an awesome gesture of grace and magnanimity, showed Abram the eternal scope of his reward by pointing out to him the stars in the night sky and revealing to him that his descendants would be as numerous as the uncountable stars and that the promised heir whom he did not yet have, would be the one through whom the reward of God would come.

Let us bless our Lord who kept His promise to Abram and through the Son of God who died for the whole world, redeemed even us to join in the vast family that is Abram's promise from God.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO HIDES US FROM WRATH

In the book of Job chapter 14 verses 9 - 14, Job compares a man to a tree and declares that whereas a man passes and is no more, a tree that had been cut down, at even a hint of water, may send forth new shoots and revive its life.  The passage reads this way;

...yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant.

But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more.

As the water of a lake dries up or a riverbed becomes parched and dry, so he lies down and does not rise; till the heavens are no more, people will not awake or be roused from their sleep.

“If only you would hide me in the grave and conceal me till your anger has passed! If only you would set me a time and then remember me!

If someone dies, will they live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come.

Job, having suffered a set of life-shattering calamities,  asks God to kill him so that he may be hidden from the Lord's anger that he believes is the cause of his suffering. Job suggests that God could keep him dead for a period of time and then remember him and bring him back to life once His anger has passed.

Having said this however, Job wonders if death is a one-way street and that if he were to die, he might never return. 

Job offers a solution to God by saying he would hand in the chips of his life of hard service in exchange for his revival from death.

Job's profound soliloquy summarizes the necessity of the gospel which is the story of our Lord Jesus suffering and dying on a cross to pay for our sins so that we may be shielded from the wrath of God and be brought out from under death and into life.

Job, in his desperation, tried to concoct a workable escape plan from his painful and grievious condition  and saw death as the ultimate hiding place from the anger of God but he realized that if there was a chance that he would live again, it would have to be at a price. 

The  price that Job suspected was necessary  was far more than his own life of hard service; It was the painful and grievious death of the perfect and sinless Lamb of God who, having lived a life of hard service to people, gave Himself up to die on the cross for all mankind.

Bless the name of Jesus our Saviour whose salvation hides us from God's wrath and gives us new life out of death.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO PROVIDES A STRATEGY

Joshua chapter 18 verse 3 says this;

So Joshua said to the Israelites: “How long will you wait before you begin to take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you?

Joshua was asking this question of the seven tribes of Israel who had not taken possession of their inheritance that was given to them by the God of their forefathers.

Whereas other tribes had undertaken to displace the people who were settled in the land, these seven tribes had stagnated and were not possessing the land that was theirs. 

What was holding them back? Was it the  lack of courage to face the inhabitants of the land, the  lack of military prowess or was it the lack of understanding of their right to the land?

Joshua, seeing the plight of the tribes without their inheritance, counseled them to send three representatives from each tribe who were to go into the territories to survey and bring back written descriptions of the land. 

These descriptions provided the blueprints for a formal division of the land amongst the tribes of Israel by Joshua.

Bless our Lord Jesus Christ who sacrificed his own  life  to redeem us and then, in His great mercy and kindness, made us co-heirs with him in the inheritance that He gained through His obedience to the Lord our God. Let us strive to possess was is ours in Christ.

Amen.

OUR LORD'S PLACE OF REST

Jeremiah chapter 9 verses 2 - 3 are the words of the Lord and they read this way;

Oh, that I had in the desert a lodging place for travelers, so that I might leave my people and go away from them; for they are all adulterers, a crowd of unfaithful people.

“They make ready their tongue like a bow, to shoot lies; it is not by truth that they triumph in the land. They go from one sin to another; they do not acknowledge me,” declares the Lord.

This passage gives a window into the frustration that the Lord our God had with His people the children of Israel. 

The Lord, though He dwelled in Israel, longed for a traveller's  resort in the desert where he could get away from his people because they were adulterous people and malicious liars who acted lawlessly and did not acknowledge their God.

This passage was referring to the children of Israel among whom the Lord God dwelled in His  Temple but this dynamic also includes us who believe in Jesus and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

As believers, we must consider if the Lord would rather to be somewhere else when He experiences the life we subject him to. 

