Journal

I thought I’d post this entry from my HEAR journal, as it gives me hope from a strange passage.

H – Highlight

1 Kings 19:35 – And that night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.

E – Explain

During the days of Isaiah and Hezekiah, the Assyrian army threatened Jerusalem. This force was insurmountable. There was simply no way that Judah should have been able to survive. The northern kingdom had already fallen to this empire.

But, in the verse above, we see the supernatural hand of God at work. The Lord sent an angel and wiped out a massive force outside of Jerusalem.

A – Apply

God is able to change the world by his will and for his glory. There is no army he cannot defeat. There is no force that is great enough to stop his plan. For me this morning, I find comfort and hope in the fact that God is mighty enough to defeat armies and change the course of history. Obviously we are living in a strange and frightening political time. But knowing that the Lord is almighty and glorious reminds us that he is not going to be defeated. Our election, our laws, our national strength or weakness have nothing to do with the greatness or the glory of God.

R – Respond

Lord, I see in this text that the greatest of enemy armies and the mightiest of empires do not threaten you. You are the Lord over all. No king and no army, no president and no election, can change who you are. Help me, I pray, to remember your greatness and that my purpose is to glorify you. I do pray for your mercy on our nation. But I will not, or at least I should not, allow myself to fret over the plots of men. You are God, and that is the great and final truth.

Let us learn a few things about our God.

Isaiah 44:24-28

24 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer,
who formed you from the womb:
“I am the Lord, who made all things,
who alone stretched out the heavens,
who spread out the earth by myself,
25 who frustrates the signs of liars
and makes fools of diviners,
who turns wise men back
and makes their knowledge foolish,
26 who confirms the word of his servant
and fulfills the counsel of his messengers,
who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be inhabited,’
and of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall be built,
and I will raise up their ruins’;
27 who says to the deep, ‘Be dry;
I will dry up your rivers’;
28 who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd,
and he shall fulfill all my purpose’;
saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’
and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.’ ”

What can we glean from this text that is over two-and-a-half millennia old?

24 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: “I am the Lord, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself,

Our God is Creator. He made all things. He made you and me. And he did so by his own power. We cannot imagine this type of awesome power. You and I can create nothing. We can take existing material and fashion it, but we create nothing from nothing.

25 who frustrates the signs of liars and makes fools of diviners, who turns wise men back and makes their knowledge foolish,

God will frustrate liars. In eternity, we will not see the victory of corrupt news media, censoring social media sites, or evil politicians who would use deception to gain power. Neither will we find ourselves defeated by proponents of false religions and godless worldviews.

26 who confirms the word of his servant and fulfills the counsel of his messengers, who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be inhabited,’ and of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall be built, and I will raise up their ruins’; 27 who says to the deep, ‘Be dry; I will dry up your rivers’; 28 who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose’; saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’
and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.’ ”

Here God speaks particularly of using Cyrus, the leader of an oppressive government, to accomplish his will. God intended that Jerusalem would be rebuilt in the late 6th century BC. God motivated a pagan politician, a man with selfish and godless motives, to send the people of Israel back into the land to accomplish exactly what God planned.

Can we see anything in the above passage to give us hope today? I pray that you do. God is mighty. God is Creator. God will not lose. Liars will not overthrow him. No politician or political party will thwart him.

Am I suggesting elections do not matter? No, that is not my point. I am suggesting that, whether the election goes the way I want or not, God is still God. He will use godly men or evil men to finally accomplish exactly what he intends. Our God will be glorified. His kingdom will come. His will is going to be done.

I would hope that you have voted in a way that best matches the truth of God and the standards of god in his holy word. But even more so, I would pray that you have surrendered in faith and repentance to Jesus Christ, God in flesh, the King of kings and Lord of lords. He reigns and will reign. And your only hope is to find his grace before facing his judgment.

