1 Samuel 4 describes a bad day. First, the Philistines rout the Israelites and capture the ark of the covenant. Then Eli's two sons Hophni and Phenehas die. A young man named Benjamite ran from the battle to tell Eli that his sons were dead. Eli was then told that not only were his two sons dead, but the ark had also been capture by the Philistines. When Eli heard this news he fell out of his chair and broke his neck. Now if that were not enough, Eli's daughter-in-law went into labor when she heard the news, gave birth to a son, named him Ichabod which means 'The glory has departed from Israel,' and then she died.
I wonder if anyone ever told Ichabod what happened on the day he was born? I wonder if it became his stigma for the rest of his life? I wonder if he could ever overcome such a bad day?
I promise not to complain when my printer doesn't work, or my sermon is not coming together, or the girls are a handful, or I shoot a ninety-five. May I always rest in God and may His glory never leave.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
remember me with favor, o my God
Nehemiah 11 - 13
The final chapters of the book of Nehemiah stand in contrast to each other. Chapters 11 & 12 describe those who came back to Jerusalem to live after the walls had been rebuilt. And the celebration and ceremony of the dedication of the walls. The Bible describes a very cool scene in chapter 12 when Nehemiah and the priests walk on top of the walls and dedicate this work and this wall to God. The ceremony included choirs and singing and the sound of rejoicing could be heard far away. The dedication ended at temple where tithes & offerings were brought into the storerooms
Chapter 13 is a different story. Nehemiah, true to his word goes back to work for King Artaxerxes and serves him for many years. After some time Nehemiah asks the King for permission to go back to Jerusalem. There he finds that the people had fallen away again. They had not followed the Law. They had defiled the temple. They had forgotten the Sabbath. They were living in the same way as before which lead to the destruction of the walls and the capture of the city in the first place. Nehemiah does not walk away, he begins to reign judgment on the people. At the end of this chapter, the end of these writings of Nehemiah he writes this one simple statement. "Remember me with favor, O my God."
May we live like Nehemiah, holding unswervingly to God's Word & God's will. May we be willing to speak boldly about the things that are wrong in our culture, and in our communities. And may we be like God's servant Nehemiah who relentlessly pursued what God would want for His people. And may we be remembered with favor, O God.
The final chapters of the book of Nehemiah stand in contrast to each other. Chapters 11 & 12 describe those who came back to Jerusalem to live after the walls had been rebuilt. And the celebration and ceremony of the dedication of the walls. The Bible describes a very cool scene in chapter 12 when Nehemiah and the priests walk on top of the walls and dedicate this work and this wall to God. The ceremony included choirs and singing and the sound of rejoicing could be heard far away. The dedication ended at temple where tithes & offerings were brought into the storerooms
Chapter 13 is a different story. Nehemiah, true to his word goes back to work for King Artaxerxes and serves him for many years. After some time Nehemiah asks the King for permission to go back to Jerusalem. There he finds that the people had fallen away again. They had not followed the Law. They had defiled the temple. They had forgotten the Sabbath. They were living in the same way as before which lead to the destruction of the walls and the capture of the city in the first place. Nehemiah does not walk away, he begins to reign judgment on the people. At the end of this chapter, the end of these writings of Nehemiah he writes this one simple statement. "Remember me with favor, O my God."
May we live like Nehemiah, holding unswervingly to God's Word & God's will. May we be willing to speak boldly about the things that are wrong in our culture, and in our communities. And may we be like God's servant Nehemiah who relentlessly pursued what God would want for His people. And may we be remembered with favor, O God.
Friday, February 27, 2009
repentance
Nehemiah chapter 10 describes what the people decided to do after they had returned to the city of Jerusalem from exile and rebuilt the walls. After a time of rejoicing over the Law being read in the city the people make some promises to God. It is very interesting the things mentioned that they decided to rededicate to the Lord.
First, they promised not to give their daughters and sons to be married to people from other nations. One of the ways that they had fallen away from God is by marrying outside of the nation of Israel. Now that they were repenting of this they were promising that they would dedicate these relationships back to God and be faithful to what God had asked them to do.
Next, they promised to keep the Sabbath rest as holy to God. They said that they would not buy merchandise or grain from neighboring peoples on the Sabbath or any other holy day. They were promising to keep these holy days as an offering to God. They would dedicate these times to God. They would work hard on six days and give to God the Sabbath to honor Him.