Do our lives reflect His holiness and kindness and temperance and mercy and patience and chastity? 

When the Lord's own righteous nature is expressed in us, we ourselves become like an expensive and exclusive resort for Him to dwell in and find rest.

If, however, our lives are cluttered with anger, lies, indiscipline, malice, hatred, lust and selfishness, we are like a cheap motel in a seedy part of town with filthy rooms, discolored water from the taps, noisy drunken fights next door and background gunfire. In such a jarring place where situations careen from one calamity to the next all night long, rest is difficult to find.

Let us build ourselves up to be like a high-end resort where the Lord is served cheerfully and attentively. He finds everything He wants in order and ready for His purposes.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO BLESSES US TILL OUR CUP RUNNETH OVER

Joshua 17 verse 9 contains a detail in the allotments of the promised land issued to the descendants of the children of Israel. In particular, the apportionment is for the people who descended from one of the two sons of Joseph called Mannaseh. The other son's name was Ephraim.

The passage goes like this;

Then the boundary continued south to the Kanah Ravine. There were towns belonging to Ephraim lying among the towns of Manasseh, but the boundary of Manasseh was the northern side of the ravine and ended at the Mediterranean Sea. 

As Israel's hold of the promised land expanded, the allocation of land to the tribes of Israel used  geographical features and towns as boundary markers. In this case, the tribe of Mannaseh  was given the land north of the Kanah Ravine bordering the Mediteranian sea on the west side and the Jordan River on the east side. The northern border was just north of the towns of Taanach and Megiddo.

Even though this was a relatively large portion of land, the people of Mannaseh went to the leaders of Israel and said that they had not been given enough land because they were very numerous and had been blessed by the Lord so much that they could not fit into the space that had been allocated to them. Joshua recommended that they commandeer more land for themselves from the forested hill country to the south and the lands in the areas east of the sea of Galilee.

This rendering of the history of Israel brings to mind the prophecies written far into the future by the prophet Isaiah in the book of Isaiah chapter 49 that describes the bride of Christ marveling at the fullness of her household who were so numerous that they declared that they needed more room for them to fit. The passage goes like this;

“Though you were ruined and made desolate and your land laid waste, now you will be too small for your people, and those who devoured you will be far away. The children born during your bereavement will yet say in your hearing,

‘This place is too small for us; give us more space to live in.’

Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who bore me these?

I was bereaved and barren; I was exiled and rejected. Who brought these up? I was left all alone, but these—where have they come from?’”

Because Joseph had been sold as a slave and exiled yet was faithful, the Lord blessed Joseph mightily with numerous descendants such that his children  multiplied and filled the land beyond capacity and they demanded more land. In the same way, the  bride of  Christ, having been exiled and rejected by the world yet remained faithful, will have children emerge that fill their allotted space beyond capacity and will need to request more space to accommodate everybody.

Bless our Lord who blesses us to overflowing with people who turn to Him because we share the word of His salvation.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO ACTS IN JUDGEMENT OF WICKEDNESS 

Malachi chapter 4 verse 3 says this;

 Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty.

In this passage, a time is foretold when those who revere the Lord's name will be imbued with extraordinary attributes that will give them the authority to bring down the scaffolds of  wickedness and cause the wicked to be humiliated underfoot. The use of the word 'trample' and 'ashes' in the text  invoke the idea of humiliation of the wicked. 

This time will be predicated by the direct action that the Lord takes in judgement against the arrogant evildoers.

Let us bless our Lord who, having saved us from our own wicked ways, enjoins us to His victorious battle against evil.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHOSE PROTOCOLS MUST BE FOLLOWED

1 Samuel chapter 13 verse 4 says this;

So all Israel heard the news: “Saul has attacked the Philistine outpost, and now Israel has become obnoxious to the Philistines.” And the people were summoned to join Saul at Gilgal.

The setting described here is where the Philistine army and the Israelite army were squaring off and taking positions when Jonathan, Saul's son, led an attack on a Philistine outpost which ratcheted up the tensions between the two armies.

