What we learned from the Jews - Joseph Loconte

                                        What We Learned from the Jews


Every culture, in one way or anther, reaches out for God.
  
This has been true throughout human history.

The Jews in Jesus' day were very much like, but also very different from, the other cultures around them.

Virtually every other society viewed nature as divine.  The list of gods and goddesses, representing every aspect of the physical world, was endless.

No matter where we look -- among the Babylonians, Egyptians, Persians, Greeks or Romans -- we find people worshiping nature as the living and breathing embodiment of divinity.

Not the Jews.  The opening pages of Genesis assert the non-divinity of the cosmos: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth..."  (Genesis 1:1).

The heavens and the earth are not eternal. They came into existence, we are told, from the hand of a Being outside of them, a Creator utterly distinct from His creation.

While other religions assumed the presence of deities all about them, the religion of the Jews began in a radically different place.

Jewish philosopher Leon Kass says the opening lines of Scripture set Judaism at odds with the rest of the known world: "This perfectly natural human tendency [nature worship] the Bible seeks to oppose, and right from the first verse, by denying that the heavens -- or any other beings -- are worthy of human reverence."

In another sense, though, the Jews are like people in other societies. They, too, are God-seekers.

More importantly, they believed firmly that they had discovered the one true God and that they were known and favored by Him among all the peoples of the earth.

They championed the idea that God is not only personal, but purposeful, a Supreme Being with a supremely moral agenda for mankind.

Scholar Paul Johnson calls the introduction of this idea "one of the great turning points in history, perhaps the greatest of all."

   -- From The Searchers, by Joseph Loconte


Most ancient religions viewed history in a circular pattern - cycles of planting and harvest, birth and death, in never-ending circles like a spinning stationery bicycle wheel.

History was not "going" anywhere.

The Jews, however, viewed history as a straight line, a journey along a road, with a definite destination -- starting someplace and ending someplace.

History was going somewhere......

This road was revealed to them in the Old Testament Scriptures.

Why do we hate God? Jonathan Edwards

Jonathan Edwards preached a sermon once on the four things that men hate about God. He titled his sermon Man Naturally God's Enemy.

At the beginning of the sermon Edwards said: "There are four things about God that make men hate him."

I wondered what his list of four things were. I guessed the first three:

(1) The first thing man hates about God is His Holiness.

     Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate
       wrong. Habakkuk 1:13

God's holiness terrifies man.  Contemplating it increases our own sense of sin. We try to minimize God's holiness by minimizing Him -- and, finally, by denying His existence all together -- then we don't have to deal with our own sin issue. 

Because if there is no God -- no measure of righteousness in the universe -- then we can't consider ourselves sinners! We have not violated any standard of righteousness!

But, sadly, if our lives are not accountable, then our lives don't count.

(2) The second thing man hates about God is His Omniscience.

If He knows everything, then we can't hide anything from Him.

     Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight.
       Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes
       of Him to whom we must give account.  Hebrews 4:13

(3) The third thing man hates about God is His Sovereignty.

God has absolute authority and rule over all His creation. In order to be sovereign, He must be all-knowing, all-powerful and absolutely free. If He were limited in any of these areas His sovereignty would not be absolute.

If God is sovereign, then I am not. There cannot be
two equal absolute sovereigns. I am not the ruler of my life, much less the world around me. I am not the
"Captain of my fate."

God is the center of everything - not man and not me!

What I do does not change anything!

And man really hates this!

     Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory  
     and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and
     earth is yours.

     Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over
     all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all
     things.  1 Chronicles 29:11-12

So what's the fourth thing man hates about God?

(4) The fourth thing man hates about God is His Immutability! That is, He never changes - never has and never will. He does not mutate.....

So why is that so offensive to man?

Edwards explains, "Man faces this dilemma: Not only does man know and know clearly that God is holy and omniscient and sovereign, but he knows that God will always be holy; He will always be omniscient; He will always be sovereign.

"And there is nothing we can do to make Him less holy, less omniscient, or less sovereign.

"These attributes are not open to negotiation. We cannot find God involved in a process of change whereby He can enter into certain mutations to compromise with us."

     I, the LORD, do not change. Malachi 3:6

     Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.
          Hebrews 13:8

              As Thou has been, Thou forever wilt be!

So man hates God especially for the fact that He never changes.

