To Know Him

“That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death.”  Philippians 3:10

I heard it said recently that we read this verse forwards, but we experience it backwards.

• I am conformed to His death through denying myself and taking up my cross.
• Through this death I fellowship in His sufferings.
• Because I know His suffering and His death, I can then find the power of his resurrection.
• Through these things I come to know my God more.

The word for know is ginosko in the Greek, and it signifies an intimate knowledge and acquaintance.  I want to know my God intimately.  How does this happen?  Through death, suffering, and resurrection.

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of when fall inot the ground and die it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”  John 12:24

This dying to self brings me into a more intimate fellowship and acquaintance with Him.  As I go through the pain and suffering of crucifying my old nature, I get a sliver of a glimpse of the Savior’s suffering me on Calvary.  But this death also puts me in a place to experience His resurrection power.  The dynamite power which Christ from the dead is mine.  To find resurrection I must first die.  All of these things put me into a closer knowledge and more intimate experience and understanding with my Savior, allowing me to say, “I know Him.”

Would I know His goodness if He were not good to me in the bad times of life?

Would I understand His nearness apart from walking through desperately scary times where I just needed to feel His presence?  (The valley of the shadow of death…”")

Would I be as thankful for His plan were I not put in a situation where my plan availed nothing?

Would I have endurance for this Christian race without being placed into a long-standing trial?

Would I know my God answers prayer without having to wrestle with Him over some hard matter?

That I may know Him.  Death is required. 

The Lord is my Rock

Photo from Moab, UT

Sometimes life overwhelms me and I feel like I’m sinking.  Sometimes I’m sinking in laundry and dishes; other times it is in self-pity or guilt.  I can never pull myself out of that desperate place on my own.  I have to remember that the Lord is my rock.  He is a firm foundation, even when I feel like life is ever-shifting around me.  He never changes, even my kids’ schedules and my emotions are on a roller coaster.  He is my defense from those darts of guilt and shame and condemnation that the enemy flings my way. 

When I was in Moab, UT and I saw this rock, Psalm 18:2 came to my mind. Psalm 28:7  came to mind also.  It says, “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in Him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise Him.”  When I go back to the fortress, my heart is helped.  When I put my trust back where it belongs, I find rejoicing and my song returns.

Synergy

A little more from Romans 8:28…

The words work together mean to “work together, help in work, be partner in labour. To put forth power together with and thereby to assist.”

Some other instances of this Greek word in the NT:

• Mark 16:20 – they went forth preaching everywhere as the Lord was working with them.
• 1Cor.16:16 – Submit yourselves and to everyone that helps with us.
• 2Cor.6:1 – we are workers together with Christ.
• James 2:22 – faith works with works and works makes faith perfect.

The root of this Greek word is transliterated into English as synergy, meaning “a companion in work, a fellow worker.”  The definition of synergy is “the interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.”

Therefore we could read this verse, “All things synergize for good.” Everything works together in cooperation with God’s wondrous plan in order to produce a combined effect greater than their separate effects. He is able to bring all of these separate circumstances, events, people, life changes, etc. together to work something far greater than any one of the things alone could work. Only God can do that.

I don’t always see the “synergy” of God’s hand at work in my life right at this moment.  I feel the effects of the current goings-on and get discouraged. But God knows how that is going to work with the past and with what is right around the corner. He brings it all into cooperation as only He can, and just as in creation, the outcome is “good.” In Genesis 1 God saw all that He had made and it was very good. In the same way He is creating circumstances and things in my life to bring about the same wondrous result – good – in my life.

The author of the Bible Study I am working through is Pam Forster.  She summed up the “synergy” of God’s plan in these words:

We may not be able to see good in a particular trial. By itself, there may not be anything we would call good in it, and if it continued indefinitely, with no other demonstrations of God’s grace to temper it, it might be our ruin. But, mixed with all that we experience, all that God allows into our lives, all the different trials and blessings and people — all of these work together to “have a greater total effect than the sum of their individual effects”.

Often times we can look back and with 20/20 hindsight see how God put everything together to produce that total effect of good.  

The Answer to “Why”

I recently listened to this interview with Naghmeh Abedini, wife of Iranian-American pastor Saeed Abedini who is serving an eight-year prison sentence for his faith.  I was touched by his answer to the “why” question in regards to suffering.