Saul, king of the Israelites, relayed messages back to the people of Israel alerting them to the fact that the war with the Philistines had escalated and that they were now going to be targets of the Philistine military.

Saul summoned the people of Israel to come to Gilgal which further escalated  tensions and the Philistines bolstered their numbers of men and chariots to counter Israel. 

Now, Israel were waiting for their prophet Samuel to arrive to bring the blessing of God to the army of Israel before the battle began but Samuel did not arrive on the allotted day and Saul's discouraged army began to scatter.

Saul had accelerated the pace of the military buildup by having a Philistine outpost attacked and then sending out inflammatory news back to Israel to raise his profile and also to cause panic.

This deliberate acceration of war by Saul  may have caused Samuel to be delayed in arriving at Gilgal but the result was that Saul himself, flustered, carried out the sacrifice that Samuel should have performed. As a result of this blunder, Saul lost his anointing of the kingship over Israel which was handed to David son of Jesse.

Saul's plan of forcing the hand of Israel by triggering a skirmish and then sending back exagerated news of the Philistine's pending reaction was a tactical error that we should take heed of. 

We should always undertake and correctly conclude spiritual requirements prior to triggering events that will cascade unpredictably forcing decisions that will have eternal ramifications.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO WARNS OF FALSE PROPHETS

The book of Micah chapter 3 verse 5 speaks of a type of prophet whose demeanor towards people was determined by whether they were offered food or not. The scripture reads this way;

This is what the Lord says: “As for the prophets  who lead my people astray, they proclaim ‘peace’ if they have something to eat, but prepare to wage war against anyone who refuses to feed them.

These types of prophets, who sully the name of the Lord by being partial and vengeful, are in fact heralds of the fall of the prophetic in the land  and that the night is closing in where visions will cease and darkness  swallows up the day.

Diametrically opposite to this, the Apostle Paul proclaimed the high standard of serving the people of God. He, serving as a minister to the people of Corinth, refused to take a wage from them and instead preferred to make his own arrangements so as not to burden them as it says in 2 Corinthians verses 7 - 9;

And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so.

The evil prophets whom Micah spoke about went even beyond burdening the people to imposing the terror of extortion and blackmail to get the food they wanted  from  those they were ministering to.

Let us follow the example of the saints who served the Lord and forfeited gain for the sake of the kingdom of God.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO SERVES OTHERS AS AN EXAMPLE TO US

The book of James chapter 1 verse 9 says this;

But the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position;

This paradoxical maxim charges those who are poor to revel in the high position that the Lord has placed them. This sounds contradictory but a survey of the new covenant reveals that similar inversions occur in many aspects of the kingdom of God.

For example, when Jesus was teaching the sermon on the mount, He  laid out four scenarios in Mathew 5 verses 3 - 6 where the lowly are shown to be highly placed in the kingdom of God.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Here, those who are weak or deficient are strong in the spirit and have riches in the kingdom of Christ.

An exhortation to deliberately humble ourselves if we are to gain any stature in the kingdom of God is found in Mathew 23 verse 12 which goes like this;

For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Similarly, in John 23 verse 11, it says;

The greatest among you will be your servant. 

To rise in the kingdom of God, we must serve others rather than aim to lead others for the kingdom of God is a kingdom of love and righteousness and responsibility where serving one another is the coin of the realm.

Jesus our Lord, the high and exalted King of kings and Lord of Lords knelt on the floor to wash  his disciples' feet as an example to them of His inverted kingdom of servanthood.

Let us follow our Lord's example and be humble servants of all people.

Amen.

OUR LORD FOR WHOM WE CAN FORFEIT OUR RIGHT

1 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 3 says this;

This is my defense to those who sit in judgment on me. 

In this scripture,  the Apostle Paul is reacting to criticism of his credentials and his methods. 

There were people in Corinth who were grumbling that Paul did not have the stature of the other apostles to assert the things that he was asserting.

Paul defended himself against the challenges by indicating that He certainly did have the stature to assert apostolic leadership over the church at Corinth because he was the one who brought the message and the creed of Christ to them.  