He is never going to be someone we will like better.
He is never going to be any different than He is now.

(We might wait till our mother gets in a better mood before we tell her we  broke her favorite piece of china. Bot God's standard is always the same!)

God's holiness, omniscience and sovereignty are perfect. And perfection cannot change - any change would indicate less than perfection at any stage.

And God is always perfect - so there can be no changing His character, ever!


But once we embrace God and welcome Him into our hearts, isn't it funny how that thing we hate most becomes the thing we love most about Him?

We cannot depend on human beings - they change - they mutate - they vary with the circumstances around us.

We might please them one day and make them angry the next. We don't know how they will react - we cannot predict how our actions will be received.


But God is always the same. His will is invariable.

We know what pleases Him and how He wants us to live. All the time and in every circumstance.


We can count on Him to keep His promises and to fulfill His eternal plan.

We can count on Him always to be who He says He is!

And that's really good news for His children!

Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day

Earth's joys grow dim, it's glories pass away

Change and decay in all around I see

O Thou who changes not, abide with me!

Living with eyes wide open.....

Open my eyes that I may see
Wonderful things in your law.

(Psalm 119:18)

This was one of those mornings when I just don't seem to get it.

Like I am reading a scriptural passage I know is important but I can't get my brain to focus on what that message is. The ideas are blurry and indistinct. I know there is something more....something that adds to my picture of God's character and would direct me toward more holiness and obedience....but I can't seem to shake off the feeling that I am hopelessly distracted from what He is wanting to tell me.

So I pray: "Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law." I am asking, not just for assistance at this moment, I am asking for a miracle.

The word open used in this verse is the same word used in the story in Numbers 22 when the Lord opened Balaam's eyes so he could see the angel of the Lord standing on the road in front of him with his sword drawn.

And when Hagar was fleeing with Ishmael and was in the desert, thirsty, desperate for water -- Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water.


And in Luke 24 we read about the two grief-stricken disciples on their way to Emmaus, who didn't realize they were walking and talking with the risen Savior --
then their eyes were opened and they recognized him.

When I ask God to "open my eyes" to more of His truth, I am asking Him to reveal Himself to me, not in an ordinary physical way, but in a supernatural way.

When Hagar saw the well, when Balaam saw the angel, and when the disciples saw Jesus, they were not seeing things that had not been there before.

God wasn't miraculously causing the well and the angel to appear -- they were already there.
The miracle was not in the appearance of the well and the angel and Christ, but the miracle was the Holy Spirit's work so they could see what was already there.

Were they so distraught by grief, by unbelief, by desperation that they couldn't see?


I think I am sometimes that way. The words and phrases are there, but because of my distractions, my disobedience, or my unbelief I just can't really get His message.

The word has to do with removing a veil, or a covering from our eyes. And I can't do that for myself.

It is a good time to remember that everything we have is a gift from God: our faith, our joy and peace, and even our repentance -- He is the source of all. And that includes our understanding of His Word --

Another Miracle When God Opened Someone's Eyes....

William Tyndale translated much of the Bible into early modern (contemporary) English in the early 1500's. He was the first to draw directly from the Hebrew and the Greek texts. (He was a well-known linguist -- fluent in at least 8 languages.)
He was also the first to take advantage of the new printing press and so copies could be distributed fairly quickly.

The Catholic Church and the English monarchy arrested Tyndale and he was burned at the stake in 1536.(Some records say he was strangled by one of the King's men before being tied to the stake, and some say a dear friend pierced him with his sword so he wouldn't feel the fiery pain -- I hope one of those is true.)

His last words, though, expressed his final prayer: "God, Open thou the King of England's eyes."

Was this prayer answered? Well, within 4 years of Tyndale's death, there were already 4 English translations being circulated in England. These included the Miles Coverdale version, Thomas Matthews', Richard Taverner's, and the Great Bible.

And then in the early 1600's the England's King James was gathering an assembly of the great linguists and theologians of the day to publish a brand new translation which would be called The Authorized King James Bible. It was completed in 1611.

So Tyndale's last prayer was answered in ways he could not even imagine.


(And we think things change fast these days!)

King James' scholars owed a great deal to Tyndale-- 83% of the King James New Testament and 75% of the Old Testament came directly from Tyndale's translation.


