The Shaker

Occasionally, I watch an episode of either Intervention or Hoarders on TV.  Both shows break my heart so badly that I don't watch either of them often.  Yesterday, flipping around, I landed on Hoarders. The commonality in each show is that the central character is "where they are" because his or her soul is badly broken.  The sweet, older lady with the worst hoarding problem I've ever seen had developed her mental illness in her middle years.  But, it became exacerbated after the death of her sister, with whom she was very close.  When asked by the clean-up team, most of whom were her relatives, how she could have let things get into such a mess, she earnestly replied, "I don't know!" While the show was going on, an earthquake occurred there on the set.  As the house began to shake, the team ran out in case the house fell down around their ears.  I thought of all this as I read today's passage from Hebrews 12:25-29 (ESV).

25See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. 26At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.28Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29for our God is a consuming fire.

Hoarders have control issues.  That should be obvious.  But, in the midst of working through the illusion of control, God demonstrated who is really in control when He began to shake the earth on which that poor, troubled house sat.  Both here in Hebrews and at Mt. Sinai we are reminded that the One who spoke the universe into existence can easily shake the earth with the mere sound of His voice.

Today's passage describes the people of God, Jesus Christ's own, as "unshakeable".  He refers to us as an unshakeable kingdom.  Why is that?  Is it because we are "in control"?  Hardly!  We are unshakeable because we have put our trust in The Unshakeable One, our Savior, Jesus Christ.

This means that, despite the trials and storms of this life, those who have put their faith and trust in Jesus cannot be upended.   We may be buffeted and strained and tested and tried.  But, if the Anchor for our souls is Jesus, we will not become unmoored to drift away into apostasy.  For the true Church salvation, both now and forever, is secure.

The writer of Hebrews reminds us of our appropriate reaction in light of this glorious certainty:
gratitude (vs. 28)
reverence (vs. 28)
awe (vs. 28)
worship (vs. 28)
obedience (vs. 25)

The first response generates the other four.  This passage speaks to me deeply this morning.  I had always sort of rolled my eyes at people who would say, "The Lord gave me a specific word for this year; it's ______ ."  But then, that happened to me at the start of 2017.  He spoke to me clearly and the word was "gratitude".  He has been teaching me on that theme, especially through the loss of several loved ones who are now in His arms; but, believe me, I have so much more to learn!

Reverence and awe....I especially miss the boat on this one.  Yes, the Lord wants to have an intimate heart relationship, but may we never lose sight of His majesty, His "otherness", in comparison to our pitifulness.

This idea of our God as "a consuming fire" is first mentioned in Scripture in Deuteronomy 4:24, where the Lord God is warning His people against idolatry, a warning that is still applicable to us, His Church, today.

…23"So watch yourselves, that you do not forget the covenant of the LORD your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a graven image in the form of anything against which the LORD your God has commanded you. 24"For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. 25"When you become the father of children and children's children and have remained long in the land, and act corruptly, and make an idol in the form of anything, and do that which is evil in the sight of the LORD your God so as to provoke Him to anger,…

Deuteronomy 4:23-25 (NASB)

Even while a redeemed people, we can still be prone to idolize other, lesser "gods" on the thrones of our lives, other than the One who bought and paid for us with His own blood.  This is where the obedience mentioned in Hebrews 12:25 comes in.  Our God is still a jealous God over us, His beloved Church.  And, when we give the love and adoration, the worship and obedience which rightfully belong to Him - - when we give those to someone or something else, He is going to get angry about it.  He has not changed in that respect, even though our "polite Christian society" tries to pretend otherwise.  Our holy God is jealous over us.  His Holy Spirit within us will call us to return to Him, and He will sometimes impose extremely adverse consequences for our sins, in His efforts to draw our hearts back to His own.

Lest you think otherwise, His actions toward us, no matter how they may chafe and pain us, are acts of perfect love.  Were He not so very concerned about our souls, He would leave us to our spiritual philandering.  Aren't you thankful, Christian, that He loves you enough to draw you back in?  That He is our firm foundation?

1. “When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
   My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply;
   The flame shall not harm thee; I only design
   Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.
2. “The soul that on Jesus doth lean for repose,
   I will not, I will not, desert to his foes;
   That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
   I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.”
1. American Hymn, "How Firm a Foundation", 1787, Anonymous, public domain

  

Pushin' My Buttons!

Why is it that no one on earth has the peculiar power to "push our buttons" more than our family members?  Can I "get a witness"?  Particularly, this is often true with children and parents.  I think that one reason is ... we are often so much like our parents or children.  We sometimes don't want to admit that, unless we are talking about their favorable qualities.  I sometimes have referred to "YOUR son", when talking with my husband about one of our sons who has done something boneheaded.  Then, later, when he does something wonderful he is "MY son", lol!

