Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Judges, Chapters 10-12 … To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Highlight Reference Passage : Judges 10: 29-35 … 29 Then the Spirit of the LORD came on Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites. 30 And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD: “If you give the Ammonites into my hands, 31 whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.”
32 Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the LORD gave them into his hands. 33 He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued Ammon.
34 When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of timbrels! She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter. 35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, “Oh no, my daughter! You have brought me down and I am devastated. I have made a vow to the LORD that I cannot break.”
My Journal for Today: Today’s chronological read in Judges (in Chapters 10-12) takes me through a disturbing story involving the Judge, Jephthah, a man born as the illegitimate son of a prostitute, and a man who was disinherited by his father; yet, he became the leader of the Israelites, leading them out of a long period of idolatry and subjugation into victory over the oppressors of Israel.
Yet, in today’s passage we see that even though the Holy Spirit had come upon Jephthah; and he was called out by God, he was still a very fallible man who could – and did – make a rash promise to God without thinking through the ramifications of bargaining with God as to his own future. And the implications of this story certainly apply to all who call upon God – our God, … especially in times when things seem difficult or oppressive.
Perhaps in such times, you might have prayed rashly, “Lord, if You deliver me from this, I’ll ____________.” And I’ll let you fill in that blank of a promise, which you made to God, praying to overcome whatever dire circumstances led you to make such a promise about your future.
Well, Jephthah made such a promise, as we read above; and low-and-behold, it cost him the life of his only daughter. Now, perhaps we have not been so rash to make such a foolish promise to God; but God’s word is pretty clear in telling us never to make rash promises or vows to God.
And Jephthah should have known this principle because Moses had clearly stated this in the Book of the Law, which God’s people had to give them teaching in moments like these. In Deuteronomy 23: 21-23, God stated through Moses, “ If you make a vow to the LORD your God, do not be slow to pay it, for the LORD your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin. 22 But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty. 23 Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the LORD your God with your own mouth.”
And so, from these Old Testament teachings and true historical accounts like this one in the life of one of the Judges, we should certainly learn that God is not asking us to make rash promises about the hereafter. All God wants from us is our faith and trust in His promises for the here-and-now. We can also read that from the words of Solomon in a passage that you may have (and if not, should have) memorized. You may be thinking right now of Proverbs 3: 5-6, which is my wife’s favorite verse. It states, and I quote from memory (and the NKJV), … Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not on your own understanding, In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.
All God expected of Jephthah was trust in Him as the promise-keeping God of Israel. All God expects of us is that same faith and trust. So, today, as you follow along with me, reading through these passages in Judges, let’s ask ourselves if we’re trusting God the way we should; and if we’re tempted to make some very human, but very foolish, promise to God, let’s back away and simply trust that God knows best for us; and He will watch over us and guide us no matter what our circumstances might be.
My Prayer Today: … God, You are my God and You watch over me today; and that’s all I need to know. Amen
Showing posts with label promise keeping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label promise keeping. Show all posts
Monday, April 02, 2012
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
March 27, 2012 … God Is A Promise Keeper
Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Joshua, Chapters 19-21 … To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Highlight Reference Passage : Joshua 21: 43-45 … 43 So the LORD gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their ancestors, and they took possession of it and settled there. 44 The LORD gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their ancestors. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the LORD gave all their enemies into their hands. 45 Not one of all the LORD’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.
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Highlight Reference Passage : Numbers 23: 19 … [God speaking through Balaam, the sorcerer prophet] 19 God is not human, that He should lie, not a human being, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and then not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?
My Journal for Today: I’m forging on today in my chronological read through the Bible in a bit of darkness. The website at which I follow the reading plan is down this morning; so, based on past patterns of reading in the plan, I’m just leveling a guess that Day 87 of the reading plan will take me to Joshua, Chapters 19-21 - linked for your co-study above.
