No gods

The Lord appeared to Solomon a second time. . . . And the Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you have made before me. I have consecrated this house that you have built, by putting my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. And as for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules, then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. And this house will become a heap of ruins. Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore the Lord has brought all this disaster on them.’ ” (1 Kings 9:2–9)

Although keeping the Law never was not nor could be the means of salvation, obeying God always is the means of blessing. This is because God's way is good for us. Just one example is the results of serving Him rather than other gods. He is Almighty and nothing is impossible for Him. As for other gods, what are they? Carved images? Imaginary creatures? Stone carvings? Forces of weather and nature controlled by what? (Or Who?) Mere humans? Me, myself, and I?

Other gods boil down to no gods, just human invention and imagination? The NT says as much, yet also attributes the idea of gods to demon forces and Satan. Jesus defines him, and other passages speak of demonic powers whose task is to discredit the truth He brings:

Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” (Matthew 16:23)
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. (Matthew 25:41)
You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44)
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. (John 10:10)

Just writing these words makes me shiver. Satan whispering suggestions to rule my own life gives me more reasons to avoid anything that is not from my Lord and Savior. 

Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. (1 Corinthians 8:4–8)
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? You observe days and months and seasons and years! I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain. (Galatians 4:8–11)

From Scripture and experience, the power of obedience is clear, as is the power of the enemy who disguises himself as an angel of light and uses subtle lies in his attempts  to destroy me.

Jesus, because of You, I cannot be destroyed, but my witness to the world and ability to glorify You can be messed up by disobedience. Today You again ask me to do several things I’d rather not do. I’m thankful for the encouragement to say yes, and to rely on You for all that I need to obey.

Complaining?

Attitudes are often evaluated by whether a person considers a glass half-full or half-empty. Yesterday I heard a radio sermon that judged current Christians by all our failures. It was a call for a revival and likely needed, yet I would rather the speaker had focused on successes.

For instance, Samaritan’s Purse is in place at world disasters to bring help and hope long before any other aid arrives. A local mission is feeding lunch to nearly a thousand students in over a dozen schools every day of the school year. Hundreds are being reached with the Gospel in the Middle East by Christians risking their lives to faithfully share Christ. A woman in a US state has a prayer room in her store where customers can pray, leave requests, and take the requests of others home to pray for them. Our church has brunch every Sunday and some of the several hundred who are fed do not attend the service. They come in at the end so they can eat and no one tells them to leave.

The song says, “Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what the Lord has done.” Christians are blessed with new hearts, new life, a desire to live for Christ. As we follow His teaching and love His Word, He blesses and guides us into new and challenging territory. Consider how cooperation with Him brings blessing:

Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him; the Lord protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land; you do not give him up to the will of his enemies. The Lord sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health. (Psalm 41:1–3)

Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments! His offspring will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever. (Psalm 112:1–3)

Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways! You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. (Psalm 128:1–4)

These blessings are linked to obedience. Take care of the poor, delight in His commands with an awe that produces obedience, and He takes care of us in illness and blesses our families! No wonder the psalmist wrote, “O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!” (Psalm 84:12)

These OT material blessings are for this life yet God does not stop there. He says much more in the NT with these words: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 1:3)

The link between obedience and blessing is stronger in the NT also. When someone blessed another person, Jesus said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” (Luke 11:28)

Other NT verses repeat this verse, a favorite from the Psalms: “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” (Psalm 1:1–2) Here are a few more:

But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. (James 1:25)

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. (Revelation 1:3)

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. (James 1:12)

If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. (1 Peter 4:14)

PRAY: Lord, You know that I woke today with a negative attitude. You gave me songs that lifted my spirits, and now these reminders of how much I am blessed. Who can remain crabby and praise God at the same time! In You is fullness of joy. That joy alone is a great blessing as it swallows up my petty complaints. You so often save me from myself. I am grateful.

PONDER: Count my many blessings, name them one by one . . . !

 

 

God and this messy world . . .

 

 

READ Isaiah 45–48

A few friends and relatives like to discuss politics, mostly in frustration with current political leaders that seem totally out of control. While it seems obvious to me that all we can do about it is pray, and vote and perhaps write letters, I also wonder why God allows certain people to be in power. The Bible does say, “He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.” (Daniel 2:21) It seems unlike God to allow evil rulers.

However, Isaiah gives an example of the Lord’s power concerning what He can do with such people. This passage refers to Cyrus, the king of Persia to whom the Lord says:

“I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name. For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me. I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things . . . . I have stirred him up in righteousness, and I will make all his ways level; he shall build my city and set my exiles free, not for price or reward,” says the Lord of hosts. (Isaiah 45:3–7; 13)

These verses speak of God’s sovereignty. He forms light and darkness, but also well-being and calamity which is a surprise to most of us. In our minds, God should only do things that make us comfortable, but the Bible reveals that we really don’t know much about Him. In this case, He was going to use Cyrus to free His people from bondage in Babylon.

This prophet also wrote: “Truly, you are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, the Savior. All of them are put to shame and confounded; the makers of idols go in confusion together. But Israel is saved by the Lord with everlasting salvation; you shall not be put to shame or confounded to all eternity.” (Isaiah 45:15–17)

This reminds me of Deuteronomy 29:29 which says, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” He lets His people in on some of what He is doing, but not all of it — for instance, our current government’s spending that has put our country into deep debt is a mystery to most of us.

Yet God says this to these leaders and to His people, “Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.” (Isaiah 46:8–10) Whatever He is doing, He will do it.

For His people, He says two things: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go. Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea; your offspring would have been like the sand, and your descendants like its grains; their name would never be cut off or destroyed from before me.” (Isaiah 48:17–19) In other words, obey and experience peace and the blessings of being obedient.

The second thing is in verse 22: “There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.” If I do not obey the Lord, I can expect to be upset and not at rest with all the calamities that fill this world. But if I do what He tells me, I will experience peace, even in the calamities, for He is able to put that in my heart —  perhaps even revealing to me some of the reasons for His plans. If not, no matter. I can trust Him to deal with this crazy world according to His wisdom and in line with His powerful promises!