365 Reflections

We esteem men like Jeremiah today. But when he ministered the word of the Lord he was despised by the culture and he was demoralized by what he saw around him. We will see many glimpses of this man's heart as we walk through this book. One of the first times we see it is in Jeremiah 4.  Jeremiah 4:19 (ESV) My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh the walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly; I cannot keep silent, for I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Jeremiah repeats the phrase, "my anguish" to emphasize his inward pain. He is torn apart for God's people as they await judgment.  Never listen to someone who claims to know that God's judgment will come and they do not weep for those on whom it falls. Judgment from God is a destructive reality. Any Earthly judgment we ever see is only a preview of the judgment to fall on all who reject Him. We who know the Lord should join Jeremiah is sorrowful anguish over the state of our nation.  Jeremia...

Israel's demise is a case study for us. What does spiritual decline do to a nation? In the previous post, we saw an absence of good leadership, sickness, and pride in their sin. What else can we expect? Isaiah 3 tells us what kind of leaders will replace the ones God takes away. Isaiah 3:12 (ESV) My people—infants are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, your guides mislead you and they have swallowed up the course of your paths. Notice that God puts children and women in charge. And what do the leaders do? They "swallow up the course of their paths." What does that mean? I like the New Living translation: "they send you down the wrong road." When God judges a nation, immature leaders will replace Godly counsel and lead the people astray. Yet there's still more to come. Isaiah 3:16–17 (ESV) The LORD said: Because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with outstretched necks, glancing wantonly with their eyes, mincing along as they g...

Isaiah 3...  Isaiah 3:1–3 (ESV) For behold, the Lord GOD of hosts is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah support and supply, all support of bread, and all support of water; 2 the mighty man and the soldier, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder, 3 the captain of fifty and the man of rank, the counselor and the skillful magician and the expert in charms. When God judges a nation He begins by removing good leadership. He allows the folly of that people to replace wise and noble leaders (both spiritually and civilly) with immature self-indulgent youth. I did not say this. Isaiah did. In Isaiah 3:1-3 he describes the removal by God's hand of the strong leadership in men in all avenues of society - the military, the courts, the religious system, and the community.  In the next verse he stipulates who replaces them: Isaiah 3:4 (ESV) And I will make boys their princes, and infants shall rule over them. In verse 12 we get another picture... Isaiah 3:12 (ESV) My p...

Isaiah 1 already alluded to Christ. Isaiah 1:27 (ESV) Zion shall be redeemed by justice, and those in her who repent, by righteousness. Isaiah 2 is pointing to Him again. Isaiah 2:2–3 (ESV) It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, 3 and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. When scripture speaks of mountains it is not always speaking only of physical heights. Mountains are representative of governments. Even the heavenly throne room is considered a mountain later on in Isaiah: Isaiah 14:13 (ESV) You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne ...

Ancient Israel is a case study in the reality that laws, promises and blessings from God do not secure a righteous nation. They do not change the heart. Judges 19 is perhaps the Bible's darkest chapter filled with unthinkable human evil and wanton disregard for the dignity of woman. The narrator of Judges has brought us through the judges cycles one after the other and now paints the picture for the terrible realities met by a nation who left God behind and forged their own future. This chapter is a solemn reminder of how bad it can get for a country when the Lord God of Creation is disregarded. The story is about a Levite and his concubine who cheated on him and left him. That first detail is all you need to know about the spiritual life of Israel. First, a Levite was set apart for God's service. Second, marriage was between a man and woman in Israel. Third, adultery was counter to the law and punishable by death. The Levite goes to fetch her after four months away in her...

Sometimes we miss the forest for the trees in Biblical texts because we are always looking for that personal application or really secret insight no one else has seen. But if we step back, see the communal message and take an interest in how God is working through collective humanity we can see really valuable lessons from the Word of God we may miss otherwise. Numbers 35 is preparing God's people for living in the land. What will be their values as a culture? A culture is cultivated by certain practices and standards. Americans are often ignorant of just how beneficial the culture of our country is to human life and flourishing. Yet so much of what we take for granted as Americans is rooted in God's culture forming rules here in Numbers 35. Take for instance the two sections dealing with land for the Levites and Cities of Refuge. Numbers 35:2–4 (ESV) “Command the people of Israel to give to the Levites some of the inheritance of their possession as cities for them to dwell...

We haven't had a good relationship. Christians and Government have been growing into mortal enemies of each other lately. Recent Supreme Court decisions and the growing ebb of secularization in our country has led to one of two responses from faithful Christians that we must learn to avoid: The first is hostility . That Christians grow more antagonistic and angry toward their government as they will feel ostracized and demonized by the culture at large. Let's face it, Christianity or Christians have been portrayed as villains of progress in recent decades of American life. So came the moral majority and political action on the part of some... which left even deeper wounds on those far from God or bad memories for those who love Him and seek to love all He has made. The second is withdrawal . To hunker down in our fox holes and holy huddles through non-interaction of all kinds. This too has failed as Christians are called to be lights and salt and do good in front of pagans ...

Genesis 10:8–12 (ESV)   Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord . Therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord .” 10 The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and 12 Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city. The first use of the word, "Kingdom" is found in these verses. It is interestingly not refefring to God's kingdom. It refers to that of Nimrod, the first mighty man on the Earth. Three times the passage refers to his "mighty" characteristics and he is the prototypical human warlord that will follow humanities history even up to the present day.  Barnhouse renders the Hebrew description of Nimrod as follows: He was an arrogant tyrant, defiant before the face of the Lord; wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod, t...

It's very easy to misread Psalm 82. The opening line sounds like the Psalmist is going to lament to God... but that's not the case.... Psalm 82:1–2   God stands in the divine assembly; he administers judgment in the midst of the gods. 2 “How long will you judge unjustly and show favoritism to the wicked? Selah The key to understanding this passage is the understanding of "gods" in verse 1. Who are the "gods?" other divine beings? No. God wouldn't sit with them because they don't exist. He alone is the GOD of all. God is addressing the "gods" and speaking to them about their unjust favoritism. Jesus uses this Psalm when confronted with the leaders of His day. It was subtle way of pointing them to this Psalm and further the exposure of their sins. The "gods" of this verse are the rulers of nations and peoples, those who run the government, the church, the civic organizations that are supposed to help protect and se...

Psalm 58 is written by David about the corrupt leadership of Saul who nearing the end had used his position for his personal hunt (of David) and gathered "yes-men" around him who simply served him to get what they could before the time was up. Psalm 58 is an attack on Godless leadership of a country. I love the Message translation: Psalm 58:1–2 (The Message)  Is this any way to run a country? Is there an honest politician in the house? 2 Behind the scenes you brew cauldrons of evil, behind closed doors you make deals with demons. Godly leadership begins with seeing the evil that often finds refuge in ungodly leadership. Why do nations rise and fall? People with wicked hearts run them into the ground. No man-made leadership will ever truly last. God alone rules supreme and rightly. The result of Saul's wicked leadership is a case study for nations in history. Government eventually goes the way of the corrupted soul because man is corrupted apart from t...