365 Reflections

Ecclesiastes 5:1–2 (ESV) Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. 2 Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. The answer to true companionship as Solomon has observed in Ecclesiastes 4 is the know the Lord and come to Him and enjoy fellowship with Him. But that approach must be done with great care and contrition, with seriousness and sincerity.  The first command - listen.  Think of how often we do NOT consider this. We usually approach God with words, saying whatever is on our minds. But the first part of our approach should be to hear what He has to say. Notice how in several different synonymous participles, the text calls on us to silence our speech. This is so counterintuitive. For most of us believe God is pleased when we vocal...

Two posts ago I discussed how God has a ready plan to raise up a faithful generation in the midst of an unfaithful one. But the question is, by what means does God do this? The 3rd chapter of 1 Samuel answers that question: 1 Samuel 3:1–5 (ESV) Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision. 2 At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord , where the ark of God was. 4 Then the Lord called Samuel, and he said, “Here I am!” 5 and ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down. Eli's house is in disarray, the Temple is a place of fornication and greed, the nation is flooded with immorality and civil war (see the end of Judges). The situ...

We all want to hear from God. But sometimes we get frustrated when we don't. I was reading Exodus 25 about God's instructions concerning the Ark of the Covenant - the item in Ancient Israel's temple that physically signified God's presence among. They are to build the ark by God's specific directions and this is how it ends: Exodus 25:22 (ESV) There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel. What you have in these instructions about the Ark is a physical type or picture of how we can come to hear God's voice. Looking to God's instructions to Moses we have clear principles as to what God wants from us in order to hear Him regularly.  First God tells them: Exodus 25:11 (ESV)  You shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and outside shall you overlay it, and you shall make on ...

One of the most interesting passages in Acts has to come from chapter 16. Paul is trying to preach the Gospel in some places and the Holy Spirit says no. Acts 16:6–8 (ESV) And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 7 And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. 8 So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. It is weird to consider Paul wanted to preach somewhere and instead is diverted elsewhere. Troas was an important city for sure. It was almost the capital of Rome under Julius Caesar.  But by going further at the vision's leading in Verse 9 Paul ends up in Macedonia where the churches of Philippi and Corinth are established. Certainly these cities would weigh in on theological understanding even still today as we have letters to them canonized in our Bible. I thought of a few things: 1. Following the Lord is a ...

The story of Cornelius' salvation is a story of prayer . First, Cornelius is in prayer when God's angel shows up with instructions to call on Peter: Acts 10:3–4 (ESV) About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” 4 And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. Second, Peter was in prayer at the time God reveals His plan for gentiles to be incorporated into the family of God: Acts 10:9–16 (ESV)  The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. 10 And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance 11 and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and...

Peter wanted to stay.  He wanted to build tents there... He even offered to build three tents for Jesus and His special guests Moses and Elijah.  The tent is where Moses when to meet with God.  Peter is sure it's a good thing to build a tent when Jesus is transfigured and meet with God. But two things happen to Peter to illustrate an important reality for us... 1. God interrupts Peter to tell Him who Jesus is and that Peter should spend more time listening to Him. I love how Luke inserts a little unspoken humor in this passage: Luke 9:34–35 (ESV) As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” God just disregards Peter's speech to give the more important word! You don't need a tent, you need Jesus... Jesus is the TRUE AND BETTER TEMPLE.  You can go to Him and you can listen to Him.  You meet ...