If you believe that God is sovereign, however, you recognize (whether you want to or not), that He has given to you the parents and (if you have any) the children He absolutely wanted you to have.  I was blessed with wonderful, godly parents, and with two precious sons, all of whom I love dearly. Unfortunately, though, this has not been the case for all of you, my dear brothers and sisters and non-believer readers.  Some of you have had "terrible parents" and/or "heartbreaking children".

Because God gave to humankind free will, some of our parents and/or children have made disastrous choices, which severely impacted our lives in a negative way.  Some of these negative impacts have been long-lasting, over a course of years!

The truth is:  our closest family members have the greatest potential to both enrich our lives and to destroy our lives.

Today's text focuses on family relationships and the mutual love and respect which make them healthy.  I've written about the relationship between husbands and wives, in my devotional meanderings through other of Paul's writings. You can explore those at these links below:

Here's the complete text, but we will be focusing on verses 20-21:

18Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them.20Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing in the Lord. 21Fathers, do not provoke your children, so they will not become disheartened.

Colossians 3:18-21

If you grew up in a Christian church, you probably had verse 20 quoted to you repeatedly.   (I have always been sort of ... intense ... so, it was quoted to me a lot!) Children can be quite provocative....that is to say, rebellious and disobedient.  Believe me, mine have provoked me plenty! The thing is, though, that verse 20 really goes hand-in-hand with verse 21, as verses 18 and 19 go together.

The only other thing to give us pause in verse 20 is that, obviously, we should not obey our parents in ungodliness.  Let's say your father is a philanderer and urges you to follow his example.  No, just (obviously) NO.  That is not what is meant by this verse, which assumes that the parents are walking in righteousness before their children, and leading them accordingly.  Parents are never going to be perfect; so, to expect them to be is an impossible standard.

Have you ever known or witnessed a parent, though, who deliberately provoked his or her children? I have.  What some would cause "playful teasing" is viewed by some as provocation.  I have a child like that.  He absolutely does NOT like to be teased.  But, that is not what is meant here.  Let's look at two action words from this verse, in various translations.

First, the word translated in the NET version as "provoke".  Here are synonyms from other versions:
embitter, aggravate, exasperate, "fret and harass", vex, "make angry".  You can see that these go beyond simple, playful teasing.  Nor do they mean the godly correction that parents are commanded to give their children, although the children will often find such godly correction less-than-pleasant.

When, as parents, we correct our children with an attitude of "lording it over them", and/or using our God-given authority as a mace or a club or a battering ram, then we will often get the response the Bible refers to in the NET as "disheartened" children.

What, then, are some words other translations use for "disheartened"?  Discouraged, "lose heart", "become morose".

There are so many applications of this verse in every day life, but when I read it, I think of the meme I put at the top of today's blog post.  There are times when we need to correct our children, and even give constructive criticism about their choices, particularly when our children are young and living at home.  As they mature and become young adults, we must be very judicious about our "advice".  I am learning that lesson, with two "twenty-somethings" whom I love.

The very worst outcome of our training of our children would not be that they come to doubt our love for them, although that would be awful.  No, the worst outcome would be if they start to doubt God's love for them.  Fortunately or unfortunately, our children begin to derive their concept of God according to how we love them (or not) in our homes.

When you look at our good, good Father, He does not "push our buttons".  He does not provoke us to anger or ungodliness, but instead gently "restores my soul" and "leads us in paths of righteousness for His name's sake" (Psalm 23:3). May we, parents or children, follow His example in endeavoring to do the same for each other.

Father, teach me to deal with my dearest loved ones in gentleness and kindness, as well as in holiness. It is an area of weakness for me, this gentle holiness, and a lesson I need to learn over and over. In Jesus' name, amen. 

Source:

http://www.picturequotes.com/if-a-child-lives-with-criticism-he-learns-to-condemn-if-a-child-lives-with-fear-he-learns-to-be-quote-228313

When It Bites...

As we begin Ephesians we find Paul in prison in Rome, where he remained for 2 years.  During this time, he wrote the letters to the Ephesians, the Philippians and the Colossians.  He also wrote the letter Philemon then.

We begin and end with verses 1 and 2 today:

From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints [in Ephesus], the faithful in Christ Jesus. ² Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

Practically the first words out of Paul's mouth were concerning "the will of God".  Here he was, in prison, and he still testifies that he remains an apostle of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, not only is he what he is by the will of God, but he's where he is by that same divine will. God's will is still in operation in his life.

The Roman imprisonment was much more humane than others he had experienced.  Ephesians 6:20 and Acts 28:30 tell us that during this time he was "chained"; but, basically he lived in his own rented villa, under "house arrest".  (As we explore the remaining Pauline epistles we'll see that other imprisonments were much more dire.)

Still, it was imprisonment, and Paul testified that God had willed it that he should be there, for that span of time.

It is easy to embrace God's will when things are running along as we would prefer.  It is easy to "do" His will at those times also.  The true test of our submission and obedience is when His will runs contrary to ours.