Actually, the fact that my internet shepherd seems to be darkened this morning presents an interesting word picture; because the internet, which we rely upon so heavily these days may be defective/broken for select websites; but God’s word is never broken or defective. Therefore, though my web shepherd may be down this morning, God’s word is always up. So, my moving on my own into more chapters of Joshua’s book, can not and will not lead me astray because I am reading the always true word of God; and He will always have something true and purposeful for me because I’m reading from and meditating on God’s very word. That’s His promise to me from Isaiah 55: 11 and 2nd Timothy 3: 16-17; and I believe it!!!
So, today in these three chapters of Joshua, right at the end of Chapter 21 – in verses 43-45, we read the highlight statement from God which stood out so much for me that I copied it in bold/underlined text above. And it’s worthy of repetition: “Not one of all the LORD’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.”
And immediately, when I read that verse today, up from my memory archive of verses bubbled the other highlight verse I’ve quoted this morning, which was God speaking through a rather weird source, … Balaam, the sorcerer prophet, who was chosen by God to bring a message directly from God to a pagan king. And you may recall, in Numbers 22, Balaam became convinced of God’s power and truth when he had a speaking encounter with his own donkey. And then, we read of God using the witness and words of a pagan prophet to speak truth to a pagan ruler and to all of mankind as documented in God’s word. Amazing, isn’t it!!!
And when we take both of the truths spoken in those passages above to heart, we strongly realize that our God is a promise-keeper God. And when our God makes promises, He keeps them [!], … not necessarily the way we might want them fulfilled and in the timing we might arrange for them to be fulfilled. But God keeps HIS promises, … in HIS manner, … and in His timing.
Think about it. If you were God and you had promised to Israel that you would give them a promised land, would you have chosen a former murder and disgraced Hebrew who had become a lowly shepherd to lead your people out of slavery in Egypt? … Would you have marched these chosen ones through the desert wilderness for 40 years to purge all the bad apples from the twelve tribes? … Would you – as GOD - have taken residence in a tent as you led the people through the wilderness? … Would you, knowing that these people were going to fail – miserably – allow them to go onward into the land you had promised them? … And finally, would you – as their LORD – give up your only Son in the Godhead to save these pitiful, miserable sinners?
“No,” on all counts, right? Or maybe you’re saying, “I just don’t know what I’d do if I were God.” And that would be “RIGHT ON!” my brother or sister Christian. We can’t know what God will do; because God is God and we are not! (see Isaiah 55: 8-9) But God, being God, will do things HIS way in HIS time and by HIS will, as documented in HIS word, to accomplish what HE promises. And that’s the message we all need to take away from this trek through truth today.
God gives His promises; … DONE DEAL! He says, it … we believe it!! And it’s not our place, as His chosen ones, … to question the Master’s will and His way and His timing. If God promises that we are going to be completed in His image (see Phil. 1: 6), it’s going to happen … in HIS way and in HIS timing. What we need to do when we have the promises of God (and we do – in His word) is to seek them, to believe them, and to actively wait for them to transpire … as God meets them out in His time and in His way.
My Prayer Today: … My dear LORD, You are my promise keeper! Amen
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Highlight Reference Passage : Joshua 21: 43-45 … 43 So the LORD gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their ancestors, and they took possession of it and settled there. 44 The LORD gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their ancestors. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the LORD gave all their enemies into their hands. 45 Not one of all the LORD’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.
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Highlight Reference Passage : Numbers 23: 19 … [God speaking through Balaam, the sorcerer prophet] 19 God is not human, that He should lie, not a human being, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and then not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?
My Journal for Today: I’m forging on today in my chronological read through the Bible in a bit of darkness. The website at which I follow the reading plan is down this morning; so, based on past patterns of reading in the plan, I’m just leveling a guess that Day 87 of the reading plan will take me to Joshua, Chapters 19-21 - linked for your co-study above.