So really most of the credit for the "Authorized Version" should not go to all those scholars, it rightly belongs to William Tyndale!

Tyndale was the first one to substitute "love" for "charity." And he was the first to use the word "Jehovah" for the transliterated sacred Hebrew tetragrammaton, YHWH.

Living With Eyes Wide Open...

But back to David, the writer of Psalm 119. He doesn't just pray that God will open his eyes. He tells us why. He wants to live by God's law. And if he is to live by it, God will have to teach him from it (verse 26), give him understanding (verse 27)and keep him from false ways (verse 29).

And David was acknowledging that he would do his part: he would cherish and long for God's law (verse 20), he would meditate on God's decrees (verse 25) and delight in God's statues (verse 24), and let God's statues be his counselor (verse 24) and that he would obey God's law (verse 21).

Asking God to open our eyes is not something to be taken lightly. There are obligations and responsibilities for me when I am being instructed by the Holy Spirit. It makes me more accountable!

I should not pray this prayer without serious intent to live out what He is teaching me within.

How to Make God Smile

How we make God smile....

The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him,

In those who trust in His mercy. 

 Psalm 147:11

The LORD loves the righteous.

Psalm 146:8

How God makes us smile...

                                     Praise be to the LORD,

   For He has heard my cry for mercy.

  The LORD is my strength and shield;

My heart trusts in Him and I am helped.

My heart leaps for joy

And I will give thanks to Him in song.

Psalm 28:6-7

What makes us both smile....

The LORD your God in your midst,

The Mighty One, will save;

He will rejoice over you with gladness,

He will quiet you with His love,

He will rejoice over you with singing.

Zephaniah 3:17

How do people see God?

 

You saw no form of any kind the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman, or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air,  or like any creature...and when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon, the stars -- all the heavenly array -- do not be enticed to bowing down to them and worshipping them....."  Deuteronomy 4:15-19

God always makes His instructions perfectly clear.....in this case He illustrated it with a profound example -- God has no form --You saw no form of any kind -- There was nothing His people could see -- so always remember, My people, your God can't be seen -- so don't try to make up a god you can see ..... because I have no form and I alone am God!

How could He have made it any clearer -- I AM GOD AND I CAN'T BE SEEN! - Don't try to make Me into something you can see! Don't try to make Me less than what I am!

What we used to call "object lessons" - with a profound Object and a profound lesson - don't try to take a picture of Me - put away your camera! I am bigger than all that - You will have to see Me with your "other" eyes -

Maybe is this because the Holy God is to live in us? People who want to see what God is like should be able to observe us?

How can I be Transformed?

Paul tells the Roman Christians (and us) in his letter to them (Romans 12:2):
    'be transformed by the renewing of your mind...'

Frankly sometimes that seems as difficult to me now as it did when I first read the words as a child.

Paul insists that our mind is the battlefield in our fight to resist being shaped by society around us and so God demands the 'renewal' of our mind.

Michael Frost of The Navigators says this:

'When the Spirit renews our minds, all of life becomes an act of worship. That's because the Spirit not only opens our eyes to see who Christ really is, but also breaks our hearts to see who we really are...and when that happens, we find within ourselves that there's this growing and nurturing sense of the greatness of God and the beauty of God's love...all of life becomes charged with the presence of God, and we find ourselves wanting to offer more and more of our lives to God as act of sacrificial worship....as we steadfastly focus on Jesus, devoting ourselves as His students and disciples, the Spirit renews our thinking and our behavior, and we become more like Him. He actually transforms us into the image of  Son of God.'

I love these words. They help me understand the process. I love the idea that "all of life" can become "an act of worship." And our lives can be "charged with the presence of God" and we will want to give  more and more of ourselves to Him.  

That's what I want to happen to me.

Father, please transform me into the image of Your Son. Help me focus on Him and allow Your Spirit to renew my thinking and behavior. I love You and want so much to please You. Amen.

As He Came Down

                           

                                  As He Came Down

Reading Philippians 2:6-11 this morning and praising God that He loved us so much that He came down in Person to save us. Didn't send an angel - He came Himself!

Scholars tell us that this passage was actually a hymn sung in the early churches, or, if not sung, then chanted together. I like to think of it as a song and wish some musician today would put a melody to it and allow us to sing it, too!  "Way too cool!" as one of my friends says.