There is no way to compare my “suffering” or trials with what this family has gone through, but the answer to my “why” questions is the same.  The answer is “Who” – Who is in control.

The answer to the "why" is "Who." Who is in control? The Lord Jesus Christ is in control. I desire for you to learn important lessons during these trying times, lessons that you carry now for the rest of your life. The answer to the "why" is "Who." The confusion of "why has all of this happened," and why your prayers are not answered is resolved with understanding Who is in control—the Lord Jesus Christ, our God.

God is in control of that whole world and everything that is happening in it, for His good purpose, for His glory, and will be worked out for our good (Romans 8:28). Jesus allows me to be kept here for His glory. He's doing something inside each of us and also outside in the world.

--Saeed Abedini, in a letter to his daughter for her 8th birthday

I have recently asked a lot of “why” questions.  Why deputation?  Why does it take so long?  Why did we wait to start until we had four children?  Why isn’t there another way?  Why twins?  Why is child training so difficult?

The answer is “Who.”  Who is in control?  The Lord.  He has designed this process for me and my family, at this time.  He has designed it to mold us more into the image of Christ.  He has designed it to make us more of a testimony of the Gospel and it’s power to change lives.  He has designed it to teach us to rely on Him for everything, even our “daily bread.”  He has designed it to give us more ministry experience and to let us see other churches in operation and to hear stories of successful church plants so that when we go to the Bronx we are armed with lessons learned from the experience of others.

The answer to “why” is “Who.”  That’s a powerful thought that can realign my focus to where it needs to be – on Christ.

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I shall not want

I thought I had learned this lesson.  Many times.  But it keeps coming back.  “I shall not want.”  The Lord is teaching me this in new dimensions.  When I teach this verse to my kids, I ask them a series of questions.

“Who takes care of the sheep?”  Little voices answer with, “The Shepherd.”

“Who is the Shepherd?”  “Jesus.”

“Who is a sheep?”  “Me!”

The Shepherd takes care of the sheep.  His tenderness is pictured well in Isaiah 40:11 -  “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.”  He is so tender and loving; patient and kind.  Lifting those who need help.  Walking slowly with the little ones.  Even when it takes me a long time to learn what is He trying to teach me, He is still patient and loving and continues to walk with me.  He continues to prove Himself trustworthy.  He continues to meet my needs, so that I shall not want.

It took me a long time to learn that He provides financially.  Through seasons of no work, or underpaying work.  Through college bills and times of unexpected expenses.  Through bad economy and the needs of four children.  God has always provided what we need, just when we need it.

I used to be pretty stingy.  I can’t print those things for church because I will run out of ink.  Or, I can’t afford the gas to travel there/help that person.  Or, I can’t sign up to bring food for the church fellowship because I don’t enough.  Why did it take me so long to learn that God would supply what I unselfishly gave to others?  And yet many times I still have to remind myself that everything I have isn’t really mine – it came from God.  He provided our van.  He gave us our computer and printer.  He fills our refrigerator.  He gave me clothes for my children.  If I share it with someone else, He will replenish it (and He always gives more in return than I gave away to begin with).

Recently I felt like I had a breakthrough.  When there was no work (and thus no paycheck), I didn’t immediately cry or stress out, panicking about financial obligations.  There was peace that God would supply in the right timing.  And He did.  He has already made up what was lacking.  The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.

Now He is teaching me that He is my Shepherd in other areas.  Not just financially, but emotionally, and spiritually too.  I have felt a little dry lately.  Probably because I have four kids and my “quiet” times with the Lord are not really very quiet, and they are nearly always very short.  But somehow…providentially…He provides just what I need.  Just a thought or a verse for the day.  A text that someone is praying for me.  An article online that speaks to what I am struggling with.  A compliment or funny moment from my kiddos.

I haven’t sat through an entire church service for a while.  There are two babies who never seem to want to nurse at “the right time.”  But the portions of the service that I do get have been filling me up.  A phrase from a song.  The Scripture reading.  Or just the third point of the sermon.  A teenager’s testimony.  The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.

