Endure and Be on the Lord's Side; 2 Chorn. 13-15

May the mumbling commence!

Before I start, one week at camp turned into two.  I have been blessed at camp with fifth and sixth graders two weeks ago and seventh and eighth graders this past week.  Now, it is time to catch up my mumbling blog...

What does it mean to have the Lord on your side?  What does it mean to wholly devote yourself to seeking the Lord?  Let’s look briefly at what the Chronicler says about these questions in 2 Chronicles 13-15.  We will learn that these two questions are intimately related.

Note the juxtaposition of the kingdom of Israel and Judah from 2 Chronicles 13:4-12.

Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim, in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, "Jeroboam and all Israel, listen to me!  Don't you know that the Lord, the God of Israel, has given the kingship of Israel to David and his descendants forever by a covenant of salt?  Yet Jeroboam son of Nebat, an official of Solomon son of David, rebelled against his master.  Some worthless scoundrels gathered around him and opposed Rehoboam son of Solomon when he was young and indecisive and not strong enough to resist them. 

And now you plan to resist the kingdom of the Lord, which is in the hands of David's descendants. You are indeed a vast army and have with you the golden calves that Jeroboam made to be your gods.  But didn't you drive out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and make priests of your own as the peoples of other lands do? Whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams may become a priest of what are not gods. 

As for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken him. The priests who serve the Lord are sons of Aaron, and the Levites assist them.  Every morning and evening they present burnt offerings and fragrant incense to the Lord. They set out the bread on the ceremonially clean table and light the lamps on the gold lampstand every evening. We are observing the requirements of the Lord our God. But you have forsaken him.  God is with us; he is our leader. His priests with their trumpets will sound the battle cry against you. Men of Israel, do not fight against the Lord, the God of your fathers, for you will not succeed."

Israel had their golden calf idols.  In these idols, they rejected the Lord.  They also rejected the Lord’s anointed priests – the sons of Aaron and the Levites.  Judah, on the other hand, welcomed the sons of Aaron and the Levites.  These men of God knew how to seek the Lord, and they led all Judah in the prescribed ways.  If Israel fought these ways, they fought the Lord.  And Judah had a covenant of salt through the promise given by the Lord to David.  A covenant of salt?  What is the significance of salt?  I will use this week at camp to help uncover the significance of salt.

Let’s turn our attention to another passage – 2 Chronicles 15:1-7.  Read it below:

The Spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Oded.  He went out to meet Asa and said to him, "Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.  For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach and without the law.  But in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found by them.  In those days it was not safe to travel about, for all the inhabitants of the lands were in great turmoil.  One nation was being crushed by another and one city by another, because God was troubling them with every kind of distress.  But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded."  

“The Lord is with you when you are with him.  If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.”  Is the Lord on our side?  That is NOT the question.  Better: Are we on the Lord’s side?  To be on the Lord’s side will take endurance.  It will take transformative change.  When these things become apparent to others, the Lord will draw others to you.  Read from 2 Chronicles 15:8-9 below –

When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of Oded the prophet, he took courage. He removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the towns he had captured in the hills of Ephraim. He repaired the altar of the Lord that was in front of the portico of the Lord's temple.  Then he assembled all Judah and Benjamin and the people from Ephraim, Manasseh and Simeon who had settled among them, for large numbers had come over to him from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.

Remove the idols from your life.  Repair the altar of the Lord.  These two steps are related.  Leave the ways of the world behind, and pick up the way of the Lord.  Do these things, and you will be lasted for salvation. 

Enough mumbling for today… 

Peace Out

To Be Godly, Holy, Set Apart; 1 Kings 14 & 2 Chron. 12

May the mumbling commence!

I want to take a few words to let you know at the outset that I will be taking a vacation from technology for the next days.  I will be going to be a camp counselor and Bible Study leader at Camp Mount Hermon Junior Camp with a couple dozen or so fifth and sixth-graders.  I will still be doing my daily devotion and mumblings, but I will not be able to catch up the postings until this coming Saturday or Sunday (probably Sunday).  I appreciate your prayers as I seek to be leading the little ones to faith in Christ Jesus!

Anyways, today’s readings from 1 Kings 14 and 2 Chronicles 11 show that Israel was not alone in falling down in the Lord’s eyes.  The 1 Kings’ account is more descriptive about how Judah abandoned the Lord than the 2 Chronicles account.  It shows the bias for a favorable view of Judah in the Chronicler’s estimation.  The Chronicler only briefly mentions that Judah had abandoned the Lord and had been unfaithful to the Lord.  Read the descriptions of Judah misbehavior from 1 Kings 14:22-24 –

Judah did evil in the eyes of the Lord. By the sins they committed they stirred up his jealous anger more than their fathers had done.  They also set up for themselves high places, sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree.  There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.

