June 6, 2011 … Integrity Enjoys God’s Favor

Passage of the Day: Daniel 1: 8 – 9 … 8 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. 9 Now God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel, …

My Journal for Today: My wife and I had a Christian friend, named Loretta [who is now with the Lord]. We often heard Loretta say, “First obedience, then God’s blessing.” I call her truth statement, “1st Loretta 1: 1” somewhat jokingly; but in reality her statement, which is dead-on truth, is certainly illustrated in what happened to Daniel in today’s passage. First, there was Daniel’s obedience to God’s will and law, i.e., His spiritual integrity, and then we read in today’s highlight passage of God’s provision of blessing in response to Daniel’s obedience.

Daniel stood on God’s word at the risk of his life; and he meekly (but in no means, weakly) appealed to Ashpenaz, the eunuch Babylonian commander; and God saw to it that the heart of this leader from Nebuchadnezzar’s court was softened enough to listen and comply to Daniel’s proposals and requests (read ahead in Daniel 1, verses 10 – 14).

Often in scripture we read of the favor of God being visited upon obedient believers, such as Noah (see Gen. 6: 8) or Joseph (Gen. 39 – 41) or Moses (Exod. 11: 3). And in the New Testament, Peter strongly wrote of this principle in 1st Peter 2: 19 – 20 …

SCRIPTURE: 1st Peter 2: 19 - 20 ... For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. 20 But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.

As John MacArthur succinctly writes his version of 1st Loretta 1: 1, “God’s favor is the rich reward of obedience.” And we should also remember that disobedience to God’s word and His commands leads to the opposite of God’s favor. In the story of Samson in the book of Judges or in Paul’s writings in the New Testament, Romans 1, we read that God’s wrath against disobedience can ultimately release the sinner, or even a nation, to his own reprobate mind and choices, allowing him to become captive to the world and Satan’s devices. However, there are many stories in God’s word (for example about Job, of the Prodigal, or the parable of the Good Shepherd seeking out the lost sheep) where God’s patience and mercy are exhibited when the protagonist of God’s story is obedient to his Lord. But just how long can we expect God to be patient when we, individually or as a nation, choose to reject God’s way and turn to our own selfish and sinful desires? I often read the news of the day and wince, praying, “Oh, Lord, have mercy on this land, growing ever darker in disobedience.”

It’s all right there in God’s book … that He compassionately gives His favor (i.e., His grace) to His obedient children. And we have example after example, … true, biblical references of Godly integrity, … of those who benefited from God’s blessing following their obedience to His word and His will and His way. But when are we going to “get it?!” And when are we going to “do it?!” Because seeing what God sees going on in this country, with the rampant disobedience of His truth, even to the point of mockery of His word, how long can we expect God to hold back a spiritual tsunami from occurring; and as they say, “The rain falls on the righteous as well as the unrighteous.”

My Prayer Today: I get it, Lord; but help me to do it today! And I pray for your mercy to extend to those who actually are obedient to Your will and Your ways. Amen

2010 – August 17 – Sins of a Nation

Study from God’s Word… Ezekiel, Chapters 12 – 14 … Passage for Reflection: Ezekiel 14: 12 – 14 … NIV 12 The word of the LORD came to me: 13 "Son of man, if a country sins against me by being unfaithful and I stretch out my hand against it to cut off its food supply and send famine upon it and kill its men and their animals, 14 even if these three men — Noah, Daniel and Job —were in it, they could save only themselves by their righteousness, declares the Sovereign LORD.”

My Journal for Today: After reading the designated Chapters in the Book of Ezekiel today from The Daily Bible in Chronological Order as well as Dr. LaGard Smith’s devotional in The Daily Bible Devotional if I had any lingering doubts that this country, One Nation UNDER God, whose motto is almost laughingly, In God We Trust, will in some way experience God’s wrath coming down upon those who have been and are mocking His sovereignty, they are gone.

However, I do find it most interesting that there is also a message of reassurance for those, of whom I count myself to be one, who stand firmly for right and take action to alert the people of THE God Who saves. But my reassurance is tempered when I see those mentioned as examples of that remnant, especially Job and Noah, who were not able to help many of their family and/or friends, who became consumed when the wrath of Satan was visited on Job and upon all but Noah’s family when God wiped the earth clean of unbelieving people via the great flood. As I’ve said and speculated in the past, “When the rains fall on the unrighteous, the righteous often get wet as well.”