Earlier this morning I was reading a fellow blogger's book review of a new book about C.S. Lewis' eventual wife, Joy Davidson Lewis.  (For time's sake, I won't go into the details here, but I'll reference her post in Sources: below.)  One of the startling facts of their relationship, however, is that they were married for only 4 years before her death from cancer, though their friendship had begun years earlier.  "How tragic!", we might exclaim.  Was it cruel of God to give them only 4 years of wedded bliss?

When God's will when it does not line up with ours, we begin to ask all sorts of questions:  "Did I do something wrong?"  "Is this my fault?"  "Why is this happening?" 
You know them because, like me, you've asked them at some point or another.

Notice that Paul did not begin his epistle with a "Woe is me" attitude, though certainly he had rather been charging down the missions trail, starting churches, winning souls.  That was the level of his zeal.  But, it was not God's will for him at that time.  Imprisoned, how could he continue to impact the spread of the gospel?  Answer: he could, by the inspiration of God, write letters to infant churches - - - letters which have endured and which still speak to those who seek the Savior, thousands of years later.

Are you in a place today where God's will is a mystery?  I am.  Today's post comes to you from the public library, because my crashed computer is still with Dr. Jim.  That's a relatively "little thing", a pebble in the shoe.  Perhaps the entire mountainside of boulders seems to be resting on you, crushing your body, soul and spirit.  Are you having trouble discerning God's will or even finding God at all, underneath those crushing rocks?  He is still there, and He is with you.

Don't fret that you cannot see or even hear Him.  Keep praying and keep trusting.  Remain faithful through the time of testing.  Your faith is being exercised, strengthened.  As you respond in obedience and trust, God will do amazing things, which may not be fully known in your lifetime.  We are not given to see the end, but we serve the One who "knows the end from the beginning" (Isaiah 46:10) .

Even in prison, Paul sends "grace and peace" to the church at Ephesus, and in the middle of your confusion, he sends it to you as well.  Dwell in the grace and peace of Jesus Christ.  Let them roll over your spirit like a mighty wave of the ocean. God has a divine plan, and it (just like He!) is GLORIOUS!  His love is ever with you, His child, and you are privileged because you are being used to accomplish His purposes and bring Him glory! 

Father, I am not promised perfect (or close to perfect) understanding.  What I am promised is the PEACE that surpasses all understanding, that perfect peace Jesus gave. "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:27)  In Jesus' name, may it be ever so! Amen.

Sources:

https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/144-pauls-two-year-roman-imprisonment

http://www.matthewmcgee.org/paultime.html

https://michelemorin.wordpress.com/2016/04/26/joy-davidman-lewis-author/


 

Planting a Seed of Hope

Yesterday, we looked at Romans 12:13, which dealt with saints ministering to saints.  But, I submit to you that the last two words of that verse are a "bridge" between the first part of 13 and also of 14.  Look at verse 14:

14 Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse.

In other words, we are not only to be open-handed to the saints (Christians, the Church), but also to those who not only disagree with us, even actively persecute us.  I find that oftentimes, a picture is worth a thousand words.  So, please watch this 2-min. YouTube vid:

https://youtu.be/bNj3HZCSzTU

In this video, Dave Sterrett (a man I'd never heard of) blessed Cecile Richards.  How did he do that?

1.  He did not ignore the urging of the Holy Spirit, odd as that urging seemed at the time.  He was prepared and ready with a copy of his book, his witnessing tool, in his carry-on bag.
2.  He obeyed the Holy Spirit's nudge to approach her.
3.  He was not confrontational.
4.  He did not back away from the truth.
5.  He believed that our God is bigger than anyone's past, anyone's present and anyone's sin.
6.  He blessed her by planting a seed.

Are you, like me, just going, "WOW!"?

Sometimes, I believe we Christians think that some people and some situations should just be set aside as "impossible".  How counterintuitive is it to bless those who persecute us, after all?  But, you know, if we as Christians truly believe that God can overcome any sin and turn around every sinner, if we truly believe that, we will change our behavior toward those who are diametrically opposed to our beliefs.  We will begin to reach out and bless them.

This video and Dave's example were both convicting and inspiring to me.  I pray they were for you as well.  Is God urging your heart to reach out to bless someone in "the Enemy's camp" today?  Do it! You never know what fruit the Lord Jesus will harvest from that one seed, that one act of your obedience!

I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused it to grow.

1 Corinthians 3:6

Feel free to comment in the comments section of today's post.

Father, I want to pray right now for Cecile Richards.  Specifically, I pray that Dave's book will haunt her until she reads it and in its pages comes face-to-face with testimonies about Jesus, my living God. I pray for her salvation, that Your Holy Spirit will pursue her and gloriously save her soul.  And, I pray that her transformation will be akin to that of the Apostle Paul who, as Saul before his conversion, was actively pursuing and murdering followers of Jesus Christ.  You can do all things, magnificent Lord!  And, I pray that You will glorify Your name in all the Earth.  In Jesus I ask this, amen.

