Have you ever felt that you were just unworthy of any good thing from God? Does it ever seem that He is far away from you and couldn't care about the desperate thrashings of a sinner who has failed Him yet again? Let me tell you from experience that this perception can seem to be so immobilizing that you don't even know if you can pray to the Lord. You see, I spent nearly thirty years in this trap. During this time, I made excuses for my life in my own heart. Excuses that said that God wouldn't want anything to do with me, so why bother? It wasn't until I was faced with an accumulation of the pitfalls I had placed into my own life that I knew I was in too deep to get myself out. If I was to be freed, it would come from the Lord or it just wouldn't happen. Why didn't I read this Psalm twenty years ago?
Psalm 40:1-3 (NLT)It wasn't until my life was so bad that I thought I needed the help of the Lord. In my despair, I prayed for deliverance from my own snares, finally believing in my heart that God was the redeemer of my life, both in this life and the next.
1 I waited patiently for the LORD to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. 2 He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. 3 He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be astounded. They will put their trust in the LORD.
This passage begins with a call for patience as we wait for the Lord to rescue us. Let me tell you that there wasn't much rescuing. As a cork pops from the pressure of the champaign bottle, my life changed dramatically in a very short time. I still have changes taking place in my life, and will continue to experience this for the rest of my life, so I think patience is something I have yet to fully understand. One thing I know is that the Lord is faithful to pull you out of whatever mess you are in, and He will do this in His time.
I am relearning patience as I wait for the Lord on a regular basis. There are times when I feel that I have it all together. Times when I think that I've "made it" and don't need to lean on God so much any longer. In this folly, I may even begin to veer from His path that has been prepared for me. This isn't something that I choose to do out of spite to my savior. It's just human nature needing correction from time to time. I pray for a sense of urgency when times are good, just to try and correct my wandering ways, but I always find that my attention has wandered from God to one thing or another and my walk begins to become unstable.
And that is when the despair sets in. That is when the beginnings of depression form. That is when I begin to fear that I may never get out of this pit.
Over several periods of fear, I have found that no effort of my own is enough to rescue me from this. My redemption from despair is found only in the Lord, and as soon as I feel the first twinges of sadness begin, I pray as a beggar before my Treasure, who is Christ our Lord, that He pull me from the depths. Then comes the waiting.
It's funny, you know. During this time of patience, prayer and praise, I feel a sense of sadness for my current state mixed with the hope that comes from the knowledge that the Lord will provide my deliverance. Even before I return to the happiness I desire, I have joy in the Lord's faithfulness.
One thing about commenting on dream interpretations that I’ve noticed: It’s not too tough, because God has already directed someone to do the interpretation! Seriously, though, there is something to learn from this story. Nebuchadnezzar was driven to insanity by God to teach him a lesson about a king’s place in the grand scheme of things. That’s a lesson that too many politicians need a refresher on. Running a nation without the grace of God is insanity. Heck, I wouldn’t have a hope in my family without God!
I’m not saying that my wife and son are a burden, I’m just making it a point that God has sovereign authority over everything. Anyone who thinks they can do without him must be crazy to think that way. We all need to accept this as a fact and let God’s splendor begin! I’m not financially wealthy, but my family is cared for and love is in our home.
Let’s keep our eyes toward Heaven!
By nature, God is a perfectionist. Everything needs to be “just so” or it needs to be redeemed or He cannot accept it. The exact specifications of the temple and its contents were given in these chapters. Even the direction the temple would face is laid out very clearly.
In contrast, humans are not “just so” types of people. Sure, surgeons and pilots do their job exactly the same each time for obvious reasons, but where it really matters, we are flawed. If you’re ashamed to admit this, keep reading. God is making known to you not only what he expects, but also how to atone for the inevitable failing.
God really shows His disgust with the priests who had botched their jobs before and guilty clergy is definitely not an issue that has gone away. We have priests and higher-level clerics turning people away from God's will all the time. The abomination of homosexuality is preached as good by Bishops and others of even more authority! I shudder at the potential ramifications.
If you are in a leadership role in your church, family or any other group, remember this. God wants the leaders to set the tone for the group and that tone had better be one that He agrees with or only chaos can result.
2 Kings 25:27-30 and Jeremiah 52:31-34.
The land allotment for the Jews is extremely specific here, and this gift of land is intended to last forever. A gift from God is not meant to be barter towards a false peace, and the current Road Map to peace is as empty as every other attempt to quell the violence in Israel. Let us not forget, though, that it was Israel's own shortcomings that began this trouble and only God can fix the scars on the land there. If only everyone in that region would accept that and come together! But that is not what is foretold, so I'm wasting our time in this matter.
Here we have some heavy prophesy of times to come, times that still haven't yet come. I'm no theologian, I believe I made that clear earlier, but it is clear that some of this references the end times.
The writing on the wall is more than a phrase used to denote the obvious. A hand appeared during a banquet with King Belshazzar and nobody could interpret the writing that it placed on the wall until Daniel was called in. Daniel reminded the King that he hadn't acknowledged the glory of God as his father, Nebuchadnezzar, had. Therefore the message meant that the reign of the king was at an end because he didn't measure up to the job. Furthermore, kingdom was to be divided and given to the Medes and Persians. To reward Daniel, the king made him a high official. Wasn't he listening? His day of reckoning had come. Why would he reward the messenger of that news?Ezra 1:1-11, 1 Chronicles 3:17-19.
And here's the story of Daniel that is the most famous. Daniel was now a high official in the land and was found guilty of violating a law that was drafted with the express purpose of being rid of him. The king didn't want him to be executed, either, but the law of the land was that no royal decree could be overturned, even with another such decree. That's a stupid law, but such as it was, it was the law. Just as God had done for Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, an angel was sent to stay with Daniel and his danger was negated by the power of the Lord.
Didn't God promise that the Jews could return after 70 years? Yes he did. Any willing Jew was allowed to return and rebuild the temple to the specifications given to Ezekiel. Just like their exodus from Egypt, they carried gifts of wealth to Canaan. God sure knows how to lessen the sting of a punishment, huh? King Cyrus even brought out the articles belonging to the temple of the Lord and returned them to the Israelites.
The work was begun on the new temple and everything seemed to be right now, but I can't see the good days continuing indefinitely. The Jews (humans in general) don't have a great track record for staying right with God. And boy, it didn't take long for the opposition to start, did it? The enemies of Israel came and worked to discourage them with fear. This translates into direct terrorism against the Jewish people from their Arab neighbors. That hasn't changed much since then, has it?
Weekly LinkMarriage is not what I thought it was a decade ago. I have learned in the years I have shared with Tina that marriage is a fight. You have to defend your marriage against the pressures of the world, guarding its sanctity as well as your own heart. With all of the pressures out there, you'd think there would be resources to be found that can help in this battle... oh, yeah. That's what I'm highlighting here this week, isn't it? Successful Marriage is a site that helps you find other sites on the topic of marriage and how to win the battles God's way. If you find yourself in a bind, I suggest looking at this site for the information you need to make your marriage work. If you aren't facing any challenges, I still recommend looking this site over, as the enemy is at his worst when we think life is at its best! |
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