When things are hard in Mommy Land and I feel like I just can’t handle it, He is gently reminding me that He is there with me.  His grace is sufficient.  I can handle it.  When I feel like crying, or yelling, or having a nervous breakdown, He reminds me that this is His Will for me.  He tells me He is holding my hand.  He shows me that my kids are “catching” things from my life – is what I am “throwing” worth catching?  I don’t have to lean on another person.  It’s not what my husband can say, or the hug from a friend that gets me through.  It’s my Shepherd.  Gently leading me.  Sometimes carrying me.  The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.

It’s one of those verses that we learn as a child.  One that many people probably know.  But it’s so profound – so hard to live out.  But so wonderful to experience.

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.

A Token for Good

I remember vividly a chapel message from Bible college.  It was on this verse,

“Shew me a token for good; that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed: because thou, LORD, hast holpen me, and comforted me.”   ~Psalm 86:17

The preacher, who I remember not-so-vividly, explained that sometimes it’s okay to ask the Lord for a token of good.  Something little or special that the Lord does for us, or a prayer that the Lord answers, to remind us that He cares for us.  To show us that He is involved in our lives.  To encourage us when things seem hopeless and overwhelming.

My friends and I used to pray for these tokens.  Or sometimes, usually at the lunch table, we would declare, “This is my token for good!”  I think that chocolate was a frequent token for good in the girl’s dorm!  But sometimes it was something more intangible – an encouraging word, a certain verse that spoke to us in our devotions, a favorite song in the chapel service.

Last week God gave me a token for good.  I was having a bit of a rough day.  A friend came over to go over some plan for an event at church.  When she left she slid a bag across the table and said, “These are for you guys.  Hope you like them.”  It was a dozen bagels. Brooklyn bagels.  And they were delicious.  A special treat we couldn’t have afforded, especially on that day.  But it was a little encouragement to me – a token of good – that God saw everything going on in my life, and He was still there, and He still cares.

{source}

It sounds silly – bagels are a token for good?  But at the right moment, in the right circumstances, God can use even bagels to be a token for good.  You can ask God for a specific token of good, or you can just ask Him to show Himself.  Then you get to be amazed at the token He chooses.

What is your token for good?

Careful Interpretation

Recently there have been several instances that underscored to me the importance of careful interpretation of God’s Word.  We really need do need to be careful.  It is dangerous to say, “This verse means _________ to me”, or “I think God meant ___________.”  In the end it’s not about what we think.  It’s about what God meant.  God’s standard is absolute.  He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  He is not going to be lenient on us in judgment just because we operated on what we thought He meant in His Word.

:: In our Revival meetings at church the evangelist taught on 2 Corinthians 12, and Paul’s thorn in the flesh.  He looked carefully at the verbs and the words, and made the case for the fact that Paul’s “thorn” could very well have been a person, rather than a circumstance {like physical infirmities}.  Why?  Because the word used for messenger is never used of an inanimate object in other scriptures or uses.

:: A friend posted about child discipline, and using a verse from Proverbs she said, “To me the rod is gentle discipline.”  Well – that’s nice, but what did God mean the rod to be?  What word did He use?  Is it open to interpretation or able to be applied in many ways?  Or is it a specific word, with a specific meaning and application?

This is where James 1:22-25  comes in:

“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.  23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:  24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.  25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”

The word “looketh” means this in the original Greek: to stoop to a thing in order to look at it 2) to look at with head bowed forward 3) to look into with the body bent 4) to stoop and look into.  It brings the idea of careful inspection – digging, detecting, searching – of God’s Word.  I always think of Sherlock Holmes – searching for the little clue to solve the mystery.  Attention to detail.  Context is very important in this search – we cannot just lift a verse out of it’s context and make it to mean what we want it to mean.

God’s Word is recorded for us in Hebrew for the Old Testament, and Greek for the New Testament.  These were specific languages with very great word pictures and meanings.  Some of that is lost in translation.  While each of us may not be Hebrew or Greek scholars, we definitely have a wide array of study helps and tools from those who know the ancient languages intricately.

Certainly some passages have multiple applications.  Certainly we can apply principles from stories or others’ lives {in the Bible} to ourselves.  Some Scriptures were written specifically to the Jewish people.  But we can draw an application for our own lives {in some cases}.  But let us be careful in our Bible study – not just reading, marking off a list, or scanning a summary.  Let us dig deep and understand what God meant in the passage.