Privileged Children

The parents left the house early in the morning, telling the children they could not say when they would return.  Before leaving, however, they gave the children a list of jobs to complete in their absence.  The list included tasks that would care for the family, but also a list of tasks to reach out to those outside the family.  After some time, the parents returned.  They found that the children had completed pretty well the items on the list most closely affecting their comfort and well-being. Unfortunately, the items designed to bring others relief and comfort were left undone.  The children had chosen to bless themselves instead of blessing others.

25 As he also says in Hosea:

“I will call those who were not my people, ‘My people,’ and I will call her who was unloved, ‘My beloved.’”
26 “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”

Romans 9:25-26

"Not my people!"  Isn't that what we, the Church, often say?  Although we have been commanded by our Lord to take the gospel to the ends of the Earth ("to every creature" - - Matt. 28:19-20), we often wallow in our largesse, turning a blind eye to those who have not heard.  American Christians are like the children in the story, choosing to spend our time and energy on our own "happiness".

Let me make a polarizing, yet thoroughly scriptural statement:  every Christian is a missionary, in some capacity.   Last week, my church held a powerful missions conference.  Many missionaries from the Far East, from Russia, from South America, from other U.S. states, and from "across town" came to be loved on, to tell us about their ministries, to encourage us to support the spreading of Jesus Christ's gospel.  My family was very blessed to meet new, dear friends and to be challenged to do the following:

1.  Love More
This is the basis for being an obedient missionary (that is, an obedient Christian!).  When we love God supremely, we will be supremely obedient to His mandate to spread the gospel.
When we love Him madly, we also love people to an equally insane level.  The two cannot be separated.  This is why, when asked what God's greatest commandment is, Jesus gave two new ones which supersede, overarch The 10:  "Love God with all that is in you, and then love your neighbor as much as you love yourself." (Mark 12:29-31)  The love we have received through Jesus Christ compels us... (2 Cor. 5:14)

2.  Look More
This means forming the habit of looking for opportunities to spread the gospel in your everyday life. There are opportunities all around us.  As we shower God's love on other people, doors will open to tell them of His amazing grace.  God honors our obedience.  If we are an unloving people, a close-handed people, stingy with our love, our time, our money, our hearts, we will not see many opportunities to witness to others.  The opportunities will still be there; we will just not see them.
If we sincerely pray that God will open our hearts and eyes, He will.  And then, if we pray for additional opportunities, He will reveal them to us.

3.  Obey More
It is not enough to merely see; we must then obey.  When God opens a door, we must walk through it.  Now listen, Christian friend: God does not call every one of us to the foreign mission field. However, He places each one of us IN a mission field - - this field called our "circle of influence". Here is how it works:  as we work diligently, obediently in our current field, He will enlarge it.  He will give us more opportunities to spread His good news of salvation.

Let's not live our Christian lives in disobedience, as privileged children.  You can bet that the parents in my story disciplined their children when they returned home.   God has entrusted to us life-changing news and a love that knows no measure.  Let's "let it shine"!

Father, I thought of Hebrews 11:38 at the women's brunch with the lady missionaries last week, as they told of illnesses and threats on their lives and other horrors, as they told of souls saved and lives transformed.  "People of whom this world was not worthy".  Oh Lord!  Please move our bowels to compassion!  May we all become those people, a Body that is always ready to, in exercising our spiritual gifts, "go and tell".  In Jesus' name, amen.

Unbowed

I think I established a few days ago that the book of Romans was written to the Jewish Christians in the early church of Rome.  Yesterday, we focused in on Paul's description of the unbelievers, the pagan Gentile peoples who comprised most of the population of that city.  More broadly, Romans 1:18-32 described pagan people groups around the world.  There's not a doubt in my mind that the Jewish Christians, reading chapter 1, were lapping it up.

The Jews had for hundreds of years viewed themselves as "better than".  So, certainly they were nodding and "amen-ing" as they read the description in Romans 1:18-32.  "OH!  The depravity and guilt of those pagan Gentiles!"

Then, they turned the page and began to read chapter 2.  That's when the hammer came down.

There's a tendency to "cherry-pick" verses in Romans 2.  We must resist that tendency.  Paul was verbose, to say the least; and, he was leading up to God's message of grace in chapter 3.  In order to get there, Paul had to destroy the Jewish Christians' self-righteousness, which he did quite handily in chapter 2.

The central gem of chapter 2 is verse 11:

For there is no partiality with God.

You see, the Christian Jews had a hard time moving from their perception of "works-based Judaism" to "grace-based Christianity".  These new believers still saw themselves as a better class of people than the Gentiles who openly and flagrantly engaged in riotous sin.  Paul points out that the Jews were little better than they!  The Jews put on the adornments of Judaism (circumcision, feast days, etc.), but many of them were hiding the sins they so lavishly practiced.  The difference was that the Jews believed that their "chosen people" status would protect them from God's judgment.  No.

