Passage of the Day: Daniel 1: 1 – 2 … 1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god.
My Journal for Today: You’ve gotta love the openness and reality of the Bible, more specifically today in the Old Testament book of Daniel. As we read in today’s highlight passage, God never coddles the sinfulness of His people. For many years God’s people, the Jews, had been disobedient and recalcitrant; and so God allows the wicked nation of Babylon to consume His chosen ones in captivity.
John MacArthur in Strength for Today points out that this illustrates that “… judgment [begins] with the family of God (see 1st Peter 4: 17). “ And it also shows that God’s discipline is always levied against His children to produce greater righteousness and Godly integrity (see Hebrew 12: 5 – 11 - linked for your study).
It was this stage of historical captivity, involving the Jews with all of the associated Babylonian cruelty, which produced the remarkable display of faithful spiritual integrity which I’ll be highlighting this month … as Daniel and his young Hebrew friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah are tested and found to be pure jewels in God’s crown.
Think of the word picture involving a jeweler desiring to show his best gems, possibly his prime diamonds. To do this, the jeweler always displays these prime jewels or sparkling gems on a blackened backdrop, shining a focused, bright light to reflect off of the facets of the cut gems to entice a buyer who is looking at the gems. And that is what we will see in the book of Daniel as the shining integrity of these four young Hebrews is displayed, shining against the dark backdrop of their Babylonian captors.
And right now in history, knowing what God has communicated to His people (including His remnant in this country) … a stark warning that He can, at any time, as He did with the Jews in today’s passage, turn a nation over to its own selfish ways and let Satan deal with His people for a season. Reading the passage in Romans 1: 18-32 (please read it as it’s linked here) gives me pause, and makes me wonder if God hasn’t already begun to leave this country to our own fleshly captivity. Certainly something to ponder; and about which we should pray.
My Prayer Today: Shine through me, Lord! Have mercy on Your people, Lord! Amen
Showing posts with label chastisement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chastisement. Show all posts
Thursday, June 02, 2011
Tuesday, October 05, 2010
2010 – October 5 – Sniffing at the Lord’s Table
Study from God’s Word… Malachi, Chapters 1 – 4 … Passage for Reflection: Malachi 1: 12 – 13 … NIV 12 "But you profane it by saying of the Lord's table, 'It is defiled,' and of its food, 'It is contemptible.' 13 And you say, 'What a burden!' and you sniff at it contemptuously," says the LORD Almighty.
My Journal for Today: May I intervene here by telling you a brief personal remembrance. When I was in Kindergarten, my teacher, Mrs. Rex, used a technique to help us remember “the rules,” … i.e., those things which we were taught to protect our well being and help us grow in character. When we transgressed “the rules,” Mrs. Rex would march us into the clothes closet; and as we passed her, she would plant one brief, humiliating swat on our butts with a ping-pong paddle. So, at various times when she picked up her paddle, we knew what was about to happen; and someone was about to march to the clothes closet and be “reminded” of what righteousness was all about. Oh, how we hated that ping-pong paddle and that clothes closet. But invariably, though we knew “the rules,” we would forget and someone would be humiliated; … and I’m afraid I had my share of trips to the closet and pops with the paddle on my rear end, helping me to learn the right way to act in class.
I bring this up because I personally view some of the mornings I come to this, my quiet “closet,” for morning devotionals in the light of that little story I’ve just related. Interesting that the name of my Kindergarten Teacher was "REX," the Latin word for “King;” because some mornings here in my quiet time, my Lord, The King of kings, takes me to task, sending me to my own “clothes closet” with a rap on my emotional derriere with some of the devotionals I’m led to study and upon which I’m led to meditate from God’s word. And this morning is one of those.
And here we are, in this study of the Book by Malachi’s name; and I’m reminded of my own laxity and unwillingness to honor God and His Covenant with His children. Like the ancient and recalcitrant Jews, I profane my worship of my Lord with overt disobedience and ill treatment of God’s recognized ways. I act in many ways in contempt of my God by the way I eat. Well, maybe not at the Lord’s Table, but certainly at any table where I eat in ways that are sinful and gluttonous in my desire to satisfy self, rather than honor my Savior. And God, through the conviction of His Holy Spirit, takes me to the “clothes closet” of humiliation and gives me a swat of direction with His paddle of truth.
This morning, I stand convicted and duly “paddled” by the recognition and realization that my attitude – at times – is no different from these ancient Hebrews who were so reticent to follow the known ways of their God, Whom is the same God I love and serve. So, this morning God is giving me, in this remembrance of my Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Rex, a recognition that I need to be in a mode of humiliation and surrender; and prayerfully this will lead me to a time when I remember God’s righteous ways and honor Him with my righteous choices.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, help me to walk in Your ways and live in Your truth. Amen
My Journal for Today: May I intervene here by telling you a brief personal remembrance. When I was in Kindergarten, my teacher, Mrs. Rex, used a technique to help us remember “the rules,” … i.e., those things which we were taught to protect our well being and help us grow in character. When we transgressed “the rules,” Mrs. Rex would march us into the clothes closet; and as we passed her, she would plant one brief, humiliating swat on our butts with a ping-pong paddle. So, at various times when she picked up her paddle, we knew what was about to happen; and someone was about to march to the clothes closet and be “reminded” of what righteousness was all about. Oh, how we hated that ping-pong paddle and that clothes closet. But invariably, though we knew “the rules,” we would forget and someone would be humiliated; … and I’m afraid I had my share of trips to the closet and pops with the paddle on my rear end, helping me to learn the right way to act in class.
I bring this up because I personally view some of the mornings I come to this, my quiet “closet,” for morning devotionals in the light of that little story I’ve just related. Interesting that the name of my Kindergarten Teacher was "REX," the Latin word for “King;” because some mornings here in my quiet time, my Lord, The King of kings, takes me to task, sending me to my own “clothes closet” with a rap on my emotional derriere with some of the devotionals I’m led to study and upon which I’m led to meditate from God’s word. And this morning is one of those.
And here we are, in this study of the Book by Malachi’s name; and I’m reminded of my own laxity and unwillingness to honor God and His Covenant with His children. Like the ancient and recalcitrant Jews, I profane my worship of my Lord with overt disobedience and ill treatment of God’s recognized ways. I act in many ways in contempt of my God by the way I eat. Well, maybe not at the Lord’s Table, but certainly at any table where I eat in ways that are sinful and gluttonous in my desire to satisfy self, rather than honor my Savior. And God, through the conviction of His Holy Spirit, takes me to the “clothes closet” of humiliation and gives me a swat of direction with His paddle of truth.
This morning, I stand convicted and duly “paddled” by the recognition and realization that my attitude – at times – is no different from these ancient Hebrews who were so reticent to follow the known ways of their God, Whom is the same God I love and serve. So, this morning God is giving me, in this remembrance of my Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Rex, a recognition that I need to be in a mode of humiliation and surrender; and prayerfully this will lead me to a time when I remember God’s righteous ways and honor Him with my righteous choices.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, help me to walk in Your ways and live in Your truth. Amen
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