Here are the first lines of the passage:

     Have the same mindset as Christ Jesus....Who being in the very       nature of God, did not consider equality with God something to
     be used to His own advantage, rather made Himself nothing by       taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human                 likeness.....

(Paul wrote this, and he wasn't with Jesus on that last night, when
He washed the feet of His disciples - certainly the epitome of 
'servanthood' - but I am certain he had heard about it!)

It brings to my mind an old poem written 400 years ago by George
Herbert:
     

    The God of power, as He did ride in His majestic glory,

     resolved to come to us, and so one day  

     He  did descend, undressing all the way!

     
What a picture! What love!

Who Could Imagine?

                                     

                                      Who Could Imagine?   

      Jeremiah 31:34 tells us that God says, "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." And in Hebrews 10:17 He says, "Their lawless acts I will remember no more."

      In both of these passages 'remember no more' is equated with 'forgiveness.' 

      Psalm 130:4 states this truth another way: "If You, O LORD,  kept a record of sins, O LORD, who could stand?  But with You there is forgiveness."

      So God deliberately chooses to not only forget our sins but also to not even keep a record  -- a list somewhere that He could go back to and check if He wanted to refresh His memory...like if He got tired of fooling with us and wanted to really punish us! 

     Since God is all-knowing, this act of forgetfulness is a conscious deliberate act of His divine will. And  'no more' means it is permanent! 

      Who could even imagine a God like this?

      Thanks to Him and praise Him forever that we don't have to imagine -- He has explained it to  us - and showed us at the Cross!    

Creation or Re-Creation - Which is the most Difficult?

       Creation or Re-Creation -  which is the hardest?


One of my favorite saints, Bernard of Clairvaux, wrote this 900 years ago:*

     'Creation was not so vast a work as redemption; for it
     is written of man and of all things made...'He spoke the
     word and they were made' (Psalm 148:5)

     But to redeem the creation which sprang at His word, what               hardships He endured, what shames and pain He suffered!

     In the first creation He gave me myself, but in His new
     creation He gave me Himself, and by that gift restored to me
     the self I had lost.'

I love that idea....At creation He gave me myself, but at my
redemption He gave me Himself!

It's the history of the world - from creation to re-creation...all that matters is what He did in the first place and then later in the second place, and then what He will do in the future!

It's all about Him - history is simply his-story!


*From On Loving God, by Bernard of Clairvaux

Good News from Psalm 65:3

 

 Good News from Psalm 65:3

"When we were overwhelmed by sin, You forgave our transgressions."

And it's all due to His grace.

So how should we live?

How should we display and extend to others the grace He has extended to us?

"Lord, because Your grace is underserved, I should be humble;

Because it is costly I should be holy and loving;

Because it is unconditional I should be at peace;

And always through it all I should be supremely grateful every moment.

Amen."

Humble, holy, loving, at peace..and grateful,,."Lord, help me to to others just as You have been to me!''

We All Need Grace

 .......We All Need Grace

I'm reading again what we call "The Sermon on the Mount" (Matthew 5-7). It still mystifies me. It seems so unyielding and so unchangeable.  There is comfort, too, but the main message seems to be about our failures.

But these words from Philip Yancey in "The Jesus I Never Knew" have really helped:

     "Thunderously, unarguably, The Sermon on the Mount proves that  before God we all stand on level ground: murderers and temper-throwers,  adulterers and lusters, thieves and coveters.

     We are all desperate, and that is in fact the only state appropriate to a human being who wants to know God.

     Having fallen from the absolute ideal, we have nowhere to land  but in the safety net  of divine grace."

The "safety net of Divine Grace" --  that's where we must land --

"Twas grace that taught my heart to fear and 

grace my fear relieved".....

and that's the grace that 'will bring us home'!

The bad news  is that nothing can save us but God's grace, and the good news is that God has given us His grace!

I remember an old saying about Home: Home is where when you go there they have to take you in.

We stand before God clothed in Christs' righteousness....and so heaven will take us in! The Gatekeeper will recognize us!

C S Lewis - A Pleasant Inn - But Not Home

The Christian doctrine of suffering explains, I believe, a very curious fact about the world we live in.

The settled happiness and security which we all desire, God withholds from us by the very nature of the world: but joy, pleasure and merriment He has scattered broadcast.