He also defended himself by saying that he met and exceeded any standard of apostleship by assiduously avoiding the burdening of the church with his financial support even though, as he showed from scripture, he had the right to be supported by the people of the church.

Paul has served  the church of Corinth and invested in them but had forfeited his right to gain from his service. The people had twice benefitted from Paul; First by his ministry and then by having no burden to bear for that ministry.

An interesting juxtaposition can be found in Joshua chapter 9 where the Hivites deceived the Israelites and got a treaty signed that protected them from conflict with Israel. The scripture goes like this;

The whole assembly grumbled against the leaders, but all the leaders answered, “We have given them our oath by the Lord, the God of Israel, and we cannot touch them now. This is what we will do to them: We will let them live, so that God’s wrath will not fall on us for breaking the oath we swore to them.” They continued, “Let them live, but let them be woodcutters and water carriers in the service of the whole assembly.” So the leaders’ promise to them was kept.

The Hivites, by their deceptive action, were obligated to the Israelites in the same way that the people of Corinth were obligated to Paul but whereas the Israelites did not absolve the Hivites of their obligation and the Hivites served as water carriers and woodcutters for the Israelites indefinitely, Paul, in His confidence in Christ, forfeited his right for the sake of the kingdom of God.

Bless the Lord our God whose richness in Christ  let's us choose to forfeit our own right if it might strengthen others in Christ.

Amen

OUR LORD WHO CONFOUNDS THE WISDOM OF THE WISE

In 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 19, the scripture pointedly indicates that the Lord destroys the wisdom of the wise and He frustrates the intelligence of the intelligent. Placed in its context, the verses 18 - 20 read like this;

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

This incredible passage reinforces a very notable aspect of the nature of our God: He is very contrarian toward the  pretensions of the wisdom of men. This is why our infinitely precious salvation is entrusted to the simplicity of the unadorned message of the cross. 

To those who are not being saved, this message is seen as foolishness even though it is the very power of God unto salvation. 

The Lord our God, so as not to imbue the wisdom and philosophy of men with any credit of salvation of mankind, provided, as the only means by which men may be saved, the stark and unembelished message of the death that was suffered by the Son of God to pay for our sins.

Because the wisdom and intelligence of men is of no ultimate value when it is the salvation of our souls that we desperately need, God has rendered the wisdom of men worthless and the intelligence of the intelligent pointless.

Bless our Lord who has made salvation available to all without regard to their wisdom or intelligence.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHOM WE MUST ALWAYS CONSULT

In Joshua chapter 9 verses 12 - 14, a scene unfolds where the leaders of Israel are being tricked by the neighbouring people of Gibeon (called Hivites) into signing a treaty not to do harm to them.

The Hivites concocted a fictitious tale saying that they had come from a distant land and wanted a peace  treaty between themselves and Israel.

To carry out the deception, they equipped themselves with elaborate costumes and props to provide the Israelites with evidence that they were from a distant land and had travelled a long distance to reach them. 

The passage goes like this:

This bread of ours was warm when we packed it at home on the day we left to come to you. But now see how dry and moldy it is. And these wineskins that we filled were new, but see how cracked they are. And our clothes and sandals are worn out by the very long journey.”

The Israelites sampled their provisions but did not inquire of the Lord. Then Joshua made a treaty of peace with them to let them live, and the leaders of the assembly ratified it by oath.

The Israelites were suspicious at first so the Hivites presented cracked winskins and worn cloths as proof that they had traveled a long distance and thus the Israelites, after examining the evidence, took their claims to be true and signed an oath-bound treaty with them.

The scripture mentions that the Israelites did not inquire of the Lord. It was only later that the Iaraelite's realized that they had been duped but by then, they had already bound themselves by oath to a treaty with the Hivites.

The lesson in this story is that no matter what the evidence that we have around us is, we must always seek the counsel of the Lord our God. He sees all things and His guidance  would include perspectives that would save us from deception and trickery.

Let us inquire of the Lord when faced with conundrums and propositions especially when we do not know all the facts.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO FORGIVES AND CLEANSES US

In 1 John chapter 1 verse 9, we find a well known scripture that reads this way;

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

The scripture before this one and the one after it assert that there is no one without sin and thus this activity of confessing our sin is something that all human beings who belong to God  will be participating in.

