I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!— 2 I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.
7 Look at what is before your eyes. If anyone is confident that he is Christ's, let him remind himself that just as he is Christ's, so also are we. 8 For even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed. 9 I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters. 10 For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.” 11 Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present. 12 Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.
13 But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, to reach even to you. 14 For we are not overextending ourselves, as though we did not reach you. For we were the first to come all the way to you with the gospel of Christ. 15 We do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others. But our hope is that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged, 16 so that we may preach the gospel in lands beyond you, without boasting of work already done in another's area of influence. 17 “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 18 For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.
Fascinating statement of Paul's ~ he contends with strength versus meekness. We don't think of Paul, facing down the crowds and be adept at it - as being meek and gentle.
And I don't think of Jesus as meek. Contending constantly with the religious pressing in on HIM from each angle. I think of HIM being strong and compassionate. Yet Jesus was always speaking with people, saying not to tell. Taking them aside to heal. Healing the deaf man in a private way someone deaf would understand.
What is God looking for? Gratitude. Wanting to walk the path He gives us. It is pretty simple. We don't have to always understand the path others have. We don't always have to understand our own path. We are supposed to go down the path Father God gives us and be grateful. If we wander off of the path we are created for, God gives us new gifts - in seeking Him, and in forgiveness and we start down the adjusted path. The path we climb back on - in HIS righteousness.
And because He is God. Creator of the Universe, The Almighty. True God of True God. True Light of True Light. We can only accomplish His will and His Plan. Even those who fight against HIM.
As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.
10 And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples.11 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”12 But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.13 Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
So many times we believe God endured this life, knowing what was to come. It was what Jesus came for - to call people and His sheer joy to call his friend Matthew. And how did Matthew return Jesus' call?
Matthew gave Jesus a feast in his own home. Calling his friends and the people he knew needed Jesus, not tip toeing around Jesus and being politically correct. But the people he knew. Displeasing the sacrifice crowd. Pleasing Jesus to be in a party, celebrating life. Honoring Him. Jesus brought people JOY and Wonder. Loving them.
Give us this Day!
Matthew 6:34
"So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today."
John 2:10
and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the
cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have
saved the best till now."
This was Jesus' Love:
Luke 21:37
Every day Jesus went to the Temple to teach, and each evening he returned to spend the night on the Mount of Olives.
Hebrews 12:28
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let
us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe
The Dead Sea Scrolls—the oldest known surviving biblical and extra-biblical texts in the world—are slated to be scanned with high-resolution multispectral imaging equipment and shared online, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), this picture was taken in an IAA lab.
Job 25
Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
2 “Dominion and fear are with God; he makes peace in his high heaven. 3 Is there any number to his armies? Upon whom does his light not arise? 4 How then can man be in the right before God? How can he who is born of woman be pure? 5 Behold, even the moon is not bright, and the stars are not pure in his eyes; 6 how much less man, who is a maggot, and the son of man, who is a worm!”
Job is not my favorite book in the Bible. Yet it gets a lot of mileage even today. Even people not well versed in Scripture want to talk about JOB. And if you think about it, it would have probably have made Job feel immensely better to know - all this suffering is Really Going to Pay Off. For himself, for eternity, for us.
The Book of Job - Eusebius (A.D. 263-399) placed Job "two ages before Moses" or 2,000-1,500 B.C. The Talmud has two opinions, saying it was written by Moses and, also, definitely before the First Temple. The First Temple was built about 950 B.C. The Book of Job is found in the Dead Sea Scrolls is the Targum of Job 11Q10. Another source says Job lived during Jacob's time and his second wife was Dinah (Jacob's daughter). Which is speculation.
So we have several aspects we can look at here. Job is suffering. And in America today, more likely than not, we wouldn't have tremendous support. When you attend grief recovery the Christian Churches are so good to provide - you discuss people hide from people who suffer. Statistics say Americans are increasingly so busy churning out what we deem proper existance, national statistics say we have 2 friends.
So, the other aspect is -we live in a world where we hope to continually sort of replace people. Which is not new. Even the mummies found in China were not from China, but India and Eastern Europe. We replace people when we change jobs, move, go to college, change Churches. So it is pretty interesting to us to see what "the olden days" hold.
And this isn't intrinsically bad, we are touched and shaped by the changes in people around us. The journey is to grow up and go home.
Job has Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar. Which is good for us because - these people annoy Job like the way - people annoy us. And part of the problem is one recognizable in our lives - they have made judgements about Job and are going down that path the way a family dog makes a path in our backyards. And this is the way people who have known each other for a long time do communicate. It puts marriage counselors in business!