Talk about being caught red-handed!  They were worse than their fathers were.  I guess that’s the drift that a good brother in the Lord of mine, Paul Hoffman, talks about.  Just as Israel, they had their high places and Asherah poles.  These must have been leftover practices of the peoples that God had driven out before his chosen people.  There were even male shrine prostitutes!  This dirty laundry list makes the Chronicler’s mention of wrongdoing pale in comparison.

But there is more to show the Chronicler’s bias!  The Chronicler not only mentions in passing the failure of Judah to follow the Lord, the Chronicler also dug for the silver lining in the cloud.  As Shishak was bearing down on Jerusalem, the Chronicler inserted a visit from the prophet Shemaiah that is absent from the 1 Kings witness.  Read about it below:

Then the prophet Shemaiah came to Rehoboam and to the leaders of Judah who had assembled in Jerusalem for fear of Shishak, and he said to them, "This is what the Lord says, 'You have abandoned me; therefore, I now abandon you to Shishak.'" 

The leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, "The Lord is just." 

When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, this word of the Lord came to Shemaiah: "Since they have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them but will soon give them deliverance. My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak.  They will, however, become subject to him, so that they may learn the difference between serving me and serving the kings of other lands." 

When Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem, he carried off the treasures of the temple of the Lord and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including the gold shields Solomon had made.  So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace.  Whenever the king went to the Lord's temple, the guards went with him, bearing the shields, and afterward they returned them to the guardroom. 

Because Rehoboam humbled himself, the Lord's anger turned from him, and he was not totally destroyed. Indeed, there was some good in Judah. (2 Chron. 12:5-12)   

This just goes to show us a couple of things.  One: The victors write the histories; thus, the histories have the victor’s biases.  Two: Our concept of good is never good enough to please God.  We are called to be more than good; we are called to be godly!  We are called to be holy, set apart.

I give thanks this day for the grace and mercy of the Lord upon this pile of filthy rags that I would call a good life!

Enough mumbling for today…

Peace Out

God Speaks - Who's Listening? 1 Kings 12-13

May the mumbling commence!

We spent over a week in Proverbs, and one of the things that I remember clearly is the wisdom of listening to and accepting advice.  It seems that this wisdom is elusive not just for you and me but also for the kings of Israel and Judah.  Yes the kingdom of Israel splits into two pieces in 1 Kings 12-13.  Read about how Solomon’s son Rehoboam responded to advice that he sought.

So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him:  "Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you." 

Rehoboam answered, "Go away for three days and then come back to me." So the people went away. 

Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. "How would you advise me to answer these people?" he asked. 

They replied, "If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants." 

But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him.  He asked them, "What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, 'Lighten the yoke your father put on us'?" 

The young men who had grown up with him replied, "Tell these people who have said to you, 'Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter'-- tell them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's waist.  My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.'" 

Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, "Come back to me in three days."  The king answered the people harshly. Rejecting the advice given him by the elders, he followed the advice of the young men and said, "My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions."  So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from the Lord, to fulfill the word the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite. (1 Kings 12:3-15)

Going to the wise counselors of your father and listening to them are two different things.  But the outcome was what the Lord had ordained.  In fact, when Rehoboam gathered forces to fight Jeroboam, the Lord spoke through a prophet to prevent the brothers of Israel from fighting one another.  This split was of the Lord.  Read about it below:

When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mustered the whole house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin – a hundred and eighty thousand fighting men – to make war against the house of Israel and to regain the kingdom for Rehoboam, son of Solomon. 

But this word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God:  "Say to Rehoboam, son of Solomon, king of Judah, to the whole house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people,  'This is what the Lord says: Do not go up to fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Go home, every one of you, for this is my doing.'" So they obeyed the word of the Lord and went home again, as the Lord had ordered. (1 Kings 12:21-24)

At least the people listened!  And it wasn’t only Rehoboam who had trouble listening to the Lord.  Jeroboam also fell in listening to the Lord.  He feared that the people would leave him to return to Rehoboam, because they were to go to Jerusalem for worship.  Jeroboam also asked for advice in what to do.  We do not know who he asked.  We do not know what the advice was.  We only know what he did, and by his actions we can tell that he didn’t consult the Lord:

 

If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam." 

After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt."  One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan.  And this thing became a sin; the people went even as far as Dan to worship the one there.

Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites. (1 Kings 12:27-31)

Idols and priests for the high places – priests not from the tribe of Levi, Oh my!  How did Jeroboam convince himself that God would condone these things?  In fact, when God did speak through a prophet (who was ironically from Judah), Jeroboam wanted him seized!  Read about it below:

By the word of the Lord a man of God came from Judah to Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make an offering.  He cried out against the altar by the word of the Lord: "O altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: 'A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who now make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.'"  That same day the man of God gave a sign: "This is the sign the Lord has declared: The altar will be split apart and the ashes on it will be poured out."   (1 Kings 13:1-3)

God is speaking.  Who is listening? 

Enough mumbling for now… 

Peace Out

Who Can Love You as Good as the Great I Am? Eccl 11-12; Ps 73

May the mumbling commence!

“Who do you run to when it all comes down?  Who’s gonna pick you up from the ground?  Who’s gonna wipe away the tears you cry?”  These are some questions from a popular Heart song.  The last couple of chapters of Ecclesiastes and Psalm 73 help to answer these questions.

The ways of God are difficult (perhaps impossible) to know, and they are hard to follow logically or emotionally.  Read a verse from Ecclesiastes 11:

As you do not know the path of the wind,

or how the body is formed in a mother's womb,

so you cannot understand the work of God,

the Maker of all things. (Verse 5)

This verse reminds me of the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus.  What does it mean to know where the wind will blow?  What does it mean to be born anew to be children of the wind, children of the Spirit of God?  It may mean chasing after God’s own heart.  Can we ever predict or understand what the Spirit will ask of us?  No!  That is the joy, wonder and adventure of faith.  I do not know where God will lead me, but I do know that I can fully trust in God to have my eternal best interests in mind.  That is my faith in a nutshell.

Sometimes the going will get troublesome.  I know who I will run to.  I know who will pick my pathetic body up from the ground.  I know who will wipe away the tears I cry.  I want to burst into another song with the psalmist:

Whom have I in heaven but you?

And earth has nothing I desire besides you. 

My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart

and my portion forever. (Ps. 73:25-26)

God will await me with open arms when I run to him – no matter how long and how far I have wandered from Him.  God will pick my weary body from the ground – like the anonymous author of “Footprints in the Sand” tells us: in the worst parts of our lives is when God carries us.  God will wipe away the tears I cry.  There will be no more tears in heaven.

There is no one who can love me as good as God.

Read the conclusion to Ecclesiastes:

Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body. 

Now all has been heard;

here is the conclusion of the matter:

Fear God and keep his commandments,

for this is the whole duty of man. 

For God will bring every deed into judgment,

including every hidden thing,

whether it is good or evil.  (12:12b-14)

There are countless books out there.  Sometimes, it seems a large portion of those books have made it onto my bookshelves (especially when it comes time to move).  But there is one set of books that I keep coming back to – the canonized books of the Holy Bible.  May God continue to whisper in my ear through Scripture, prayer, fasting, and living in a holy community of God’s children.  May I strive this day to be born anew of the Spirit.  Being born anew is a daily struggle.

Enough mumbling for today…

Peace Out 

From the Dull Axe; Eccl. 7-10

May the mumbling commence!

Look into the future.  What do you see?  Be careful!  Humanity’s future vision is extremely limited.  It’s not good to be a betting man (or woman).  Hindsight is twenty-twenty, but foresight is legally blind.  Read some about this subject of the future from Ecclesiastes 7-10:

Consider what God has done:

            Who can straighten

                        what he has made crooked?

            When times are good, be happy;

                        but when times are bad, consider:

            God has made the one

                        as well as the other.

            Therefore, a man cannot discover

                        anything about his future. (7:13-14)

Oh, great!  I can be happy when times are good; but, when times are bad, I cannot be unhappy and complain.  This thought grates against the wisdom of the US society.  Note this wisdom: “If you do not vote, then you should not complain.”  Complaining is one of our God-given rights!  Not so fast!  Why should we complain?  We cannot discover the future.  Trust in God not our own foresight.  God has our eternal wellbeing in His heart.  Read another passage:

            Since no man knows the future,

                        who can tell him what is to come?

            No man has power over the wind to contain it;

                        so no one has power over the day of his death. (8:7-8a)

Indeed, we have no control over the power of the wind.  Don’t believe me?  Ask those who were at the mercy of a tornado or hurricane, and they will tell you.  Still don’t believe me?  I can tell you how much life will change when you surrender yourself to the call of God’s Spirit.  Ministry in the name of Christ has carried me to places I would have never anticipated… like Americus, Georgia and Hutchinson, Kansas.

If life is so uncertain, then we must carefully train.  Right?  That depends on who our personal trainer is.  Read another passage below:

I have seen something else under the sun:

            The race is not to the swift

                        or the battle to the strong,

            nor does food come to the wise

                        or wealth to the brilliant

                        or favor to the learned

            but time and chance happen to them all. (9:11)

Go ahead:  Try and predict something as trivial as who will win a sporting contest.  All the research and calculations will not guarantee victory.  Lady Luck is at the mercy of chance as well.