It would frighten me, if I were our President, to declare that America is “… not a Christian nation.” I’m concerned that my kids/grandkids, being Christians (save maybe the youngest of our grandchildren) live in a culture that is becoming increasingly anti-Christ. But, as Job learned, and Noah experienced, God will some how save the righteous remnant unto eternity to be with Him. Job may have lost his kids to Satan’s attacks; but God kept them for Himself in heaven where Job would one day be reunited with them. Daniel’s young friends, renamed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, declared, before they were put in the fire of the furnace, “[in Daniel 3] 17 If that is the case [that the boys would be put in the fire], our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. 18 But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”

But we know the outcome of the latter true story. God did deliver the faithful boys; and I believe, as God did with Noah, He will deliver or take directly to heaven, those who stand for righteousness when His wrath of wrath of abandonment or death is delivered upon those who now mock Him or turn from Him into evil idolatry and wicked practices.

That is why it is so imperative that we do all we can to fulfill the Great Commission, even, and especially, in our own families, so that whenever God decides to lift his mantle of protection – by the Holy Spirit – off of this “Christian nation” in denial, those who have come to know Christ will be saved eternal destruction. Oh, we who believe and stand for Christ in these modern days of Sodom and Gomorrah may be martyred by Satan or the evil in the world; BUT … we will live on with Christ in glory because of our belief in His saving grace and the reality of His death on the cross, His resurrection, and His now sitting on the Throne of Glory at the right hand of God, the Father.

My Prayer for Today: Save us from peril, oh, Holy Spirit!! Amen

2010 – August 15 – God of Velvet, God of Steel

Study from God’s Word… Ezekiel, Chapters 1 – 7 … Passage for Reflection: Ezekiel 4: 15 … NIV [God to Ezekiel] “Very well,” He said, “I will let you bake your bread over cow manure instead of human excrement.”

My Journal for Today: Well, having read and studied through the first seven chapters of the Book of one of the so-called “major prophets,” in this case Ezekiel, and coming on the series of lessons God teaches to His called/designated Prophet, Ezekiel, we read this somewhat bizarre interlude in today’s highlighted text. In its context God is giving Ezekiel some empathy lessons in what God is going to put the northern tribes of Israel through while they are in captivity; and God is showing Ezekiel that the people will gladly eat even foods forbidden to God’s people, like barley cakes baked over human excrement (can you believe that would be in God’s word?). Well, Ezekiel balks, indicating that he has never – and will never – eat food prepared in such a forbidden manner; so, God – our sensitive God - Who is spewing forth his anger, honors Ezekiel’s obedience by giving him the lesson using animal dung rather than human manure.

I know, … I thought, “How bizarre can God’s written truth get at times!” But this little sequence teaches us that God, even when His wrath and judgment are on display, will show His “teddy-bear” side when He comes across one of His beloved children who has been – and will be – obedient to His expressed will and His ways. And that was what Ezekiel’s prophesies would speak to in the midst of God’s message of His wrath coming down on Israel in captivity. God will spare those for eternity who retain their faith and are truly His. And when he encounters those who, in faith, have remained obedient to His ways and His will through His word, God will exercise the side of His character which is the opposite of His wrath in judgment; and that is His love and mercy and kindness and patience.

If, in the midst of even bizarre scenarios like the one today, we get that message, which was spoken by “Watchmen” such as Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Micah, Joel, Habakkuk, and others, we can have hope … even in the midst of the evil and disobedience we see exercised today – even by those who call themselves “christian,” mocking God with their disobedience. And may God have mercy on His remnant as we do all we can to carry our His great commission and live as salt/light in a very darkened and poisoned world.

My Prayer for Today: Lord, again I plead, “Have mercy on those who love You and do, in truth, follow Your ways.” Amen

2010 – August 7 – Contempt for God’s Word

Study from God’s Word… Jeremiah 36: 1 - 4; Jer. 45: 1 – 5; Jer. 36: 5 - 32 … Passage for Reflection: Jeremiah 36: 23 – 24 … NIV 23 Whenever Jehudi [the agent for Jehoiakim, King of Judah] had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe's knife and threw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire. The king and all his attendants who heard all these words showed no fear, nor did they tear their clothes.