H – Highlight

1 Samuel 28:5-7 – 5 When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. 6 And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets. 7 Then Saul said to his servants, “Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her.” And his servants said to him, “Behold, there is a medium at En-dor.”

E – Explain

On the day before the death of Saul in a battle with the Philistines, the king is afraid and seeks God’s counsel. But God will not speak to him in any form, so Saul seeks guidance through forbidden means.

A – Apply

It is a temptation for people to seek things in God’s way so long as we get what we want. But, when we do not get what we want, it is often the case that people will turn from the ways of the Lord to try to accomplish things in whatever ways we can find. This is evil.

R – Respond

Dear Lord, I acknowledge that there is a temptation to do things in my way or in ways that dishonor you when I do not get what I want from you. I confess that this is sin. You are perfect, and your ways are best. I pray that you will help me trust you and to totally find my freedom from within the bounds of your perfect commands.

H – Highlight

Leviticus 23:22 – “And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.”

E – Explain

In Leviticus 23, we see God give instructions for the Sabbath and for the 3 major feasts of Israel. As God gives the direction for the feast of first fruits, also called Pentecost because it was held 50 days after Passover, he reminds the people of their requirement not to fully harvest their fields. The people were to leave the corners of the fields unharvested for the good of the poor. Note that they were not merely to give the poor a handout but were to make it possible for the poor to work to get food. At the same time, the owners were not to try to squeeze every last bit of profit out of their property. They were to leave a margin to be able to care for the needy.

A —Apply

First, I apply this by recognizing that God’s system for living is the best. That makes sense. God is wiser than man. His plan to govern a nation would be the best.

Second, I see that God reminds us that those with work ought not spend to the last penny. Instead, we are to leave margin for giving and caring for others. This would be true for those who should be sure they are able to give to the church.

I also think the idea of not harvesting the whole field would bring me a principle of scheduling too. I should not fill my time to a point that I cannot take a phone call or meet a need.

Finally, I see that it is good for the poor to work for their food instead of just receiving it. It is a trap to have a person handed food without labor. Of course, there are those incapable of work, and we want to care for them. But there are also those who could work, but who, in our system, understand that doing work would actually be less productive and provide less for their families.

R – Respond

Lord, I first thank you for showing us how things should be. I know that your system is better than any other. I pray that you will help me to live with enough margin in my life that I can care for others around me. I pray that I will not spend time or money until I have nothing left.

H – Highlight

Leviticus 9:7 – Then Moses said to Aaron, “Draw near to the altar and offer your sin offering and your burnt offering and make atonement for yourself and for the people, and bring the offering of the people and make atonement for them, as the Lord has commanded.”

E – Explain

In Leviticus 8-9, we see the ordination of Aaron as high priest and the first offerings made for the people in this new priesthood.

A – Apply

I think what grabs my attention is not so much the verse that I have highlighted as the detail and bloodiness of the whole affair. The commands that Aaron needed to follow were meticulous. As Hebrews 9:22 reminds us, almost everything was purified with blood. This was a messy, ugly thing that had to be done so that the sins of people could be covered and so they could approach the Lord.

The application for me is one of awe and gratitude. My sin is such a thing that I should not be allowed to approach the Lord. But God has done what needed to be done. No bull, no goat, no birds can shed their blood for my sin. The spotless Son of god died to pay the price for my sin so that I can approach the Lord.

R – Respond

Lord, I thank you for the sacrifice of Jesus for my sins. I thank you for the picture, here in Leviticus, of the need for blood to cover my sin. I confess my failure and fallenness. I pray that you will help me live now to honor you, living forgiven. Help me to be changed to be more given to you in all things.

H – Highlight

Exodus 9:13-16

13 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. 14 For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself, and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. 15 For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. 16 But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.

Exodus 9:29 – Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will stretch out my hands to the Lord. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the Lord’s.