Finally, they promised to give to God from the first fruits of their crops and herds. They had gotten out of the practice of setting aside their tithes and offerings to God and now were repentant of this and were dedicating their possessions to God. All of what they had God was to get the best.
So, how does this apply to us? Very simple. If you want to check your dedication to God. If you want to put God first. If you have walked away from God and need to put Him first again. If you would like to continue to grow in your relationship with God then do these three things. Put God first in your Relationships, Time and Money. Where do you spend your time? With who do you spend your time? And how do you spend your money? Are you putting God first in all of these areas? If not, maybe it is time to repent - to make these things right with God.
First, they promised not to give their daughters and sons to be married to people from other nations. One of the ways that they had fallen away from God is by marrying outside of the nation of Israel. Now that they were repenting of this they were promising that they would dedicate these relationships back to God and be faithful to what God had asked them to do.
Next, they promised to keep the Sabbath rest as holy to God. They said that they would not buy merchandise or grain from neighboring peoples on the Sabbath or any other holy day. They were promising to keep these holy days as an offering to God. They would dedicate these times to God. They would work hard on six days and give to God the Sabbath to honor Him.
Finally, they promised to give to God from the first fruits of their crops and herds. They had gotten out of the practice of setting aside their tithes and offerings to God and now were repentant of this and were dedicating their possessions to God. All of what they had God was to get the best.
So, how does this apply to us? Very simple. If you want to check your dedication to God. If you want to put God first. If you have walked away from God and need to put Him first again. If you would like to continue to grow in your relationship with God then do these three things. Put God first in your Relationships, Time and Money. Where do you spend your time? With who do you spend your time? And how do you spend your money? Are you putting God first in all of these areas? If not, maybe it is time to repent - to make these things right with God.
Friday, February 13, 2009
revival
Recently at Two Rivers Church we have been looking at the book of Nehemiah. We looked at Nehemiah chapters 1 - 3 on February 1st and chapters 4 - 6 this past Sunday. We will not be continuing through the rest of the book at this time, so as promised I will continue some study and give some thoughts to the rest of Nehemiah here on this blog. As a side note, it has been several months since I last blogged in this space so I hope to get back into the swing of writing here on a weekly basis.
Nehemiah chapter 6 and the first part of chapter 7 describe the finishing of the walls under the leadership of Nehemiah. It only took 52 days to complete the task. Talk about Extreme Makeover Walls Edition. I wonder if they stood out there and all yelled, "Move that bus!" The rest of chapter 7 is filled with a list of those people who had been exiled from Jerusalem and were now returning. This list is essentially the same list found in the book of Ezra.
What happens starting in chapter 8 is amazing. The people asked Ezra to bring out the Book of the Law and he began reading it aloud. Verse 3 says that he read it aloud from daybreak until noon, standing on a wooden platform which was made for this occasion. And here is what is amazing, the people listened and were moved. In essence what happened was a revival. All of these people who had been exiled had forgotten about the things written in the Book of the Law. They had not been practicing their traditions and ceremonies while in exile. So now having come back to Jerusalem, they listened to the words of the Law being spoken aloud by the priest Ezra and they remembered what they had been missing and it changed their hearts. In verse 6 it says that at the reading of the words the people bowed down and began to worship God.
Here are a couple of my thoughts concerning this passage. First, isn't it interesting that revival begins with the reading of the Words of God. It was not the rebuilding of the wall, or even the great return and reunion of these people that drew them back to God, it was the power of the words of God. Second, the natural outcome of this revival was worship. The people heard the words of God and fell down and worshiped Him. Amazing.
May we seek God and His word personally and corporately and may those words change our hearts and draw us back to Him. May we have revival. And may God be worshiped.
Nehemiah chapter 6 and the first part of chapter 7 describe the finishing of the walls under the leadership of Nehemiah. It only took 52 days to complete the task. Talk about Extreme Makeover Walls Edition. I wonder if they stood out there and all yelled, "Move that bus!" The rest of chapter 7 is filled with a list of those people who had been exiled from Jerusalem and were now returning. This list is essentially the same list found in the book of Ezra.