John closes his Book of the Revelation with a strong warning to any who would add to or take away from the words that he had penned {specifically, the book of Revelation} under inspiration:

Revelation 22:18-19  For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:  19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

I think it illustrates that God takes His Word seriously.  Let us be careful to interpret God’s Word correctly!

Stablish.

This word seems to be turning up in my Bible reading a lot.  I assumed it meant the same thing as establish.  And basically it does.  I don’t know NT Greek like Ben does, but I can look up words in Bible Works and Strong’s Concordance.  It seems that there are two main words for establish or stablish, but they have basically the same meaning. 

:: To set fast, to literally turn resolutely in a certain direction, or figuratively to confirm.  To establish, steadfastly set, or strengthen.

2 Thessalonians 3:3  But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17   Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,  17 Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.

1 Thessalonians 3:12-13  And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you:  13 To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.

Romans 16:25  Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,

1 Peter 5:10  But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

James 5:8   Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

Who is it that does the “stablishing”?  The Lord.  Paul preached.  Paul labored.  Paul poured himself into the people.  Paul wrote epistles.  But it was the Lord that had to do the establishing.  It was the Lord who would make that faith hold fast, and be turned in the right direction.  It reminds me of 1 Corinthians 3:6:  I {Paul} have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

When I think of established, I think of all the signs on business and sometimes in a home that say “est. 1879” or whatever the date was.  There was a pharmacy in my neighborhood which proudly bore their establishment date on their sign.  They had been in business for over 50 years.  Several generations in the family.  But now they are gone – out of business.  What seemed firm and reliable was not. 

Only when God does the establishing is it sure.  I want Him to stablish my heart and my life in Him, so that when the storms come I am unmovable.  Like those big boulders in the Rocky Mountains. They have been there for a long time.  Countless people have climbed on them.  There have been snow storms, avalanches, and wind.  They have held fast.  Firm.  Unmovable.  That’s how I want to be.  Stablished on the Rock.

The Path of Life

{photo credit, copyright Andrea Hamilton}

I’m so glad that I don’t have to flounder through life, struggling to find my way.  I have His promise that He will shew me the path of life.  And as I draw near to God, He will draw near to me, making it even easier for me to hear His still, small voice as He gives me His directions for life.  And like Abraham’s servant I can say,
“I being in the way, the LORD led me…” {Genesis 24:27

In My Distress

It has been a rough week with my kiddos.  They have been sick, cranky, and tired and I have been running on empty because I’ve been up in the night with them.  Last night things came to a head.  I needed to find the nasal aspirator so I could put Nolan to bed.  I had misplaced.  I prayed.  I asked the Lord to help me.  But I still couldn’t find it.  I felt abandoned.  Why wouldn’t God answer such a little prayer for me?  Why wouldn’t He just help me out so I could put the kids to bed and rest myself?  I started to doubt and to blame God.  Silly, right?  Over a nasal aspirator? 

But I think God was just brining me to the end of myself.  And a few minutes after Nolan was soundly sleeping, I found that silly little object – in the trash can.  Today I read Psalm 18 in my devotions.  And I was struck by verse 6, “In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.” 

In times of distress we can always call upon the Lord.  And if we are in a right relationship with Him, then we can have confidence that He WILL hear us.  And when we march boldly into His throne room with our request, our distress, our need for assistance, we can find mercy, and grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

I’m so glad that I don’t have to solve the problem myself.  I don’t have to stress out finding the answers.  I don’t have to doubt my God and lose faith.  I just have to call, and He will answer.  The rest of Psalm 18 showed me these things about my God…

• He can answer in powerful ways (v.7-16).  He definitely makes His presence known!
• He can deliver me (v.17-19)
• He can reward me for obedience (v.20-24)
• He can save (v.27)
• He can light the darkness (v.28).  Or…He can give me treasures in the darkness (see Isaiah 45:3).  But either way I don’t have to fear when things seem dark.
• He can help me to do what seems impossible (v.29, 34, 37)
• He can strengthen me (v.32)
• He can help me to walk the path He has set before me (v.33, 36).  Just like a mountain goat, He can make my feet narrow enough for the path, or He can widen the way before me so that I can walk in His way.
• He can sustain me, even when I feel weary to the bone (v.30-31, 35)
• He can give the victory (v.38-45)

If my God can do all of these things, then why do I not call unto Him in my distress, so that He will do these things for me?