E – explain

In the accounts of the plagues in Exodus 8-9, we see a couple of places where God tells us why he is doing what he is doing in the way he is doing it. I’ll pull out three parts of verses that include explanatory words:

• “so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth” (14)
• “But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth” (16)
• “so that you may know that the earth is the Lord’s” (29)

As God judges or removes plagues, we see that he has a consistent purpose in his actions beyond freeing Israel from Egypt. After all, had God simply wanted to get his people out of the land, he could have done so in a far gentler way. God, by his own word, tells us that he does these things so that observers can know that there is none like him, to show his power, to have his name proclaimed in all the earth, and so that they will know the earth is his.

A – Apply

We see in this passage that God takes actions that are not politically correct, actions that some today would say they dislike, in order that his power and glory might be on display. God wants us to know that he is almighty. He wants us to know that he owns this world. He wants us to know that none can stand against him. He wants us to proclaim his name. God does what he does in the way that he does for his glory.

If we understand this, we will also see that it is our duty, regardless of circumstance, to know and proclaim these things as well. We exist to give God glory. We exist to tell people that there is none like the Lord God Almighty. We exist to proclaim his name.

In many a modern conversation, people will spend their time attempting to justify the acts of god to a world that opposes him. We need to become more willing to tell the world that the Lord is right and the world is wrong. We need to become more willing to face the disapproval of the world as we tell them that the Lord does what he does because the world is his, because his power is infinite, because he wants his name to be known and glorified. We need to be willing to remind folks that God is not judged by us, though we are judged by God.

R – Respond

Lord, as I read this passage, I am reminded that you are sovereign and almighty. I am reminded that this world is yours. And I am reminded that my purpose is not to make the world approve of you. My purpose is to glorify you. I pray that you will help me to proclaim your words and your mighty deeds with absolute honesty and clarity. I pray that you will use my life and acts to show your honor. I pray that I will hunger to see and savor and proclaim your glory more than I want anything in life. And I pray that you will save people by your power, by your grace, for your glory.

H – Highlight

Exodus 3:10-12 – 10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” 12 He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

E – Explain

Moses feels unable to be the person God will use to lead the Israelites up out of Egypt. God, for his part, lets Moses know that God will go with him and accomplish the task.

A – Apply

Like Moses, it is easy to feel unworthy for the task that God has for us. After all, we are sinners. We are weak. The world is big and scary. The problems we face are too large.

But God is with us. His Spirit indwells us. We have no right to claim that we lack what we need to serve the Lord in accord with his word. It might be hard. But God will not fail his people.

R – Respond

Lord, I pray that you will help me to recall the truth of your presence with me. I am unworthy if left to myself. I am unable. But you are worthy. You are strong. You can use me to accomplish your plan. Help me rest in you.

H – Highlight

Job 38:21

You know, for you were born then,

and the number of your days is great!

E – Explain

Job 38 is where God begins to ask Job a series of questions as a rebuke. Job has been demanding to know why God allowed Job to face calamities. Job believes that he knows that there is no reasonable explanation for what he faces, because Job is not aware of actively doing unrighteousness.

The Lord’s rebuke of Job is a reminder that, while Job may know a few things, Job does not have nearly enough understanding to accuse the Lord of treating him unjustly. God gives multiple examples of simple things that he knows Job cannot explain. Job was not present at creation. Job does not know how God controls the day and night, the wind and rain, the stars in the sky, or the creatures in the sea. How then could Job expect to understand all the ways of the Almighty?

In the verse I highlighted, God is sarcastic with Job. After asking about things related to creation, light and darkness particularly, God says that Job must understand it; after all, Job was alive back then. Of course this is sarcasm. Job was not created then, and God is making sure that Job realizes just how ridiculous he looks in thinking that he can demand answers of God or that he could accuse God based on his puny knowledge and experience.

A – Apply

The first application for me is the reminder that I do not have nearly enough knowledge to ever question God and his ways. I do not know even the little things. I do not know how God actually hung the stars in space. Nor do I understand how God chose to make the tides work. Nor do I understand what makes atoms hold together and not fly apart. So, if I ever get to a place where I think that God must answer to me and my understanding, I’m making a mistake.