What happens starting in chapter 8 is amazing. The people asked Ezra to bring out the Book of the Law and he began reading it aloud. Verse 3 says that he read it aloud from daybreak until noon, standing on a wooden platform which was made for this occasion. And here is what is amazing, the people listened and were moved. In essence what happened was a revival. All of these people who had been exiled had forgotten about the things written in the Book of the Law. They had not been practicing their traditions and ceremonies while in exile. So now having come back to Jerusalem, they listened to the words of the Law being spoken aloud by the priest Ezra and they remembered what they had been missing and it changed their hearts. In verse 6 it says that at the reading of the words the people bowed down and began to worship God.
Here are a couple of my thoughts concerning this passage. First, isn't it interesting that revival begins with the reading of the Words of God. It was not the rebuilding of the wall, or even the great return and reunion of these people that drew them back to God, it was the power of the words of God. Second, the natural outcome of this revival was worship. The people heard the words of God and fell down and worshiped Him. Amazing.
May we seek God and His word personally and corporately and may those words change our hearts and draw us back to Him. May we have revival. And may God be worshiped.
Monday, November 17, 2008
jerub-baal the great man of God
Judges 6
One of the great people of the Old Testament is a guy named Gideon. He is introduced in Judges chapter 6. It seems like whenever the people of God begin to walk away from Him there arises on the scene a person who begins to bring attention to the sin of the people. Throughout the Old Testament this is true and we remember these people as great people of faith. It reminds me of Star Wars and the idea of bringing balance to the force. When the dark side would become too strong, or too aggressive a great Jedi would rise up and fight the dark side and eventually bring balance to the force. Gideon was the Luke Skywalker of his time.
Judges chapter 6 begins this way, "Again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the Lord." There seems to be a recurring theme in the Old Testament. God's chosen people regularly or time and time again would do evil. And the most common sort of evil was following other nations into idol worship. In this case the Israelites have followed the surrounding culture into worshiping an idol named BAAL. Because of this disobedience God allows the Midians to oppress the people of Israel and they finally called out to God for help. Gideon was the answer to that call to God. Gideon took some of his servants out and destroyed the altar to BAAL and sacrificed a bull to God on the rubble. And to me here is the interesting part of the story. When the people of the town saw what had happened they were angry and wanted to kill Gideon for this act. They took their anger to the leader of the town named Joash. Joash gave them this argument. "If BAAL is God then let him deal with Gideon." This seemed to appease the people and it led to them calling Gideon Jerub-Baal which means "Let BAAL contend with him."
Throughout the rest of the story of Gideon the Bible continues to call him Jerub-Baal. The nickname stuck. That's what he became known as around town and to the people of Israel. He stood up for God. His name was changed. He wore that name for the rest of his life. It wasn't exactly an endearing name, but he wore it anyway. It represented a life that was counter cultural and he lived it wherever he went. I don't think he had it printed on his license plate or had t-shirts made up, he simply lived out the name and wherever he went people knew by his name that he had stood up to BAAL, he stood for God, and he lived against the current culture of his day.
May we all wear a new name today. May that name be one that stands for our God. May we do so in spite of our culture. May we live it out in the way we go about life. I don't have to say what our new name is do I?
One of the great people of the Old Testament is a guy named Gideon. He is introduced in Judges chapter 6. It seems like whenever the people of God begin to walk away from Him there arises on the scene a person who begins to bring attention to the sin of the people. Throughout the Old Testament this is true and we remember these people as great people of faith. It reminds me of Star Wars and the idea of bringing balance to the force. When the dark side would become too strong, or too aggressive a great Jedi would rise up and fight the dark side and eventually bring balance to the force. Gideon was the Luke Skywalker of his time.
Judges chapter 6 begins this way, "Again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the Lord." There seems to be a recurring theme in the Old Testament. God's chosen people regularly or time and time again would do evil. And the most common sort of evil was following other nations into idol worship. In this case the Israelites have followed the surrounding culture into worshiping an idol named BAAL. Because of this disobedience God allows the Midians to oppress the people of Israel and they finally called out to God for help. Gideon was the answer to that call to God. Gideon took some of his servants out and destroyed the altar to BAAL and sacrificed a bull to God on the rubble. And to me here is the interesting part of the story. When the people of the town saw what had happened they were angry and wanted to kill Gideon for this act. They took their anger to the leader of the town named Joash. Joash gave them this argument. "If BAAL is God then let him deal with Gideon." This seemed to appease the people and it led to them calling Gideon Jerub-Baal which means "Let BAAL contend with him."