My Journal for Today: Just this past week an activist US District Judge (his name is Vaughn Walker) defiantly declared that the controversial “Prop 8” California constitutional amendment, passed by the citizens of CA, declaring for traditional marriage and banning gay marriage, was unconstitutional and thereby null and void. In doing so, this one judge has deactivated the vote of the citizens of California and made his own law which has also, in turn, declared (in the legal opinion Walker wrote) that no law can be based on the premise of faith or faith traditions. So, … in the headlines of our times we have a very similar case to what happened when the King of Judah, Jehoiakim, bad son of the good King Josiah, ordered that Jeremiah’s prophesies of God’s word, which had been written down in a scroll, be cut up and burned.

It is sad; but I don’t think that Judge Walker has a clue as to the ramifications of his declared legal opinion … just like King Jehoiakim (see verse 24 above) was so brazen about his decision to burn the truth of God written down in Jeremiah’s scroll [which BTW was later restored and re-written]. Now we don’t know what will happen in the appeals process since this District Court opinion will be challenged. It may ultimately be restored by the US Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court; but like Jehoiakim’s challenge of God’s word and will, Judge Walker has acted brazenly to affront God’s written truth. Prop 8 in California was simply a written affirmation of thousands of years of Judeo-Christian values concerning marriage; and it is affirmed by the Bible itself. Judge Walker saw fit to write his legal “tearing up” of Prop 8; and in the process struck out directly and brazenly against God’s way and His will. And like God’s recompense against Jehoiakim, somehow and in some way, Judge Walker is going to pay God for his actions. May God have mercy on him; and may he repent of his decision before God’s hammer of wrath falls as it did on Jehoiakim and his family (see Jeremiah 36: 30 – 31).

But even more importantly for you and me is the application of God’s word in Jer. 36 for our personal lives and how we follow God’s word. And testing this premise, Dr. Smith closes his devotional for today with one of his redundant personal challenges, writing, ”Are there any verses ‘MISSING’ from my Bible (application) because I’ve purposefully chosen to ignore them?” Because, … if the answer to the latter question is “YES,” we are no better in living out our lives than was Jehoiakim trying to eradicate God’s written word or Judge Walker trying to make Judeo-Christian truths null and void in support of gay marriage.

We simply cannot treat God’s word like a smorgasbord, blissfully taking in things which seem to be easy for our palates and ignoring those parts of our truth diet we find difficult to consume. God’s word is ALL truth, as declared by the Apostle Paul to his young Mentee in 2nd Tim. 3: 16-17, … ALL of it is necessary for our living our lives; and we cannot “tear out” concepts or pages from it because they don’t seem appealing to our tastes. We cannot be like Jehoiakim or Judge Walker; because if we do, we risk the very wrath of God coming down like it did for the defiant king in today’s historical account of Jehoiakim or it very likely will for Judge Walker.

My Prayer for Today: Lord, I pray that I – and any who read here – take this lesson to heart and live by ALL of Your word … ALL of the time. Amen

2010 – July 22 – Shame On You

Study from God’s Word… The entire book of Nahum, Chapters 1 – 3 … Passage for Reflection: Nahum 3: 5 … NIV “I am against you [Ninevah],” declares the LORD Almighty. “I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness and the kingdoms your shame.”

My Journal for Today: Reading through the book of Nahum and the historical comments by Dr. Smith this morning, as well as his devotional entry for today, I was brought to speculate about how long God will allow a nation – e.g., this nation in which we live – to perpetuate shameless practices of sin without our Lord coming down heavy with His wrath.

Since their repentance and deliverance by God through the ministry/preaching of Jonah, some 125 years before Nahum’s time/prophesy, the Ninevites (i.e., the Assyrians) had become a shameless and hyper-sinful culture, carrying out vicious practices without remorse, … practices which a Holy God will only take so long without bringing down His hammer of wrath. And the book of Nahum’s prophesy was directed toward this formerly repentant nation of Ninevah in Assyria; and we read in today’s highlight passage how God had had enough, relating, through Nahum, how The Lord was about to expose and shamefully display Ninevah’s sin to the world.