The bigger hammer occurs in verse 16:

God will judge the secrets of human hearts, according to my gospel through Christ Jesus.

Here we see a glimpse of the basis on which God will judge all people.  He sees every thought and every intention of our hearts, every motivation, every secret sinful thought.  All of that, from our thoughts to our actions will be laid bare when He evaluates each person's life, and then the question of the gospel of Jesus Christ will be asked, "What did you do with my Son?"  (More on that in subsequent chapters)

I'm reminded of the scene in John 8, where Jesus asks the stoners to consider their own sinfulness.

These Jews in Rome, regardless of the grace of Jesus Christ, were still trying to gain righteousness by following the Law, and were boastful about it!

17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast of your relationship to God18 and know his will and approve the superior things because you receive instruction from the law, 19 and if you are convinced that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an educator of the senseless, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the essential features of knowledge and of the truth—21 therefore you who teach someone else, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who tell others not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by transgressing the law! 24 For just as it is written, “the name of God is being blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

Can you feel the panic settling in?  Can you see them squirming?  Are you squirming?  I read this passage and thought about us Christians today.  In my mind I could see our church services, hundreds of people piously praying that a lost person would "walk the aisle" to accept Christ, with absolutely NO self-examination of the sin in his or her own life.  Hearts puffed up with themselves.  Hearts unbowed.  Are we not then doing exactly what the Jews in Romans 2 were doing?

3 And do you think, whoever you are, when you judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, that you will escape God’s judgment?

Yes, I know.  Grace covers it all.  Yes, it does.  No, we don't earn our salvation by our good works. No, we don't.  However, there will be consequences (either here on earth or in our heavenly rewards account) if we are walking in disobedience.  I had to ask myself this morning, reading this passage, if there were areas of my life in which I was walking in disobedience.  And then, I had to confess them, repent of them.  My butt got kicked.

Every, single one of us has our own set of "traps" - - sins that are so tempting to us.  It is different for each individual Christian - - different sins.  If we pooh-pooh our own habitual sins, thinking and merrily chirping, "I'm saved by grace," then we have utterly missed the point of Romans 2.  So-called Christians who live like that had better check their own salvation, to see if their hearts are bowed to their so-called Savior.

28 For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something that is outward in the flesh, 29 but someone is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart by the Spirit and not by the letter. This person’s praise is not from people but from God.

Let's read this as Christians, shall we? (This is how I applied it to my own heart, this morning.)

"For a person is not a Christ-follower who is merely one outwardly, nor is 'walking the aisle' something that is outward, in the flesh.  But, someone is a Christ-follower who is one inwardly, and true salvation is of the heart, by the Spirit, and not by the letter of the Law.  The person with a bowed heart is earning praise from God, regardless of what people say."

So, Christians, let's "tear our hearts, and not our garments" (Joel 2:13).  To quote Phil Robertson, "All bow."

Dearest precious Father, this passage of Scripture grieves me.  It breaks my heart.  It bows my heart. I'm so grateful that You inspired the apostle Paul to "cut to the quick" with these young Christians so that, centuries down the road, we could apply this same message to our lives.  There is no way that our good works amount to anything beyond being evidences of Your amazing grace, spilled forth into our lives.  May it be so, increasingly, every successive day of our lives.  May our hearts be bowed, that our lives will show forth Your praise!  In Jesus' name, amen.

Circumcised...Hearts

This is a picture of an antique knife, used in the Jewish circumcision ceremony known as the Bris. In examining Galatians 5:1-12, let's remember that the Galatians are being taken to task by Paul because they have gotten their "obedience" wrong.  Let's back up a moment.

What was circumcision, a key feature of this passage?  We find it first mentioned in Genesis 17 (specifically verses 10-14), when God is making an "everlasting covenant" with Abraham.   Circumcision is specified as a permanent mark to signify a permanent covenant.

Interestingly, there were times throughout the Israelites' history when the practice was put on hiatus. Moses does not appear to have been a fan, as he did not require his son with Zipporah to be circumcised right away.  It is recorded in Exodus 4:21-26 that the young man was not circumcised as a baby but, rather, as a young adult.  Then, during the 40 years of wilderness wandering, Israel did not circumcise the male children born during that time.  Warren Wiersbe explains why:
"During that time God had suspended his covenant relationship with Israel and didn't require the mark of the covenant on their male children.  He performed wonders for them and met their every need even though they were temporarily not his covenant people."  God was doing a "purge", a cleansing of the Israelites.  Until the older, more stiff-necked people died off, God put the covenant relationship on hiatus.  Before Joshua took the people into the Promised Land, however, he obeyed the Lord's command to circumcise all the males at Gilgal.  See Joshua 5.