We are never safe, but we have plenty of fun, and some ecstasy.

It is not hard to see why.


The security we crave would teach us to rest our hearts in this world and pose an obstacle to our return to God. A few moments of happy love, a landscape, a symphony, a merry meeting with our friends, or a football match, have no such tendency.

Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home.

   - From The Problem of Pain

Not all that sure? C S Lewis

Just as the Christian has his moments when the clamor of this visible and audible world is so persistent and the whisper of the spiritual world so faint that faith and reason can hardly stick to their guns, so well as I remember, the atheist too has his moments of shuddering misgiving, of an all but irresistible suspicion that old tales may after all be true, that something or someone from outside may at any moment break into his neat, explicable, mechanical universe.

Believe in God and you will have to face hours when it seems obvious that this material world is the only reality; disbelieve in Him and you must face hours when this material world seems to shout at you that it is not all.

No conviction, religious or irreligious, will, of itself, end once and for all this conflict in the soul.

Only the practice of Faith resulting in the habit of Faith will gradually do that.

          --From 'Religion: Reality or Substitute?'
                  in Christian Reflections, by C S Lewis

Another Prayer from Daniel

 

                               Another Prayer from Daniel

Another notable prayer in the Book of Daniel is in chapter 9.

He begins, as in the prayer in chapter 2, with a song of praise and adoration: "O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant of love with all those who love Him and obey His commands..."

And then he confesses the great sins of his countrymen..."We have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and rebelled,, We have turned away from your commandments and laws. We have not listened to our servants, the prophets."

He doesn't make excuses or blame their circumstances for their faithlessness to their ever-faithful God.

He just admits their sin.

And his conclusion to his prayer?

Maybe the most audacious request in Scripture: "We do not make our request of You because we are righteous, but because of Your great mercy.  Lord, listen; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, do not delay."

Remember the gospel song -- 'Grace that is Greater than all our Sin' --? 

And the contemporary song, 'His Mercy is More' -- "Our sins they are many, but His mercy is more"!

That's what Daniel is counting on! And so am I!

Without His mercy there would be no forgiveness. Without His Grace there would be no hope.

The God Who Keeps His Promises - Andrew Murray

Men know the advantages of making covenants.

A covenant has often been of unspeakable value as an end to hatred or uncertainty, as an agreement of services rendered, as an assurance of good quality and honesty, and as a basis for confidence and friendship.

In His infinite descent to our human weakness and need, God's pledge of faithfulness goes beyond the ways of men.

He gives us perfect confidence in Him and the full assurance of all that He, in His infinite riches and power, has promised to do.

He has consented to bind Himself by Covenant, as if He could not be trusted.

Blessed is the man who truly knows God and his covenant God and knows what the Covenant promises him. What unwavering confidence of expectation it secures!

All its terms will be fulfilled. What a claim and hold it gives him on the covenant-keeping God Himself.

To the many who have not thought much about the Covenant, it would mean the transformation of their whole lives to have a true, living faith.

The full knowledge of what God wants to do, the assurance that it will be done, and the being drawn to God Himself in personal surrender makes the Covenant the very gate of heaven.

May the Holy Spirit give us some vision of its glory.

---From Covenants and Blessings, by Andrew Murray

For the LORD your God is a merciful God; he will not

abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your forefathers, which he confirmed to them by oath. 

 (Deuteronomy 4:31).

Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God,  keeping covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments.

(Deuteronomy 7:9)

Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised,

he confirmed it with an oath.

God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered us may be greatly encouraged. 

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.

 (Hebrews 6:17-19).

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess,

for he who promised is faithful.

(Hebrews 10:23)

He is the ever-faithful One!

"Though the  mountains be shaken, and the

hills be removed,

Yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken

Nor my covenant of peace be removed,"

says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

(Isaiah 54:10)

His covenant guarantees that he will never depart from us - his kindness will never cease - he will secure us in his love forever.

Though we are faithless --

HE IS ALWAYS FAITHFUL!

My Ebenezer Stone - 2

Forsaking God and His commandments, Israel experienced a time of trouble and defeat at the hands of her enemies.

When the new priest and judge, Samuel, appeared and declared God's love and faithfulness, the people repented and re-committed their hearts to their LORD.