And it teaches us something - Important. Bildad is not right about Job. However, Bildad is connected to the Holy Spirit and has something Biblical to say.
We don't even come close to the Holiness of God. And that is an important message for me. I used to think I was one of the ones who could have comfortably sat up on the altar platform easily in a Baptist style Church. I was the older brother in the Prodigal Son. I had earned my wings, my salvation was in hand. And I do feel, as Christians know what God places in their heart, that I am saved. However, when I think about it today - I see I was pleasing myself. And sweeping a lot under the rug. Which is surprising to me even today. We just don't earn our salvation. It is a gift.
We can certainly abuse our salvation and fumble it, causing God to turn from us. But HE is always willing to rush in when nothing is right - but a deep and abiding desire for HIM to return. And we can eventually wear out HIS good will. But He says He LOVES us. And John, who met Jesus, lived with Him says, HE IS A GOD OF LOVE. Inspired, of course, not just by his experiences, but the Holy Spirit.
God saw us for exactly what we are. And He made a decision. To live the best part of life, as part of a family blending itself seamlessly together in a small community. And the worst part of life - to go forth each day - proclaiming Mercy over Sacrifice and Rule and to be rejected. To be hung on a cross. To be condemned as a criminal. Knowing what we all are. To decide to wade into the fray. And save us.
God tells us each day of our lives, "I value you as part of this earth's creation." How do we know? We aren't called home yet. Knowing that .... we will go home.
Why? God loves you. Come as you are: Imperfect. Striving. Ugly. Beautiful. Upset. Peaceful. Good. Bad. Indifferent. Yet He reaches out to you.
I have a few Bildad the Shuhite s in my life. And sometimes I'd like to kick them, or walk away from them. Yet, God has placed them in my life. And they have something to say. It is up to me to hear if they are telling me something from God or to just be the mercy of God to them.
Because.
Give Justice with Mercy
Love Kindness
Walk Humbly with the LORD
Bildad was not giving Justice. But mercy - time to care and talk. Kindness - talking, even if it was not really justice. And giving us an important message Job wanted to push aside - we need to be Humble before GOD.
Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. 3 For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies; your tongue mutters wickedness.
4 No one enters suit justly; no one goes to law honestly; they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies, they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity. 5 They hatch adders' eggs; they weave the spider's web; he who eats their eggs dies, and from one that is crushed a viper is hatched. 6 Their webs will not serve as clothing; men will not cover themselves with what they make. Their works are works of iniquity, and deeds of violence are in their hands. 7 Their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their highways.
8 The way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their paths; they have made their roads crooked; no one who treads on them knows peace.
9 Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not overtake us; we hope for light, and behold, darkness, and for brightness, but we walk in gloom. 10 We grope for the wall like the blind; we grope like those who have no eyes; we stumble at noon as in the twilight, among those in full vigor we are like dead men.
11 We all growl like bears; we moan and moan like doves; we hope for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us. 12 For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities: 13 transgressing, and denying the Lord, and turning back from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.
14 Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter. 15 Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.
The Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.
16 He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him.
17 He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak.
18 According to their deeds, so will he repay, wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies; to the coastlands he will render repayment.
19 So they shall fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come like a rushing stream, which the wind of the Lord drives.
20 “And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the Lord.
21 “And as for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord: “My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children's offspring,” says the Lord, “from this time forth and forevermore.”
How very, very fortunate we are to live in the New Covenant. Without Jesus Christ, we do not have the hope of forgiveness. His own Arm has brought us Salvation and His Righteousness upholds His Promises to us. His Glory comes to us like the rising of the sun.
The Mercy, the Glory, the Righteousness, the Holiness, the Wonder of His Mighty Acts. His Grace. His Forgiveness. For each day of our lives. Now is the beginning of our eternity.
If
you live in America in the 21st century you’ve probably had to listen
to a lot of people tell you how busy they are. It’s become the default
response when you ask anyone how they’re doing: “Busy!” “So busy.” “Crazy
busy.” It is, pretty obviously, a boast disguised as a complaint. And
the stock response is a kind of congratulation: “That’s a good problem
to have,” or “Better than the opposite.”
It’s not as if any of us wants to live like this; it’s something we collectively force one another to do.
Notice
it isn’t generally people pulling back-to-back shifts in the I.C.U. or
commuting by bus to three minimum-wage jobs who tell you how busy they
are; what those people are is not busy but tired. Exhausted. Dead on their feet.
It’s almost always people whose lamented busyness is purely
self-imposed: work and obligations they’ve taken on voluntarily, classes
and activities they’ve “encouraged” their kids to participate in.