With that in mind, I also see an application for humanity as a whole. We think we have figured out the answers to many of the questions in Job 38. We think we know how the universe came into being. We have put people on the ocean floor to see the strange creatures down there. WE think we understand the patterns of the weather. And perhaps this shows that people believe that they do know the answers to God’s questions to Job and therefore have the right to question him and his ways.

But, in point of fact, all our knowledge is tiny. All our thinking is warped by sin. And we do not know even the most minuscule fraction of the truth of the universe to set ourselves up as opponents for God. Eve sinned in a grab for knowledge. Humans still sin because we think that our little knowledge makes us superior to the God of the Bible.

R – Respond

I want to think a little more on how the human grasping for knowledge, our assumption that we know how things work, has actually moved us away from praise and into further rebellion. Seeing the science behind the universe should lead us to worship the Lord. It has led us to arrogance and sin.

Pray: Lord, I know my knowledge is small. I was not there when you laid the foundation of the earth or set the stars in space. I do not know things that are easy for you. And I have no right to ever question your goodness. When you say in your word that a certain thing is right, it is right. When you say that a certain thing is wrong, then it is wrong. I submit to you, for you are God and I am not.

H – Highlight

Psalm 119:37

Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things;
and give me life in your ways.

E – Explain

This psalm is 176 verses of proclamation of praise to God for his holy word. Here, David prays that God will stop him from being distracted by worthless, useless things, things that do not matter. Instead, David wants God to focus him on his ways, on God’s word and revealed will and character.

A – Apply

This is not hard to apply in general. Our hearts need to long far more to see God than to see things that are of no consequence.

It does raise questions about entertainment, hobbies, sports, etc. And I do not think that this text would say to us that there is no room for enjoying anything that is not Scripture. But I think that we can see that, if our eyes are drawn away from God’s holiness and God’s holy word to things that do not matter, then our hearts are not as in love with the word of the Almighty as they should be. If our eyes or imaginations are drawn toward the immoral, then they are turned from the ways and word of the Lord. And it is good then that we pray that God fix our eyes on him and to help us turn them from the unworthy pursuits of this world.

R – Response

It is wise that I consider well where my mind goes. Do I let myself dwell on what is worthless? Do I turn from the word to what would dishonor God and find more pleasure in the sinful? Do I find more joy in what does not matter than what does?

Prayer: Lord, I would ask that you would, as the text says, turn my eyes and my mind from what is worthless and let me love you and your ways. May your word be a true treasure to me. I pray that you not let me enjoy anything in this world more than you and your ways. Yes, let me love my family. Yes, let me love beauty and the happy blessings you give. But let me never be turned to what is worthless and away from you. Please give me wisdom and conviction here. Please forgive me where I have failed here.

H – Highlight

Luke 1:45 – “And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

E – Explain

Elizabeth is rejoicing at Mary’s arrival and the news that the Christ has come. Contextually, there is something interesting. In 1-25, Elizabeth’s husband had not believed the message from the angel, and he had suffered the inability to speak because of it. Now, Elizabeth knows that Mary is carrying the Savior in her womb, and Mary believed the Lord.

A – Apply

The biblical principle I draw here is that belief leads to blessing. I know that the Lord must bring us to faith, it is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8). At the same time, all through Scripture, the Lord has rewarded faith. God counted Abram’s faith to him as righteousness (Gen. 15:6).

What must I believe? What have I struggled to believe with my heart even when my head knows what to acknowledge?

R – Response

Prayer: Lord, I believe you and your word. I know this is a gift from you, and so I give you all the glory for any faith I have. I also know that, even as a believer, I have times when my own life would show that I only am believing with my head and not my heart. I pray that you would strengthen the faith you have given me. Help me to believe that you will fulfill all you have promised. And help me to find your blessing in faith.