          If you are returning to the LORD with all your hearts,
             then rid yourselves of the foreign gods...and commit
             yourselves to the LORD and serve Him only, and He
             will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.....

             Then Samuel said, "Assemble all Israel at Mizpah and
             I will intercede with the LORD for you."
                                 
             On that day they fasted and there they confessed, "We
             have sinned against the LORD."

The Israelites then defeated the Philistines.

             Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between
             Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer [which means
             stone of help], saying "Thus far has the LORD helped
             us."

             So the Philistines were subdued and did not invade
             Israel territory again.
                         -- 1 Samuel, chapter 7.



1. Samuel placed the stone at the time the restoration began. They repented and he memorialized it then.  "He cried out to the LORD on Israel's behalf, and the LORD answered him" (1 Samuel 7:9).

2. The stone was a visible reminder of what the people had done. As they returned to their lives and
daily work, it stood there reminding them of their
commitment to follow the LORD.

3. The stone represented a new beginning, a new page, a clean slate. What we all yearn for!


Is it time for us to erect our own Ebenezer Stones?

It could be a physical stone, a special bracelet, a prominent sticky note somewhere, or a note in our Bible or prayer Journal, or any visible sign to remind us that we are new people. We belong to the God of the Universe!

This is the day I changed course  - I am returning to the God I love!


My friends in AA tell me how long they have been sober. They do not go back to the earlier days and relate their experiences with alcoholism - only of the last drink they took - and then forward - and they move further up the road of sobriety. They do not mention the number of days they spent drinking - they count the days they have been walking in the new direction.

You and I must do the same - don't rehearse the past days of sinful actions, or mistakes and bad judgments -

because the Ebenezer Stone is also a reminder of forgiveness.




We should write 1J19 on our stone - 1 John 1:9 -




     If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us  
   our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.




Forgive and purify....All unrighteousness...not some of it....

My sin, not in part, but the whole

Is nailed to the Cross and I bear it more!

Praise the Lord - Praise the Lord - O my soul!

  -- from It Is Well with My Soul,

by Horatio Spafford

Trust God. He has forgiven us and removed our sins "as far as the east is from the west" (Psalm 103:12).

My Ebenezer Stone reminds me that I serve a living, loving and faithful God, whose covenant with His people is everlasting.

He welcomes me back with open arms.

The old pioneer song, "I will arise and go to Jesus, He will embrace me in His arms" says it all......


      
            

The Ebenezer Stone - 1

Now the Israelites went out to fight against the Philistines. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines at Aphek.

The Philistines deployed their forces to meet Israel, and as the battle spread Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand of them on the battlefield.
           -- 1 Samuel 4:1-2

The Israelites were soundly defeated.

As the narrative continues, the elders of Israel asked
each other, "Why did the LORD bring defeat upon us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the LORD's covenant from Shiloh, so that it may go well with us and save us from the hand of our enemies."

So men went to Shiloh and brought back with them the sacred ark.



When the ark of the LORD'S covenant came into camp, all Israel raised such a great shout that the ground shook.

Hearing the uproar, the Philistines asked, "What's all this shouting in the Hebrew camp?"

When they learned that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp, the Philistines were afraid.   

"A god has come into camp," they said. "Nothing like this has happened before. Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? They are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues....Be strong, Philistines! Be men, or you will be subject to the Hebrews as they have been to you. Be men, and fight!" 
        -- 1 Samuel 4:5-9

The Philistines fought hard, and the Israelites were defeated again. They fled back to their tents and "the slaughter was very great" -- Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers.

Not only that -- their sacred ark of God was captured
and taken by the Philistines from Ebenezer to Ashdad and placed in the temple of their pagan god, Dagon, and set beside the idol.

The Philistines were in for a surprise, because the next morning Dagon has fallen prostrate on the ground before the ark of the LORD.



They stood the idol back in its place, but the next morning when they came into the temple, there was Dagon fallen again on its face before the blessed ark, with its head and hands broken off.


The ark of the LORD caused destruction and panic in the land of the Philistines and they begged Israel to
retrieve it and stop God's judgment on them.


So the men of Kiriath Jearim came and took up the ark of the LORD. They took it to Abinadab's house on the hill and consecrated Eleazar his son to guard the ark of the LORD.
          -- 1 Samuel 7:1


So the ark remained at Kiriath Jearim and the Philistines continued to plague Israel.


