365 Reflections

As we continue to study Jeremiah, we see a true prophet who will not back down even when preaching the Word costs him. He has been bitterly treated and shamefully scorned by his contemporaries who at the same time have sought his guidance during these last dark days of the kingdom.  In Jeremiah 38, we see another facet of true prophetic work - speaking in such a way that people assume it’s harmful when it’s the exact opposite. As Babylon bears down on Jerusalem, Jeremiah continues his message.  ‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭38‬:‭3‬ ‭(ESV‬‬) “Thus says the Lord: This city shall surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon and be taken.”” The people assume since Jeremiah is talking about something destructive to the city, he must be off base.  ‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭38‬:‭4‬ ‭(ESV‬‬) “Then the officials said to the king, “Let this man be put to death, for he is weakening the hands of the soldiers who are left in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words t...

Happy New Year! Let's begin with the final section of scripture that I have yet to cover in this blog. The Prophets! I have longed for this content. Wisdom literature was tough. But the prophets are a wonderful portion of God's Holy Word. In them, we see both God's hatred for sin, coming judgment, and His firm decision to be compassionate and provide hope. What a God of mercy! Isaiah begins.  Isaiah 1:1 (ESV) The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. The most notable thing in the first verse of this book is that Isaiah's prophetic career spanned the reign of four kings in Judah. Two of them were good, Uzziah and Hezekiah, the other two, not so much. The nation was corrupt and trending downward. The kings came and went, but God's sure servant, bearing witness to God's Word, stood the test of time.  The diagnosis of Judah is not good.  Isaiah 1:3–4 (ESV) Th...

There's one thing that has kept the work of God moving from the first moment of creation - the proclamation of His Word. Nehemiah may have built the walls, organized the people, and fended off the negative attacks from within and without but there's nothing more powerful than the Word of God to bring God's purpose to completion in God's people. Nehemiah 8:1–3 (ESV) And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the LORD had commanded Israel. 2 So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. 3 And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law. You have here a picture of two ef...

God is the final and righteous Judge of all.  There's an assumption that God is only interested in making peace for us. He's the problem solver that we turn to when we are in a mess. Or He's the answer-giver when we do not know what to do. But that is not the whole picture scriptures presents of the Lord. He is for peace. He is our peace. He has the answer. He is the answer.  But He is the God of judgment against sin. We see this most clearly at the end of Judah's kingdom as they are judged for years of sin and rebellion against the Lord.  2 Kings 24:2–4 (ESV) And the Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldeans and bands of the Syrians and bands of the Moabites and bands of the Ammonites, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by his servants the prophets. 3 Surely this came upon Judah at the command of the Lord, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, 4 and also ...

The legacy Hezekiah leaves behind for his children is one of riches, fame, healing, and deliverance from his enemies. But his heart was proud and he never gave God the honor He deserves toward the end of his life.  The result of Hezekiah's life is extrapolated in the testimony of his son, Manasseh. But first I remind you of Hezekiah's wealth and privilege provided him by the gracious hand of the Lord. His nation was under the threat of Assyria and the Lord sent his angel to destroy 185,000 troops in the night to secure him peace. He was intended to die by illness but his earnest prayer to God yielded a miraculous recovery. On top of these things, he increased in wealth substantially. At the visit of the Babylonian emissary it says this: 2 Kings 20:13 (ESV) Hezekiah welcomed them, and he showed them all his treasure house , the silver , the gold , the spices , the precious oil , his armory , all that was found in his storehouses. You could say Hezekiah lived the good life to the...

Fresh off his healing, Hezekiah makes a huge mistake that will cost the nation of Judah its existence. Envoys from Babylon, the second up and coming nation of the age, are sent to examine the doings of Israel. When they meet Hezekiah he is more than willing to open the entire treasure to them.  2 Kings 20:12–13 (ESV) At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick. 13 And Hezekiah welcomed them, and he showed them all his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. This moment is so exhausting. Hezekiah should know better than to let a foreign nation know what Israel has in their storehouse. He invites disaster. But his mistake illustrates a condition of the human heart to which we are all susceptible. When we exper...