Hard Lessons to Learn

I wanted to write this post for my Thankful Thursday post last week (on my personal blog), but I didn’t get it done.  I don’t think I was ready to be able to express everything I’ve been thinking about lately.  Now that I’ve had a few more days to think about them, maybe I can adequately share what I’ve been learning.

You probably know that I like cloth diapers.  And…I had a retail store called Doable Diapers.  But it hasn’t been making money, and we came to a point last month where we wondered if we should keep it open.  I had hoped it would grow and be profitable enough so that Ben would not have to work a full time job when we are church planting.  I put out my fleece prayer request, and God chose not to answer it.  I asked my family members and close friends to pray with me about wisdom for the right decision.  Last Tuesday, we decided to close Doable Diapers. 

I feel like things are being stripped away from me one by one.  I know God is working on me and teaching me, and that these are good lessons to learn.  Good to learn now, before we are in full-time ministry.  But they are hard lessons too.  They hurt my pride and self-sufficiency.  They make me weak, and that is when I can fully experience the strength and power of God.

I thought we were doing pretty good on this parenting thing.  Our kids seemed pretty well behaved.  Then Elaine burst into the “terrible twos” stage with a vengeance.  She challenges me on everything, and throws these horrible fits, mostly in public.  Any pride I had in my parenting ability is being stripped away.  Though I know it intellectually, I am learning that I can only raise these children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord if it is the Lord who is giving me wisdom and strength to do so.

I thought I was a pretty good Christian.  Doing the right things, saying the right things, living the right way.  Then I come face to face with reality that my prayer life is struggling, and my relationship with the Lord needs some repair.  It’s humbling to admit you haven’t been completely genuine.  But now I feel like my cup is overflowing every time I open my Bible, and I know this has been a good lesson to learn…again.

I thought I would help supplement the family income and provide a way for my husband to spend more time in ministry and less time at work.  Then my business failed.  And as I look back over the months of sporadic work and unemployment, I realize that it is God who provided our needs and upheld us…not Andrea.  And now with no Doable Diapers, it is God who will continue to be the provider for us now, and in church-planting ministry.

I thought I had a good relationship with everyone.  Then things blew up with my neighbor.  And I had to admit some areas where I had been just as wrong as inconsiderate as perhaps she had.  And that was humbling.  And I didn’t want to do it, but I realized that it is necessary.

One by one God is removing my props.  Everything that was Andrea.  Everything that I thought was good.  But He is replacing them with something so much better.  He is filling me with more of Himself, and that satisfies so much more than anything I could come up with. 

This has been a hard month.  Several really hard days.  Things seemed dark.  But He is giving me the treasures of darkness.

“And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places,
that thou mayest know that I, the LORD,
which call thee by thy name,
am the God of Israel.”
Isaiah 45:3 

They Had Been With Jesus

From Acts 4

Peter and John preaching:

vs. 12  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. 

The result among the people:

vs. 13-14  Now when they [the people] saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.   And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.

The result among the magistrates [the “enemies”]:

vs.15-16  But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves,  16 Saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it.

God can do great things through those who will take time to be with Jesus, and then boldly proclaim His Word and His message to the people.

Warning: Don’t Fall Back

When I was in college one of my dormmates had this quote taped to her top dresser drawer.  It said, “Keep on the ascending plane.”  There is no stagnancy or standing still in the Christian life.  We are either ascending, achieving victory through Christ, or we are back sliding. 

At the end of the book of Joshua, the aged man of God issues a warning to the people of Israel.  He was concerned that since they had achieved a measure of victory (though the job of possessing the land was far from completed), they would forget the LORD.  Joshua didn’t want Israel to turn their back on the God who had given them this victory and this land.  He didn’t want them to look aside at the heathen nations and start to worship false gods.

I think he was very concerned about the possibility of Israel backsliding, because he issued several warnings against it in the last two chapters of the book of Joshua.  And he was justified in his concern, because the book of Judges illustrates the cycle of victory and defeat and idolatry that Israel experienced.