Finally, "The people mourned and sought after the LORD," we read in 1 Samuel 7:2.


The prophet Samuel told them:


If you are returning to the LORD with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods...and commit yourselves to the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.  So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths and served the LORD only.


Then Samuel assembled all Israel at Mizpah and they prayed to God, fasted and confessed their sin.


The Philistines heard the Israelites were gathered at Mizpah, and advanced.


The Israelites were frightened, telling Samuel, "Do not stop crying out to the LORD our God for us, that he may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines."


The Philistines drew near to engage in battle.


But that day the LORD thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites. The men  of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued them along the way to a point below Beth Car.


So the Philistines were subdued and did not invade Israelite territory again.


Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen.
He named it Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far has the LORD helped us."


(Read all of this important saga in the Old Testament, 1 Samuel, chapters 4-7.)


Ebenezer means "stone of help."


Samuel was marking the occasion and site of God's help in defeating the enemies of Israel.


It wasn't the ark that saved them: they had the ark with them when the Philistines defeated them
in battle.


What saved Israel was their repentance and re-commitment to serve their God.


Samuel placed the large commemorative stone at the place where their restoration began.


And that stone stood there, visible for all to see, to remind them, not just of God's judgment, but also of His mercy and grace "to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16).


An "Ebenezer Stone" represents a fresh beginning, a reversal of our course. It also reminds us that His mercies are everlasting and His covenant is forever.


As I look back on my life I see some "Ebenezer stones" I have placed at critical times in my journey with Christ.


They point to a time when I changed course - when I reconsidered my life and decisions - when I reversed my direction and came back to God's purpose for me.


But even more, these "Ebenezer stones" remind me that I am forgiven, that I chose a new direction, and that God has a permanent covenant with all who put their faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.


Samuel was a wise Servant of God. He understood the importance of "markers" and he understood that we are all forgetful and need reminders of God's calling.


Israelites could stand beside that Ebenezer Stone and remind themselves that they served a living, loving and faithful God, whose mercies are everlasting.


Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to in heaven.
             --Philippians 3:13-14, written by the Apostle Paul to  
                            the Christians at Philippi, in the New Testament


Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever.
            --Psalm 136:1, recorded in the Old Testament.

A well is not a stream.....

The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."

"Sir," the woman said, "You have nothing to draw and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"

Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
                                            ----John 4:9-14


Jesus offered the woman "living water."

What did that mean? In Jewish speech the phrase "living water" meant water that was flowing, not water that was stagnant, as in a cistern or a well.

Fresh, flowing water would always be preferred over
well water.

So the woman He was speaking to naturally thought of a stream.

She seems skeptical. Here was a man who thought he could produce better, finer water than did her ancestor Jacob.

After all, had Jacob known of a stream he certainly would not have taken the trouble to dig a well, probably a hundred feet deep.

He goes on to talk about living water that cures thirst forever. Not only that, it becomes a spring inside us that wells up continually.

No one as ever seen a well of water spring up. Only the water in a spring springs up.

The water in a well just lies there.

So Jesus is not talking about a well at all.

The woman had come to a well. Jesus has invited her to a spring.

Now He adds that if she allows Him to place this spring in her, the spring will never cease but will continue to bubble and bubble on forever.

Perhaps you want to build a house on a piece of property on which there is a well. But you don't want the well -- you will have city water.

You will just ask the bulldozers to push some dirt into the well and the well will be gone forever.

This won't work with a spring on your property. (Of course, you probably wouldn't want to stop up a lovely spring of fresh water, but if you did you would find it a much more difficult task.)

You could push a large pile of dirt over the spring and it might appear to have stopped the flow. But by morning, the stream will be there again, simply by pushing its way through the ground.

A well can be covered. A spring seeps through anything you may place over it.

That's what Jesus is talking about. He is promising to place a spring within the life of anyone who will come to Him.

His spring will be eternal, free, joyous, and self-dependent.

But He is also warning us that we will never be able to stop it - we can't bulldoze anything over it to stop its flow!

We might try -- I know I have.

Sometimes His Presence in my life has seemed inconvenient and maybe intrusive - certainly He seemed to interfere with my plans.

So I tried to "put a plug on it" and go my own way.