Confessing our sins to the Lord our God imposes on His faithfulness and His justness. When we do this,  two things occur: The Lord forgives our sin and second, the Lord cleanses us from all unrighteousness.

When the Lord forgives us, it means that all remembrance of our sin is cancelled and He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west as Psalm 103 verse 12 says.

The Lord then sets up conditions to purify us from unrighteousness. This is a process that works to purge from us our tendency to commit that sin with the aim of yielding a harvest of righteousness in us.

Let us always yield ourselves to the Lord's forgiveness and cleansing by readily and sincerely confessing our transgressions to the One who gave His life for us and shed His blood to pay for our sins.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHOSE PRESENCE WAS CAPTURED AWAY FROM HIS PEOPLE ( part 2 )

Continuing from yesterday where we looked at 1 Samuel chapter 4 verses 11 - 12 and followed through to the end of the chapter at verse 22, we  now look at 1 Samuel chapter 5. 

In this part of the narrative, a significant change has occurred. Whereas up to this point, Israel's army was the focus of the nation's ability to contend with their enemies, we now see that after their defeat and humiliation, the nation had  lost faith in their strength. 

With Israel in despair, it is now the Lord God Himself who takes issue with the Philistines and begins an intensifying campaign of psychological warfare against them.

1 Samuel chapter 5 begins this way;

After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.  Then they carried the ark into Dagon’s temple and set it beside Dagon.  When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! They took Dagon and put him back in his place. 

The Philistines had carried the ark of God into the temple of their deity called Dagon but the next morning, they found Dagon face down in front of the ark of the God of Israel.

They had to have believed that this event was mere happenstance and thus put Dagon back in his place but the passage continues to describe how the next morning, they found Dagon's torso face down again but this time with his hands and feet broken off and laying on the threshold of their temple.

Shortly thereafter, a plague of tumors started afflicting the Philistines causing them to realise that keeping the ark of the God of Israel in their midst was causing a dangerous state of affairs. The Philistines tried moving the ark from city to city but everywhere it went, it brought mayhem, disease and death to the people there. 

The Philistines, seeing the pattern, called a meeting of their leaders and demanded that the ark be sent back to where it came from. The text reads this way;

So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said, “Send the ark of the god of Israel away; let it go back to its own place, or it will kill us and our people.” For death had filled the city with panic; God’s hand was very heavy on it. 

The God of Israel was with the ark when it was taken and He, by His own power, escalated a war  on the Philistines that  compelled them to reach their own conclusion to return the ark of God to Israel.

Our Lord is not dependent on the strength of the armies of men to win battles. When the strength of men is exhausted and broken down and defeated, the Lord then arises quietly and creates conditions of panic among the enemies of His people.

What God's children have lost is then restored to them by the might of God.  Bless the Lord.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHOSE PRESENCE WAS CAPTURED AWAY FROM HIS PEOPLE

1 Samuel chapter 4 verses 11 - 12 tells of a change in fortune against the armies of Israel as they fought the Philistines.

During a battle, the ark of God  fell into the hands of the Philistine army  and the two sons of Eli, the priest who was the leader of Israel, were killed. 

A messenger left the battlefield to bring the bad news to the people. The passage reads this way;

The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

 That same day a Benjamite ran from the battle line and went to Shiloh with his clothes torn and dust on his head.

The torn clothes and dust-covered head of the messenger represented the terrible defeat and humiliation suffered by Israel's army.

The worst possible scenario had occurred; Israel had lost the ark which was the seat of the Lord's presence into the hands of their sworn enemy. 

Further to that, the two sons of Eli died and Eli himself died shortly after when he learned what happened. 

Eli's daughter-in-law, who was pregnant with his grandson, also died after going into labour  when she heard of her husband's death, the death of her father-in-law and the loss of the ark of God. 

As she died, she said these words found in 1 Samuel 4 verse 22 , “The Glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.” 

Israel was now truly vulnerable and leaderless and faced a dark future.