:: 23:3  And ye have seen all that the LORD your God hath done unto all these nations because of you; for the LORD your God is he that hath fought for you.

::  23:5-8  And the LORD your God, he shall expel them from before you, and drive them from out of your sight; and ye shall possess their land, as the LORD your God hath promised unto you.  6 Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left; Joshua. 7 That ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them:  8 But cleave unto the LORD your God, as ye have done unto this day.

::  23:11-13  Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God. 12 Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you:  13 Know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you.

:: 24:14-15  Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.  15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

:: 24:19-20  And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.  20 If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good.

:: 24:23-24  Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the LORD God of Israel.  24 And the people said unto Joshua, The LORD our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey.

“Keep on the ascending plane”

Despising the Manna

Pastor Bickel preached from Deuteronomy 8 on Sunday.  He was talking about the way in which God leads us, and the provision with which He feeds us.  Verses2-3 say,

Deuteronomy 8:2-3  And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.  3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.

I have been thinking about the Children of Israel and their Manna.  Their “what is it” was God’s heavenly provision for their need at that time.  It lasted until He gave them a new provision – the Promised Land…victorious Christian living.

What did they do with the Manna?  They were thankful for a while.  Then they complained and wanted meat.  God gave them their desire but sent leanness to their soul (Ps. 106:15).  The meat was okay…for a while.  Then they remembered the leeks and the onions and the fish in Egypt.  God’s provision wasn’t good enough anymore.

I think I have been guilty of the same attitude.  God has provided for us every step of the way since we moved to NYC in June 2010.  We never had enough money to pay all of the bills, but they all got paid, and on time.  God always sent His Manna from unexpected sources, and right when we needed it.  It was there when the sun came up.

But I think I’ve been complaining.  I’ve been viewing God’s Manna as not enough…anymore.  I have said to Ben several times that I am not asking for an extravagant lifestyle.  I just want to be able to pay the bills and afford food (and maybe even dining out once in a while).  It never occurred to me that maybe God didn’t want to provide a lifestyle where we could always afford the bills.  The food.  The entertainment when we wanted.  Maybe He wanted us to run short every month.  It taught us to depend on Him.

Recently we have mentioned our salary in Virginia Beach upon several occasions.  I think we have been remembering the leeks and onions, and it has caused us to despise the Manna – God’s provision for right now.

I read Jeremiah 7-8 this morning.  God is pronouncing judgment on His wayward people.  They were a people that took what God had given and used it to serve other gods.  Then they came to stand before God and expected Him to bless what they were wickedly doing in His Holy House.  God was disgusted with their sin. With their hypocrisy (7:9-11).  With their inability to blush as their rank sin (8:12).  He was so outraged that He didn’t even want anyone to pray for His people, because He would turn a deaf ear to those prayers (7:16).  They had provoked Him to anger and brought this harm upon themselves (7:19).  All He wanted was obedience (7:23).

I don’t want to be like Israel.  I want to be thankful for the Manna today.  I want to bask in the awesomeness of God’s provision for me.  Not always in abundance, but always when I need it.  I have questioned before Psalm 36:7-9 saying “Where is my fatness and abundance?  Why doesn’t God give that to me?”  But He has given it.  Every time He pours out a blessing from His heavenly store it is good, and fat, and in abundance, because it came from Him.  He knows my needs and He sees beyond my limited vision to know what is best for me.

Despise not the Manna of today.

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”
Jeremiah 29:11

The Heart of Jeremiah

Jeremiah 4

The Lord gave the command to Judah to break up their fallow ground, to circumcise their hearts to the Lord, and to return to the Lord.  Yet they didn’t listen, and so the Lord sent judgment.

:: V.10 Jeremiah questioned the Lord about the deceitfulness of promising peace, and then sending the sword against His people.  While the Lord has given us promises in His Word, I still have a free will.  If I choose to go my own way, the promises do not apply and the Lord is “forced” by my actions to send chastisement in order to bring me back in line.

:: V.19 Jeremiah was deeply affected by the news of what would happen to His countrymen.  He couldn’t hold his peace because he saw the war and heard the warning, and he wanted everyone to hear it.  I know the judgment that is coming on the wicked.  Am I sounding the warning and sharing the way of salvation?

:: V. 22 – how sad, and may it not be said of me: “My people…have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.”