Actually, the fact that my internet shepherd seems to be darkened this morning presents an interesting word picture; because the internet, which we rely upon so heavily these days may be defective/broken for select websites; but God’s word is never broken or defective. Therefore, though my web shepherd may be down this morning, God’s word is always up. So, my moving on my own into more chapters of Joshua’s book, can not and will not lead me astray because I am reading the always true word of God; and He will always have something true and purposeful for me because I’m reading from and meditating on God’s very word. That’s His promise to me from Isaiah 55: 11 and 2nd Timothy 3: 16-17; and I believe it!!!
So, today in these three chapters of Joshua, right at the end of Chapter 21 – in verses 43-45, we read the highlight statement from God which stood out so much for me that I copied it in bold/underlined text above. And it’s worthy of repetition: “Not one of all the LORD’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.”
And immediately, when I read that verse today, up from my memory archive of verses bubbled the other highlight verse I’ve quoted this morning, which was God speaking through a rather weird source, … Balaam, the sorcerer prophet, who was chosen by God to bring a message directly from God to a pagan king. And you may recall, in Numbers 22, Balaam became convinced of God’s power and truth when he had a speaking encounter with his own donkey. And then, we read of God using the witness and words of a pagan prophet to speak truth to a pagan ruler and to all of mankind as documented in God’s word. Amazing, isn’t it!!!
And when we take both of the truths spoken in those passages above to heart, we strongly realize that our God is a promise-keeper God. And when our God makes promises, He keeps them [!], … not necessarily the way we might want them fulfilled and in the timing we might arrange for them to be fulfilled. But God keeps HIS promises, … in HIS manner, … and in His timing.
Think about it. If you were God and you had promised to Israel that you would give them a promised land, would you have chosen a former murder and disgraced Hebrew who had become a lowly shepherd to lead your people out of slavery in Egypt? … Would you have marched these chosen ones through the desert wilderness for 40 years to purge all the bad apples from the twelve tribes? … Would you – as GOD - have taken residence in a tent as you led the people through the wilderness? … Would you, knowing that these people were going to fail – miserably – allow them to go onward into the land you had promised them? … And finally, would you – as their LORD – give up your only Son in the Godhead to save these pitiful, miserable sinners?
“No,” on all counts, right? Or maybe you’re saying, “I just don’t know what I’d do if I were God.” And that would be “RIGHT ON!” my brother or sister Christian. We can’t know what God will do; because God is God and we are not! (see Isaiah 55: 8-9) But God, being God, will do things HIS way in HIS time and by HIS will, as documented in HIS word, to accomplish what HE promises. And that’s the message we all need to take away from this trek through truth today.
God gives His promises; … DONE DEAL! He says, it … we believe it!! And it’s not our place, as His chosen ones, … to question the Master’s will and His way and His timing. If God promises that we are going to be completed in His image (see Phil. 1: 6), it’s going to happen … in HIS way and in HIS timing. What we need to do when we have the promises of God (and we do – in His word) is to seek them, to believe them, and to actively wait for them to transpire … as God meets them out in His time and in His way.
My Prayer Today: … My dear LORD, You are my promise keeper! Amen
Tuesday, March 06, 2012
March 6, 2012 … Keeping Our Word
Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Numbers, Chapters 28-30 … To study these chapters, go to this link -
Numbers 30: 1-2: … [Taking Vows Seriously] … 1 Moses said to the heads of the tribes of Israel: "This is what the Lord commands: 2 When a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said. …”
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Deuteronomy 23: 21 – 23 … 21 If you make a vow to the LORD your God, do not be slow to pay it, for the LORD your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin. 22 But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty. 23 Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the LORD your God with your own mouth.
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Ecclesiastes 5: 1 – 7 … 1 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. 2 Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God.
God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. 3 A dream comes when there are many cares, and many words mark the speech of a fool. 4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. 5 It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it. 6 Do not let your mouth lead you into sin. And do not protest to the temple messenger, “My vow was a mistake.” Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands? 7 Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore fear God.
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Matthew 5: 33-37 … [Jesus speaking] … 33 “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ 34 But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37 All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
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James 5: 12 … 12 Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned.