All of this back-story brings us to the Galatians, a Gentile people who love Jesus Christ and want to walk in obedience to Him.  They have, however, been deceived by Judaizers who, I do honestly believe, were sincere (although sincerely wrong).  Look at what Paul says (5:2-3) about the Galatians trusting in circumcision to make them right with God.

2-3 I am emphatic about this. The moment any one of you submits to circumcision or any other rule-keeping system, at that same moment Christ’s hard-won gift of freedom is squandered. I repeat my warning: The person who accepts the ways of circumcision trades all the advantages of the free life in Christ for the obligations of the slave life of the law.

The Message version

You are going to laugh, but I remember getting my first smartphone.  It was so far superior to the old flip-phone I had!  You know, that phone where you had to press a number multiple times in order to text?  The new way was revolutionary!  There was absolutely no going back, for me.

What the Galatians were doing was submitting to, allowing themselves to be enslaved by, an old covenant.  They had chosen to remove themselves from the path of grace through Christ and to pursue achieving their own holiness through enslaving themselves again to the Law (5:4).
Jesus Christ established a new covenant through His blood.  He IS God's new covenant with His people!  How do I know this?  Where is the "proof"?  Let's examine the Scriptures.  You are expecting a NT reference, aren't you?  No, we must go all the way back to Jeremiah 31:31-34 (ESV).

31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

I can hear some of you now - - "This was meant just for the Jews, the chosen people, and will be fulfilled in the last days."  Well, God WILL restore the Jews to Himself in the last days.  But, Jesus Christ made it clear that HE is the fulfillment of this scripture passage, and He did it at the last meal He shared with His disciples.  Luke 22:20 (ESV) - - -

17And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. 18For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

Jesus Christ's blood, poured out for us, established and sealed God's new covenant relationship with people, those people willing to enter into covenant relationship with Him, the Father God, through the Son, Jesus Christ.  If the Luke passage is not clear enough for you, consider Hebrews 9:15 (ESV), which is quite emphatic.

Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

Does this mean that circumcising our male children is wrong?  Or, that observing Jewish feast days and customs is wrong?  Only if you are depending on them to achieve your own righteousness with God.  I have Christian friends and loved ones with Jewish heritage.  They choose to honor Jesus Christ by observing the Jewish feast days, because they see Him so beautifully represented in Old Testament practices.  But, they do not depend on their observances for their salvation.

On the contrary, as do all true Believers, they embrace a true and radical obedience, that of the circumcised heart: a heart which covenants with God through faith in Jesus Christ, which faith is expressed in love (Gal. 5:6).

Father, I thank you for circumcising my heart, putting your "forever mark" on me.  I confess and repent of those times I have tried to walk in my own righteousness. Those times have led me down thorny, dead-end paths.  Help me to walk in that true and radical obedience, which springs from faith and is evidenced by love.  In Jesus' name, amen.

Sources:

http://www.gotquestions.org/new-covenant.html

Wiersbe in Google Books: https://books.google.com/books?id=GgLq2LR_cFcC&pg=PA393&lpg=PA393&dq=Did+the+Israelites+practice+circumcision+during+the+wilderness+wanderings?&source=bl&ots=NUKvLbvNsY&sig=fRNwo-Rh1DHNMhb8bXvnu4BTtdg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiWx6eC-6vKAhVENT4KHZcjD1UQ6AEIKjAC#v=onepage&q=Did%20the%20Israelites%20practice%20circumcision%20during%20the%20wilderness%20wanderings%3F&f=false

Minor and Unlikely

One of the many, great paradoxes of the Bible is that the only wise God, the omnipotent, omniscient God is also the God of the Minor.

Don't you just love it when we tell each other our stories?  I love to listen for God working in them. Just last week a friend had open-heart surgery.  Afterwards, there was a scary time when it was feared he had had a stroke.  God chose to answer the prayers of many of His children on this friend's behalf, and now he is almost "back to his old self".  We are praising Him for that.

I am so glad that He is concerned with, what on the world scale, must be considered "minor incidents" or "the little people".  I am so glad that He chooses "minor characters" to become the heroes in history ("His Story").  If He can choose and use Zechariah and Elizabeth, He can use anyone.  Their story is found in Luke 1:6-17.

Zechariah and Elizabeth, both of the Levitical tribe, that is, both descendants of Aaron, were (beyond that) just an ordinary, old couple.  Most folks paid them little attention, I'd guess.  In a society where most things centered on the large, extended family, this old couple had none.  This is because, while they should have been at least grandparents and perhaps great-grandparents, they had no offspring, no descendants.  They were pretty much alone.  To their credit, we read in verse 6 that, despite what had to be this deep disappointment, they continued to honor God with their lives.  Two ordinary, old people whom God chose to play a leading role in mankind's redemption story, not in their timeframe, but in His.