Throughout the rest of the story of Gideon the Bible continues to call him Jerub-Baal. The nickname stuck. That's what he became known as around town and to the people of Israel. He stood up for God. His name was changed. He wore that name for the rest of his life. It wasn't exactly an endearing name, but he wore it anyway. It represented a life that was counter cultural and he lived it wherever he went. I don't think he had it printed on his license plate or had t-shirts made up, he simply lived out the name and wherever he went people knew by his name that he had stood up to BAAL, he stood for God, and he lived against the current culture of his day.
May we all wear a new name today. May that name be one that stands for our God. May we do so in spite of our culture. May we live it out in the way we go about life. I don't have to say what our new name is do I?
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
controversy
Joshua 13 - 24
In these chapters of the book of Joshua the scripture is very specific about what clan inherits each portion of the promised land. The specifics go down to what group would inherit each portion of land and where the boundaries were for each group. Here is preserved a written verification of who gets what. This is important not only for that day, but even for today. There is nowhere in the world where land is fought over more than in this area. Even today there is controversy and war between Israel and the Arabs who live in the region. The Israeli people believe that they are entitled to this land as a part of their inheritance, but the Arab people believe that they were wrongly driven out of the land. The specifics of Joshua should be a help to the people of Israel, but because the disobeyed God and did not drive out everyone from the beginning there is still controversy about this land today.
In these chapters of the book of Joshua the scripture is very specific about what clan inherits each portion of the promised land. The specifics go down to what group would inherit each portion of land and where the boundaries were for each group. Here is preserved a written verification of who gets what. This is important not only for that day, but even for today. There is nowhere in the world where land is fought over more than in this area. Even today there is controversy and war between Israel and the Arabs who live in the region. The Israeli people believe that they are entitled to this land as a part of their inheritance, but the Arab people believe that they were wrongly driven out of the land. The specifics of Joshua should be a help to the people of Israel, but because the disobeyed God and did not drive out everyone from the beginning there is still controversy about this land today.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
mid-life crisis?
Joshua 6-15
I've always had a little trouble with the way the people of God took over the Promised Land. Why did God want them to destroy everything and especially everyone? I've always understood the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, these cities were extremely wicked. So God brought fire down upon them. But was Jericho and Ai and Jerusalem filled with wickedness? Why were they not given a chance to repent? Why weren't they offered a treaty?
This directive given by God is very different than the God of the New Testament. God is Love. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Where is that God in the Old Testament?
I don't think I have it all figured out, but here is my take for now. God is God. He is in control. He did not have a mid-life crisis somewhere before the New Testament was written. He is still the same God. He is still the same today. He was and is still a holy God. He is incapable of sin. He must punish sin. One of the pillars of the Law is that you should have no other gods before God. I believe that God was compelled to destroy those cities because of their idolatry. In the Old Testament dispensation there was no other way. This sin must be punished. Now since Jesus has been in the world there is hope for everyone. God will allow us to live today so that we might choose to accept the gift of His grace. I don't see any other reason why He would be so harsh in the Old Testament time and why He would be so loving now in the New Testament era. Now there is an alternative. He is still the same God, but with more options.
May I ever be aware that God is a holy God. May I ever be aware that God is a loving God.
I've always had a little trouble with the way the people of God took over the Promised Land. Why did God want them to destroy everything and especially everyone? I've always understood the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, these cities were extremely wicked. So God brought fire down upon them. But was Jericho and Ai and Jerusalem filled with wickedness? Why were they not given a chance to repent? Why weren't they offered a treaty?
This directive given by God is very different than the God of the New Testament. God is Love. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Where is that God in the Old Testament?
I don't think I have it all figured out, but here is my take for now. God is God. He is in control. He did not have a mid-life crisis somewhere before the New Testament was written. He is still the same God. He is still the same today. He was and is still a holy God. He is incapable of sin. He must punish sin. One of the pillars of the Law is that you should have no other gods before God. I believe that God was compelled to destroy those cities because of their idolatry. In the Old Testament dispensation there was no other way. This sin must be punished. Now since Jesus has been in the world there is hope for everyone. God will allow us to live today so that we might choose to accept the gift of His grace. I don't see any other reason why He would be so harsh in the Old Testament time and why He would be so loving now in the New Testament era. Now there is an alternative. He is still the same God, but with more options.
May I ever be aware that God is a holy God. May I ever be aware that God is a loving God.
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