My Journal for Today: Today in my chronological trek through the Bible, I was led to read/study/meditate in Numbers, Chapters 28-30; and there’s a lot in these chapters about the methods of offering and corporate worship of God; but when I got to Chapter 30, Moses’ discussion concerning vows jumped out at me for my blogging this morning. And so I did my own personal cross reference study today; and I have taken the liberty to copy/paste some passages from the Old and New Testament writings which forcefully - and clearly - discuss the seriousness of making and keeping vows.
And because just reading/meditating on those passages above is so clear, and being the very word of God, there is little that I can add to what God so repetitively and forcefully teaches from His truth. So, I’m not going to add very much to what you can read and glean above from God’s word. And I hope that we remember that when God says the same thing over and over again, especially through many of His authors, and most especially from God, The Son, we should pay attention – BIG TIME!
I WILL say, though, that I would bet you agree that we, in our post-modern culture, don’t take the making and keeping of vows all that seriously. How often are marriage vows made and broken these days? How often do we “Christians” make bargains with God and then when we’re blessed by God’s mercy, we forget and break our part of the bargain? How often do we sign contracts, which are legal as well as spiritual vows, and we hedge or break the contract?
Well, if God’s word above speaks as loudly to you as it did to me today, what more could Bill Berry add that would help us keep our word more reliably and vigilantly than we do? So … let God’s word on keeping our word be His directive to us this day.
My Prayer Today: … And, Lord, I pray that my “yes” will be ‘yes’ and my “no” will be ‘no,’ … always keeping my promises to You and to others. Amen
Numbers 30: 1-2: … [Taking Vows Seriously] … 1 Moses said to the heads of the tribes of Israel: "This is what the Lord commands: 2 When a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said. …”
==========
Deuteronomy 23: 21 – 23 … 21 If you make a vow to the LORD your God, do not be slow to pay it, for the LORD your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin. 22 But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty. 23 Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the LORD your God with your own mouth.
==========
Ecclesiastes 5: 1 – 7 … 1 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. 2 Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God.
God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. 3 A dream comes when there are many cares, and many words mark the speech of a fool. 4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. 5 It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it. 6 Do not let your mouth lead you into sin. And do not protest to the temple messenger, “My vow was a mistake.” Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands? 7 Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore fear God.
==========
Matthew 5: 33-37 … [Jesus speaking] … 33 “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ 34 But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37 All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
==========
James 5: 12 … 12 Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned.
My Journal for Today: Today in my chronological trek through the Bible, I was led to read/study/meditate in Numbers, Chapters 28-30; and there’s a lot in these chapters about the methods of offering and corporate worship of God; but when I got to Chapter 30, Moses’ discussion concerning vows jumped out at me for my blogging this morning. And so I did my own personal cross reference study today; and I have taken the liberty to copy/paste some passages from the Old and New Testament writings which forcefully - and clearly - discuss the seriousness of making and keeping vows.
And because just reading/meditating on those passages above is so clear, and being the very word of God, there is little that I can add to what God so repetitively and forcefully teaches from His truth. So, I’m not going to add very much to what you can read and glean above from God’s word. And I hope that we remember that when God says the same thing over and over again, especially through many of His authors, and most especially from God, The Son, we should pay attention – BIG TIME!
I WILL say, though, that I would bet you agree that we, in our post-modern culture, don’t take the making and keeping of vows all that seriously. How often are marriage vows made and broken these days? How often do we “Christians” make bargains with God and then when we’re blessed by God’s mercy, we forget and break our part of the bargain? How often do we sign contracts, which are legal as well as spiritual vows, and we hedge or break the contract?
Well, if God’s word above speaks as loudly to you as it did to me today, what more could Bill Berry add that would help us keep our word more reliably and vigilantly than we do? So … let God’s word on keeping our word be His directive to us this day.
My Prayer Today: … And, Lord, I pray that my “yes” will be ‘yes’ and my “no” will be ‘no,’ … always keeping my promises to You and to others. Amen
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