At the beginning of the A.D. era there were approximately 7000 Levitical priests serving at the Jerusalem temple.  These were laymen, who only served there two weeks out of the year.  One of Zechariah's "weeks" fell during the feast of Yom Kippur, during the year in which this story is set. Of the hundreds of priests serving that week, Zechariah's name was drawn "at random" to go into the most holy place of the Temple ("the Holy of Holies") and make an incense offering.  This was a very rare honor.  Most priests like Zechariah would live all of their lives without having their name drawn. You might say he "won the lottery".  Then, if that were not miraculous or unlikely enough, he sees an angel, who delivers to him a miraculous message.

It is very significant that there had been no "word" from God since the book of Malachi was written, 400 years earlier.  There had been no recorded angelic appearances, no prophets. Don't be fooled, though.  God was not idle, even if He was "silent".  I am sure that many had decided that Jehovah's dealings with the Jews were "ancient history" and irrelevant to "modern people".  Not Zechariah or Elizabeth, however.  Their faith had not wavered.  What an inspiration they are!

Even so, when Zechariah saw the angel Gabriel and heard his message, his faith wavered.  Who can blame him?  Certainly not me!  (Most likely I would have pulled a "Sarah", and laughed.)  At any rate, Zechariah (whose name means "God Remembers") and his wife Elizabeth (whose name means "My God Keeps His Word") conceived and birthed that promised son.  And, Zechariah, who had been struck mute in the most holy place, found his tongue freed to praise the King of Kings and Lord of Lords when asked about the name of his newborn boy.  John - - - an unusual, one-of-a-kind name - - for an unusual, chosen boy.  This boy was filled with God's spirit while still in his mother's womb, causing him to leap for joy there when he heard the voice of His Savior's mother for the first time. God is sovereign, faithful and good.

In today's picture the old woman's hand holds the hand of her toddler son.  There are no "unlikelies" with my God.  Nothing is minor to Him.  You may be praying, as I am, for a Christmas miracle this season.  Keep praying.  God is listening.  He bends down to hear the whispered prayer of the broken, the anguished, the weary.  Keep praying.  He longs to give us not only our needs, but the desires of our hearts.

Oh Lord, Seer of All Hearts, You know our needs.  And, You know our deepest desires.  Your grace begins with giving us more of You, and Your blessings flow from that priceless gift.  None of us, none of our needs are either minor or unlikely.  Thank you for meeting them in the most unlikely of ways.  I love You, Lord, and praise You for Your goodness.  In Jesus' name, amen.  

Source:

Voskamp, Ann. The Greatest Gift: Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas. 

Leave it, Charlie!

Good morning,

We have this beloved mutt, Charlie, who in only generally obedient, but faithfully devoted.  He does not know many commands, due mainly to the laxness of his family's training of him.  However, he does know "leave it".  This is the verbal command we give him when, basically, we want him to avoid something that will hurt him or us, OR when we have something for him which is far better.

Now the Lord said to Abram,

“Go out from your country, your relatives, and your father’s household

to the land that I will show you.

2 

Then I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you,

and I will make your name great,

so that you will exemplify divine blessing.

3 

I will bless those who bless you,

but the one who treats you lightly I must curse,

and all the families of the earth will bless one another by your name.”

4 So Abram left, just as the Lord had told him to do

God said to Abram, "If you want my blessing, you've got to leave this place".  Leave it!  It wasn't that God was in some other place to which He wanted Abram to go.  God was there with him and his family, in Ur, also in Haran.  God had already anointed him, chosen him, blessed him.  However, the God of All Greatness wanted to bless him even further .... by making him a blessing to others, to generations, to all the peoples of the earth.  (God even told Abraham's son, Isaac, that his descendants would be more numerous than all the stars in the sky! Genesis 26:4)  In order to receive that promise, Abram had to make a huge step of faith.  Basically, he had to "leave it".

Such is the pattern of resplendent Christian living.  From the overflow of our blessings received, we pour out the love of God on those around us.  We were never meant to keep such love, mercy and grace to ourselves.  We were commissioned to share it with those all around us.  That almost always means coming out of our comfort zones --- Ann Voskamp calls it "leaving the blur of Ur" --- to go to the Promised Land.

Even in the middle of all the Advent preparation, is God calling you to leave your Ur, to make a big step of faith?  Is He asking you to leave some lesser thing in the dust of Haran and move on to something greater for His kingdom?  Has He put a new song in your mouth today?  A song of praise to your God?

Don't go away empty.  Just as we gas our car's tank for a big trip, drink in the beauty of your God. Fill your tank with the beauty of His holiness, with the majesty of His praise.  Let His abundant goodness overflow your vessel, so that it spills out all over those around you, so that it pushes out anything that could be considered "lesser", inferior, dross.

1Sing to the LORD a new song;

         Sing to the LORD, all the earth.

2Sing to the LORD, bless His name;

         Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day.

3Tell of His glory among the nations,

         His wonderful deeds among all the peoples.