There’s a strange story in 1 Kings 13 about a prophet who comes to challenge and condemn Jeroboam’s idolatrous rebellion. He is told what to say, what not to do and how to leave. He was to prophecy the destruction of Jeroboam’s altars, not eat any food and not return the way he came. After he prays for Jeroboam’s hand and it’s restored, the king invites him to eat there. The man of God passes this test easily: 1 Kings 13:8-10 (ESV)  And the man of God said to the king, "If you give me half your house, I will not go in with you. And I will not eat bread or drink water in this place, 9 for so was it commanded me by the word of the LORD, saying, 'You shall neither eat bread nor drink water nor return by the way that you came.'" 10 So he went another way and did not return by the way that he came to Bethel. Unfortunately, the man of God is soon duped by the lies and misgivings of a prophet... 1 Kings 13:18-19 (ESV) And he said to him, "I also am a prophet as...

In 1 Samuel 30, David hits an all-time low. He's been running from Saul, he's been rejected by the Philistines, and now he returns home to find his wives and children and his men's wives and children taken captive by the Amalekites. 1 Samuel 30:3 (ESV) And when David and his men came to the city, they found it burned with fire, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. The response of David and his men is totally understandable.  1 Samuel 30:4 (ESV)   Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep . But what is worse for David is that his men begin to turn on him. And why wouldn't they? They have suffered only loss since coming to his aid. Consider that these men were the ones already beaten down by the forces of Saul's kingdom. They came to David for relief and all they experienced was rejection. Remember? 1 Samuel 22:2 (ESV) And everyone who was in distress, and everyone w...

Judges 6:7–8 (ESV) When the people of Israel cried out to the LORD on account of the Midianites, 8 the LORD sent a prophet to the people of Israel. And he said to them, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery. For the first time in the Judges cycle, when Israel is oppressed they don't get a deliverer, they get a prophet. The point is clear. God knows their previous and current repentance has been superficial. They have only lamented the loss of their freedoms or abundance. God will now speak to them about what sin has really cost them: Himself.  You and I were made for God. The scripture says of Him: Romans 11:36 (ESV) For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. You are from God. You are living THROUGH God, and you are going back to God. Your entire being for eternity is established and sustained in God. Any departure from His is only death all the time. Th...

Deuteronomy 29:2–9 (ESV)   And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: “You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, 3 the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. 4 But to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear. 5 I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet. 6 You have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God. 7 And when you came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out against us to battle, but we defeated them. 8 We took their land and gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. 9 Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper in all t...

Deuteronomy 5:22–24 (ESV) “These words the LORD spoke to all your assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire , the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and he added no more. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. 23 And as soon as you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire , you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes, and your elders. 24 And you said, ‘Behold, the LORD our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire . This day we have seen God speak with man, and man still live. The physical manifestation of God's voice being spoken to ancient Israel is repeatedly fire . When God gives them the law, He does through fire here and in Exodus 20. When Gideon sees the Lord, there's fire that consumes the offering. When Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal, his challenge is this: "and the God who answers by fire ...

Numbers 10 opens with a passage about Silver Trumpets to be made for signaling the way of the camp. Numbers 10:1–7 (ESV) The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Make two silver trumpets. Of hammered work you shall make them, and you shall use them for summoning the congregation and for breaking camp. 3 And when both are blown, all the congregation shall gather themselves to you at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 4 But if they blow only one, then the chiefs, the heads of the tribes of Israel, shall gather themselves to you. 5 When you blow an alarm, the camps that are on the east side shall set out. 6 And when you blow an alarm the second time, the camps that are on the south side shall set out. An alarm is to be blown whenever they are to set out. 7 But when the assembly is to be gathered together, you shall blow a long blast, but you shall not sound an alarm. The trumpets were the instruments that moved God's people in the right direction. They priests, directed by Moses, w...

I love how the Bible gives us 20/20 vision of the lives who took part in writing it through inspiration of the Holy Spirt. The Biblical authors were not faultless men, they were visibly broken and given to weakness. We know the murder and impatience of Moses. We see the anger and rage issues of Nehemiah. We know about Paul's own struggles (Romans 7:24). We know Peter struggled with ethnic pride (Galatians 2). These were broken men. The author of Psalm 119 has always inspired me. He writes the longest Psalm as an anthology to his love for God's Word. He agrees with it. He is inspired by it. He is protected and guided through it. But he also struggles to do it: Psalm 119:1–5 (ESV) Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord ! 2 Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, 3 who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways! 4 You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. 5 Oh that my ways may be ...