And as I read this, I couldn’t help but speculate an application of this passage to what has transpired in our country’s degradation during the past century; … how we now shamefully are desensitized to sinful practices which were considered cultural “abominations” 50 – 75 years ago, … practices which now are becoming “normalized” in our culture. Just this week – in the city where I live – the powers that be are trying to pass local legislation which will force businesses, and even churches, to hire cross dressers and transgendered individuals, which are cultural practices which would have been considered “shameful,” and were outlawed, just decades ago.

When we look at Ninevah, we see that God had patience and mercy for Ninevah after they repented and became obedient to the God of Israel at Jonah’s preaching; but the Assyrians slowly degenerated in their culture into shameful practices of sin, which once, for Ninevah, had been sin practices which they had rejected. My question is, “Just how long is our God, a most Holy God, going to be patient with this nation, which is becoming desensitized to such sinful practices as homosexuality, abortion, infanticide, and age-related genocide?” As a nation, we’re not so slowly becoming a culture who shows no shame to these sinful practices. And my friends, God, as He did with the Assyrians in Nahum’s day, will not continue to allow these shameful sin patterns to go on.

As we read in Romans 1: 18 – 32 [linked], God may be turning us, as His people, over to our own hearts and sin choices for a season. But most assuredly, God’s hammer of retribution will one day fall down; and even those who are the remnant of believers, trying our best to follow God, … yes, even those who have spoken out against these evil practices, will feel the rain of God’s discontent, when God’s wrath of abandonment becomes His wrath of punishment for our nation gone bad.

All I can say in prayer today is …

My Prayer for Today: Lord, have mercy on us, a sinful people and a caring remnant. Amen

2010 – Day 7. Jan. 7 – The Power of God

Study from Genesis 18 – 19; Passage for Reflection: Genesis 18: 13-14 … NIV Then the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Will I really have a child, now that I am old?' 14 Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son."

My Journal for Today: Again I go to Pastor Smith’s devotional question at the end of today’s entry, which asks, ”Is there anything [you’ve] desperately tried to make happen without thinking that if God wants to make it happen, He has the power to make it happen?” Sarah’s laugh in today’s passage is evidence of our human failing. We tend to judge God’s power based on our human ability to perform. Sarah simply couldn’t fathom how God could give her the ability to conceive a child at her age. So, her reaction was to giggle in disbelief. Not a good thing to do in the presence of God; would you say?

But my friend, when God promises something, He is truthful, serious, and ALWAYS capable of fulfilling His promises. And as I read today’s highlight passage and my study from Genesis, one of my memory verses bubbled up into my consciousness. It is Numbers 23: 19, which reads, God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should change his mind. Does He speak and then not act? Does He promise and not fulfill? So, my friend, laughing off God’s promises or His power to act is the height of human arrogance, pride, and absolute foolishness.

In Genesis 19 Abraham was given a first-hand look at the results of the promises and power of God as he looked out from the plains of Hebron and saw Sodom and Gomorrah burning. God had promised the destruction of those perpetuating evil in these cities; and Abraham witnessed the result. And we need to be alerted to this reality when we look around and see what evil is being perpetrated in our world, evil which mocks God’s protection and mercy thus far in our culture. I read Romans 1: 18-32 [linked]; and I shudder at what I know to be the truth that God’s mercy will only last so long (and we know not how long) to protect the righteous remnant of believers from God’s wrath of abandonment. God will not and cannot continue to look the other way as Sodom/Gomorrah type evil is being perpetrated in our time.

Those who have read my journals here in the past year will know that on more than one occasion I have brought forth the adage that the rain, when it falls, will fall on both the unjust and the just. So, God’s church needs to be in prayer – diligent prayer – the type of prayer exhorted in 2nd Chron. 7: 14 [linked] - for God to heal our land of the evil which appears to be growing in our midst. But as Habakkuk, the Prophet of old learned, we need to be prepared for things to get worse before they get better. God will do what He feels must be done to bring His plans to fruition. And we must be willing to trust Him to do His thing, in His time, and in His way!

My Prayer for Today: Lord, we stand before You, trusting and knowing that You know best what You must do to heal our land; but I do humbly pray that you have mercy on those who believe in Your sovereignty and Lordship. You are in control; and we trust You in all things; and we plea for Your deliverance and merciful judgment. Amen