4For great is the LORD and greatly to be praised;

         He is to be feared above all gods.

5For all the gods of the peoples are idols,

         But the LORD made the heavens.

6Splendor and majesty are before Him,

         Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.

7Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples,

         Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.

8Ascribe to the LORD the glory of His name;

         Bring an offering and come into His courts.

9Worship the LORD in holy attire;

         Tremble before Him, all the earth.

10Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns;

Psalm 96:1-10a (NET)

Arise, my soul, arise!  Have done with lesser things!  Tell of His glory among the nations! Be to others the Advent blessing He has poured out on you.

We praise you, O God, because strength, beauty and and majesty are in Your sanctuary. We praise You for the Son of your love, for Jesus who died, was buried and resurrected, who now intercedes for His church, at Your right hand, O Father.  We praise You for Your Holy Spirit, who is with us in our Urs, yet calls us to leave behind anything that would keep us from intimate relationship with You, our Triune God.
Through Your children, may Advent appear in all kinds of unlikely places today, for the glory of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, amen.

Source:

 Voskamp, Ann. The Greatest Gift: Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas. Print. 

Embraces and Heartbeats

Good afternoon,

When I picture David in my mind, the first mental picture is of him dancing in fearless, fervent praise before His Lord (2 Samuel 6:12-14).  He was leading a parade down "main street", leaping and dancing, wearing nothing but a linen ephod (whatever that is).  I think it's safe to assume that he was scantily clad...

This behavior may make us shake our heads in wonder and maybe even have a sanctimonious response as did one of David's wives, Michal, (vs. 16).  It is David's same exuberant love for His God that led him to write Psalm 150.

1 

Praise the Lord!

Praise God in his sanctuary!

Praise him in the sky, which testifies to his strength!

2 

Praise him for his mighty acts!

Praise him for his surpassing greatness!

3 

Praise him with the blast of the horn!

Praise him with the lyre and the harp!

4 

Praise him with the tambourine and with dancing!

Praise him with stringed instruments and the flute!

5 

Praise him with loud cymbals!

Praise him with clanging cymbals!

6 

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord!

In addition to being a masterful musician (harpist and songwriter) ... and apparently dancer, the Bible tells us that David was "a man after God's own heart" (Acts 13:22).  The Message translation puts it like this:   He’s a man whose heart beats to my heart, a man who will do what I tell him.

Some of the sweetest moments in life come from embraces:  holding a newborn loved one, lying in bed with your spouse, holding in your arms a loved one who is insane with grief.  In those embraces and in others our hearts beat together.  Our spirits commune with one another as we share love with each other. Our hearts beat to their hearts.

When we pray together, even across time and space, our hearts are beating together.  It is such a mystical truth that, when we lift up our hearts in prayer together, our united "heartbeats" touch the heart of our Father in Heaven, hallowed be His matchless name!

David was a man who was not without troubles; neither are we.  In fact, if you look at God's blessing on your life as an absence of troubles, you will be deceived.  David was chased by Saul (Ps. 59 & 63) or frequently defended himself against enemies (Ps. 7) or had to deal with the many ungodly antics of his sons (2 Samuel).  Despite his challenges and hardships, we still see his name in the Hebrews 11 roll call of faith and this commendation in Acts 13:22.  Why is that?!

No matter what David was experiencing, he almost always ran into the embrace of His God.  Often, he wrote a psalm while there.  When God was holding David in His arms, David was able to hear the heartbeat of God, in all kinds of situations - - - wonderful ones...and awful ones.

This is one of the greatest things about prayer, no matter what circumstance impels us to pray.  We may arrive there frantic, desperate or thankful or joyful or serene.  But, no matter what our state when we arrive, He embraces us so that we can feel and hear His heartbeat, so that our hearts can align with His, so that we can discern His will or, if not discerning it, so that we can pray that His will will be done here in the middle of our circumstances.

I'll be honest.  There are times when I don't want to pray that His will will be done in a given situation.  Or, there are other things the Holy Spirit prompts me to do, and I don't want to do them. Does that ever happen to you?  But, the verse in Acts tells us that a key to why David's heart did beat steadily with God's was not just because he crawled up into God's lap; it was also because David was consistently obedient to God's revealed will.  The New King James Version puts the end of Acts 13:22 like this:  a man "who will do all my will".

"I will arise and go to Jesus.  He will embrace me in His arms.  In the arms of my dear Savior, oh, there are 10,000 charms." 1

His heartbeat...can you hear it?

Dear Father, thank you for Your all-surpassing greatness, Your perfect knowledge in every situation, Your flawless plan.  Thank you for calling us to a life of walking by faith, which has as a perk the permission to run and jump up into your lap on a moment's notice.    Thank you for sharing Your heart with us, as we walk in obedience to Your Word, and as we draw near to You.  In Jesus' name, amen.

Source:
1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LFW6pXC2wk  I love this choral arrangement of the old hymn...