But, like the stream the builder tried to cover up with dirt, my life became muddy water.

Obviously, muddy water did not come from the stream itself -- the stream water was clean and pure -- it was because I pushed dirt into the water source that it produced filthy, not fresh and clean, water!

So I came back to the Source of the Living Water, to Jesus, and asked Him to clean me up again - to remove the dirt and grime and let His lovely sparkling water flow freely again!

It took some work, but He did it!

And if I mess up again, He'll certainly clean me up again. I'm confident of that.

Being confident of this, that He who began

a good work in you will carry it on to completion

until the day of Christ Jesus.  

Philippians 1:6

Did YOU forget to ask? John 4 -

What Jesus Reminds Us....(Recorded in John 4)

Remember the woman at Sychar? 

She was a Samaritan woman and I purposed to meet her at the ancient Jacob's well.

I asked her for a drink of water. She was surprised
at the request. But she didn't ask Me for anything.

Right there, in front of her, the Creator and Sovereign Lord of the Universe, the One able to bestow any gift to any humble creature.

But she didn't ask. I had to call it to her attention -
Look, I said to her, If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Me and I would have given you living water.

She still didn't understand. She didn't "know the gift" and she didn't know who I was.

I explained it to her, just as I have patiently explained it to you.

Now you do know.  You know the gift I bring and you know who I am.

It delights Me to give my Children gifts.

So why don't you ask for more?

You have not because you ask not.

James 4:2

The Path We Are On Now - Looking Back

Lord, I feel myself getting tired and growing discouraged.

I am weary of  trying to work things out. I am tired of toilet paper jokes. I am tired of wearing a mask. I am tired of distance markers in my usual stores.  I am tired of wondering if I can approach and greet my friends.

I miss church.

But I remember You never grow weary or impatient.
You never give up.

Your love is never-ending  and without limit.

It always covers me, no matter where I am or what I am doing or what I am feeling. And it fills me with joy.

I praise You because I can count on that and I know that this path we are on has a purpose.

It is taking us somewhere. Somewhere You want us to be.
And this path is exactly where You want us to be right now.

And so I am content.  Just work Your will in us.

Our Father, You and pleasing You are all that matter to us!!!

What does 'inspired' mean? James Montgomery Boice

All scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correction, and training in righteousness.

   -- 2 Timothy 3:16 


The first thing 2 Timothy  tells us about Scripture is why it is useful -- because Scripture comes from God.

Old translations of the verse use the word inspired, reading "All scripture is inspired by God."

The Latin Vulgate translated the Greek as divinitus inspirata, and inspirita passed into  English as "inspired" through the translation of Wycliffe.

The interesting thing about the Greek word is that, strictly speaking, it does not refer to inspiration at all.

That is not to say that inspiration is not a valid theological term. It is.

When we think of inspiration we think of the power of God guiding the writers of the Bible so that what they wrote, even though they wrote in their own language and with their own vocabulary and on the basis of their own experience, was nevertheless exactly what God wanted written.

The word inspiration refers to this. Inspiration means "breathed into," from in meaning "in" or "into" and spiro meaning "breathe."  It describes the process of God's revelation of Himself in Scripture from a human point of view. However, this is not the meaning behind the underlying Greek word in 2 Timothy 3:16.

Theopneustos, the Greek word used, combines the word for "God" (theos) and the word for "breath" or "spirit" (pneustos). It means "God-breathed," and

is the translation used by the New International Version.

It teaches that Scripture is the result of this breathing out of God. Much as God created man by breathing into him and making him "a living soul," God also breathed out the Scriptures so they became a living revelation.

Paul is not talking about how human authors of  Scriptures received God's revelation. He is talking about Scripture itself, saying that the words of Scripture are the words of God, and this is what makes Scripture so useful.

A book containing merely human words might be true and useful to a point.

An instruction manual for your new dishwasher helps you run the appliance. The operator's book on your new car is useful.

If you want to learn Latin, a book teaching you Latin will be useful.

But there is no comparison between human books, useful in limited ways, and the Word of God useful in the ways Paul spells out in 2 Timothy 3:16.


   -- James Montgomery Boice, Standing on the Rock,

        Chapter 6, The Most Useful Thing in the World

The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground

and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,

and the man became a living being....

  Genesis 2:7