So often we act as if God's commands were against us. Nothing could be further from the truth. God for us. We are made in his image. He desires Close intimate relationship with us. The Psalmist writes: Psalm 71:3 (ESV) Be to me a rock of refuge, to which I may continually come; you have given the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress. I like that particular line: " you have given the command to save me"... God commands for the national or spiritual out there to protect us and save us. We can't stray we tend to walk off the cliff of our own destruction. We can to walk and live according to the patterns that lead to disaster. Proverbs 14:12 (ESV)  There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. Like the law of gravity. We ignore it's boundaries to our own peril. So too the laws of nature and relationships are ignored to our own pain and confusion. It's proof of the Bible's reliability tha...

The Word of God is filled with words of life. Psalm 28:1 (ESV)   To you, O Lord , I call; my rock, be not deaf to me, lest, if you be silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit. David symbolizes the Lord as his rock. But then implores the Lord not for miraculous deliverance, but rather for Words of life. He says to the Lord "if you be silent, I ... go down to the pit (grave)."  God's Word keeps us from the darkness of death. But even more, they keep us from depression and anxiety for we know He hears us and answers us. He wants to speak and bring life. This is the theme of the Bible from Genesis 1 through Sarah's barren womb, to the Virgin conception, Word made flesh and the final culmination of redemption. We listen to His voice and LIFE SPRINGS forth. The Word of God is alive. Apart from the Words of God, we are destined for death. Jesus said in John 6:63 (ESV)  The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.  God's Wor...

God's Word is pure. Man's word is not. You only understand the perverse innate character of the promises of man when you truly comprehend the sure Word of God. Psalm 12 is all about the contrast between the two. First, the Psalmist has a description of the words of man: Psalm 12:2–4 (ESV) Everyone utters lies to his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak. 3 May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boasts, 4 those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us; who is master over us?” What is the answer when people around you seem to do nothing but feed you lies? Do you respond? Do you retaliate? Do you join in? There is no shortage of voices in our world. And we do well to heed the wisdom of David in this Psalmist when he was faced people the proud and arrogant words of the wicked. First, David refuses to get into it with them. No, his approach is not retaliation but rather to listed to what God has...

Ministry is sweet and sour. Being a follower of Christ in the truest sense of the word brings about a gigantic dichotomy of experience in life. The sweet and the sour. John experiences this having received the revelation of Jesus Christ to a world hopelessly in love with itself. Revelation 10:8–11 (ESV) Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” 9 So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, “Take and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.” 10 And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter. 11 And I was told, “You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.” John hears the voice from heaven. It tells him to eat t...

John 7:44–46 (ESV) Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. 45 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” 46 The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” This is an amazing moment that we often breeze by in our reading. The chief priests and Pharisees wanted to arrest Jesus so they sent a guard to seize him. But they came back empty handed. Why? Because His teaching was that astonishing. His teaching was that powerful.  This is an incredible example of the power of God's Word. It can change the hardest of hearts who hear it. Romans 10:17 (ESV) So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. The Psalmist rightly declared the power of the Lord's Word. Psalm 29:4–5 (NLT)   The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic. 5 The voice of the Lord splits the mighty cedars; the Lord shatters the cedars of L...

2 Corinthians 4:2 (ESV)   But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. Paul is in his typical defense of ministry mode with the Corinthians throughout chapter 4. They thought he lost his passion (verse 1), they considered others with "letters of recommendation" much more valuable than he, and some even claimed he was dishonest and devious in his delivery of the Word of God... That sounds laughable.  Yet we often let the laughable criticisms bug us the most. But Paul is certain to point out - he never tampered with God's Word of truth. The temptation of every preacher is to "spice" up God's Word to make it interesting. While I'm all for making the Word come alive in exposition and creativity mixed with passion, we must be careful to draw a line. At some point ...

Apart from Jesus we cannot understand the Scriptures. The Lord has to open our minds and our hearts to receive what this  very ancient text says to give us understanding and knowledge of him. Incidentally, this is the first thing that Jesus does for the disciples when he rises from the dead. Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, (Luke 24:45 ESV) Now there are four Gospels for a reason, and you have to go to John's Gospel to see this event in the fullest picture. John says about the same moment: And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” (John 20:22, 23 ESV) Jesus breathed on them and gave them the Holy Spirit. And it would be through that God-breathed spirit that they would have the power to understand and use the word of God. Notice also the parallels to the creation account in Genesis. That God created a ...