At this bleak juncture, a change in the landscape brought a new factor into the story which we shall look at in tomorrow's study.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO RESPONDS TO INJUSTICE (PART 2)

Continuing with the first chapter of Habakkuk, we looked at the corruption that plagued the people of God and now, in verses 6 - 10, we find the response that the Lord prepared in order to de-fang the powers of wickedness that polluted the land. The passage reads like this;

I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwellings not their own. They are a feared and dreaded people; they are a law to themselves and promote their own honor.

Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their cavalry gallops headlong; their horsemen come from afar.

They fly like an eagle swooping to devour; they all come intent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand. They mock kings and scoff at rulers.

They laugh at all fortified cities; by building earthen ramps they capture them.

Here, we see that the Lord raises a horde of ruthless and dreaded people who abruptly appear at the doorstep of the wicked forces and defiantly scoff at the authorities of the nations. 

There is no defence or fortification that can withstand their headlong and unrelenting assault. 

These are the conditions that are prepared long before the day of reckoning. The Lord builds up an army unbeknownst to the wicked enemies of His people and on the day of His choosing, He  summons them suddenly and they appear like roving wolves at dusk, inexorably advancing against the entrenched power and savagely overwhelming it.

Such are the resources of the Lord God where a mighty and fearsome army is mustered completely out of sight and when the day of justice comes, no one can escape the fierce intent of their conquest.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO RESPONDS TO INJUSTICE

In the first chapter of Habakkuk verse 2 - 4, the prophet asked the Lord these questions;

Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.

As an observer of the society around Him, Habakkuk agonized over the explicit corruption that was gaining prevalence while strife and conflict propagated unchecked. 

The prophet wanted to understand why the wicked could prosper and gain dominance over the righteous.

The Lord God began His answer to the prophet's questions in Habakkuk 1 verse 5 like this;

“Look at the nations and watch—and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe,  even if you were told.

This response by God tells us that all the things that Habakkuk was concerned about had not gone unnoticed by the Lord.

In fact, the response points to the preparation that has already been done to address the situation and the Lord declares that His remediation will be a spectacle to marvel at. The Lord declares that when He takes action, it will be so miraculous, it will defy belief. 

We are living in a day when we are as perplexed as Habakkuk was but the Lord is poised with His spectacular intervention that will be so astonishing that, as described in Psalm 126 verse 1,  "When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream."

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO ALERTS US

The first two verses in the 3 third chapter of the book of Revelation say this;

“To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. 

I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. 

Our Lord Jesus, who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars, sends a stern caution to the church in Sardis.

He tells them that even though they are known for being a living church, He who sees the heart, knows they are dead. He charges them to wake up and to strengthen what is left for they have not completed the tasks they were destined to do.

Here, the Lord bluntly tells the church at Sardis what their secret condition is and He gives them the steps to take in order to reverse their ailment so that they can rise to fulfill their callings.

Bless our Lord who stirs us from sleep and charges us to press on toward the prize.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO FAVOURS THOSE AFTER HIS OWN HEART

Continuing with the study of Samuel chapter 2, we get to the part of the narrative where Samuel reached Gilgal and found that Saul had just completed the offering that should have been left for Samuel to do. This is how the passage proceeds;

Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him.

“What have you done?” asked Samuel.

Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Mikmash, I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord’s favor.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.”

“You have done a foolish thing,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. 

But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.”

Samuel, finding out what Saul had done, reprimanded Saul for doing something gravely wrong and because of it, God had chosen another man to be ruler of the people of Israel.

Saul had lost his favored destiny because he had not kept the command of God and had proven to be a man who was not after God's own heart. 

If we were to be people after God's own heart, we would first have follow God's directives and second, we would have to trust God in all circumstances even when following God's directives seem to result is situations going awry.

In Saul's case,  he felt compelled to override the command of God with His own plan because he lost trust in God's plan when he saw that His army was scattering in the face of the Philistines.

Being a person after God's own heart should compel  us to stick to God's directives and trust that God can and will make all things work together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes.

Trust and obey; there is no other way.

Amen.