So, who do I want as my personal trainer?  My answer is Jesus Christ because there is no one stronger and more skilled than him.  Read one of my favorite verses from Ecclesiastes:

            If the axe is dull

                        and its edge unsharpened,

            more strength is needed

                        but skill will bring success.  (10:10)

                                                                 

This verse is a favorite of mine because I see myself as the axe.  Fortunately, I am in the hands of the strongest and most skilled craftsman – in fact, I am in the hands of my Great Creator.  No one knows better how to use me successfully than my Creator.  Praise the Lord!  Use me, O God.

Enough mumbling for today…

Peace Out

The Three-Fold Cord; Eccl. 3-6

May the mumbling commence!

Today’s reading takes me to the Scripture passage that my wife and I used for our wedding.  Read it below:

            Two are better than one,

                        because they have a good return for their work:

            If one falls down,

                        his friend can help him up.

            But pity the man who falls

                        and has no one to help him up!

            Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.

                        But how can one keep warm alone?

            Though one may be overpowered,

                        two can defend themselves.

            A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.  (Eccl. 4:9-12)

It was not the intent of my wife and I that you would think that to be complete you need to be married.  Not so!  One cannot be complete without God.  For this reason, we emphasized the last sentence of the passage.  I am a strand, Anita (my wife) is a strand, and the Lord is the third strand.  The true benefit of being complete does not come from marriage to any human.  To be truly complete, one must marry themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ.  If this part is missing, then you will quickly find that marriage will not solve any of your problems – in fact, marriage will only add another set of new problems to the mix.  Without Jesus, our lives will be hollow, incomplete.  Read from Ecclesiastes 3:9-14 –

What does the worker gain from his toil?  I have seen the burden God has laid on men.  He has made everything beautiful in its time.  He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from the beginning to the end.  I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live.  That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil – this is the gift of God.  I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him. 

So, let us bind ourselves to the Lord rather than money or wealth or possessions.  We can take none of these things with us when we die.  There is nothing better for us to do than be content and be joyful.  There is nothing better to do than do good while we live.  In these ways, we will be lead into true reverence for our Great Creator.  Let us bind ourselves to Christ.  Nothing and no one else will complete us!

In honor of Ecclesiastes 6:11 –

            The more the words,

                        the less the meaning,

                        and how does that profit anyone?

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

Meaningless or Meaningful? Eccl. 1-2

May the mumbling commence!

And now for something completely different…  Today, we leave behind the teachings of Proverbs to begin our journey into the book of Ecclesiastes.  Talk about a new view point!  While Proverbs seems to have the eternal optimism of youth, Ecclesiastes has the eternal jaded, pessimistic view of the aged.  This “the cup is half empty” viewpoint is apparent even in the first couple of chapters of Ecclesiastes.  The recurring theme is: “everything is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.”  Talk about fatalistic!  Read some passages from the first two chapters:

I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.  I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heaven.  What a heavy burden God has laid on men!  I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. (1:12-14)

            I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;

                        I refused my heart no pleasure.

            My heart took delight in all my work,

                        and this was the reward for all my labor.

            Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done

                        and what I had toiled to achieve,

            everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;

                        nothing was new under the sun.  (2:10-11)

            The wise man has eyes in his head,

                        while the fool walks in darkness;

            but I came to realize

                        that the same fate overtakes them both.  (2:14)

            “The fate of the fool will overtake me also.

                        What then do I gain by being wise?”

            Then I thought in my heart,

                        “This too is meaningless.”

            For the wise man, like the fool, will not be long remembered;

                        in days to come both will be forgotten.

            Like the fool, the wise man too must die! (2:15b-16)

Talk about having the blues!  The wise may accumulate wealth and honor, but even the wise cannot take it with them.  It may go to a fool.  Where is the thought of the inheritance of the children of a wise man?  Did Solomon anticipate the foolishness of the son who would take the throne after his time was over?  It is possible.  Did Solomon fear that his sins would be strengthened in his sons?  It is likely. 

So, in the grand scheme of things, what can a man really accomplish?  Indeed, with this point of view, everything does seem meaningless.  Try and get pleasure from your life’s work.  To do so is to receive the greatest gift God has to offer toiling humanity.

I give thanks for the work of God through Jesus Christ.  Though we cannot accomplish anything of worth on our own, we can accept the even greater gift of the Holy Spirit.  With the Holy Spirit, the meaningless becomes meaningful.  God is the great Overcomer.  All our hope lies in God.  And this hope will never die.

Being a pawn for God has more meaning than all human occupations combined.  Work through us we pray…

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out