They’re busy because of their own ambition or drive or anxiety, because
they’re addicted to busyness and dread what they might have to face in
its absence.
Almost everyone I
know is busy. They feel anxious and guilty when they aren’t either
working or doing something to promote their work. They schedule in time
with friends the way students with 4.0 G.P.A.’s make sure to sign up
for community service because it looks good on their college
applications. I recently wrote a friend to ask if he wanted to do
something this week, and he answered that he didn’t have a lot of time
but if something was going on to let him know and maybe he could ditch
work for a few hours. I wanted to clarify that my question had not been a
preliminary heads-up to some future invitation; this was the
invitation. But his busyness was like some vast churning noise through
which he was shouting out at me, and I gave up trying to shout back over
it.
.
Brecht Vandenbroucke
Even children
are busy now, scheduled down to the half-hour with classes and
extracurricular activities. They come home at the end of the day as
tired as grown-ups. I was a member of the latchkey generation and had
three hours of totally unstructured, largely unsupervised time every
afternoon, time I used to do everything from surfing the World Book
Encyclopedia to making animated films to getting together with friends
in the woods to chuck dirt clods directly into one another’s eyes, all
of which provided me with important skills and insights that remain
valuable to this day. Those free hours became the model for how I wanted
to live the rest of my life.
The present hysteria is not a
necessary or inevitable condition of life; it’s something we’ve chosen,
if only by our acquiescence to it. Not long ago I Skyped with a friend
who was driven out of the city by high rent and now has an artist’s
residency in a small town in the south of France. She described herself
as happy and relaxed for the first time in years. She still gets her
work done, but it doesn’t consume her entire day and brain. She says it
feels like college — she has a big circle of friends who all go out to
the cafe together every night. She has a boyfriend again. (She once
ruefully summarized dating in New York: “Everyone’s too busy and
everyone thinks they can do better.”) What she had mistakenly assumed
was her personality — driven, cranky, anxious and sad — turned out to be
a deformative effect of her environment. It’s not as if any of us wants
to live like this, any more than any one person wants to be part of a
traffic jam or stadium trampling or the hierarchy of cruelty in high
school — it’s something we collectively force one another to do.
Our frantic days are really just a hedge against emptiness.
Busyness
serves as a kind of existential reassurance, a hedge against emptiness;
obviously your life cannot possibly be silly or trivial or meaningless
if you are so busy, completely booked, in demand every hour of the day. I
once knew a woman who interned at a magazine where she wasn’t allowed
to take lunch hours out, lest she be urgently needed for some reason.
This was an entertainment magazine whose raison d’ĂȘtre was obviated when
“menu” buttons appeared on remotes, so it’s hard to see this pretense
of indispensability as anything other than a form of institutional
self-delusion. More and more people in this country no longer make or do
anything tangible; if your job wasn’t performed by a cat or a boa
constrictor in a Richard Scarry book I’m not sure I believe it’s
necessary. I can’t help but wonder whether all this histrionic
exhaustion isn’t a way of covering up the fact that most of what we do
doesn’t matter.
I am not busy. I am the laziest ambitious person I
know. Like most writers, I feel like a reprobate who does not deserve
to live on any day that I do not write, but I also feel that four or
five hours is enough to earn my stay on the planet for one more day. On
the best ordinary days of my life, I write in the morning, go for a long
bike ride and run errands in the afternoon, and in the evening I see
friends, read or watch a movie. This, it seems to me, is a sane and
pleasant pace for a day. And if you call me up and ask whether I won’t
maybe blow off work and check out the new American Wing at the Met or
ogle girls in Central Park or just drink chilled pink minty cocktails
all day long, I will say, what time?
But just in the last few
months, I’ve insidiously started, because of professional obligations,
to become busy. For the first time I was able to tell people, with a
straight face, that I was “too busy” to do this or that thing they
wanted me to do. I could see why people enjoy this complaint; it makes
you feel important, sought-after and put-upon. Except that I hate
actually being busy. Every morning my in-box was full of e-mails asking
me to do things I did not want to do or presenting me with problems that
I now had to solve. It got more and more intolerable until finally I
fled town to the Undisclosed Location from which I’m writing this.
Here
I am largely unmolested by obligations. There is no TV. To check e-mail
I have to drive to the library. I go a week at a time without seeing
anyone I know. I’ve remembered about buttercups, stink bugs and the
stars. I read. And I’m finally getting some real writing done for the
first time in months. It’s hard to find anything to say about life
without immersing yourself in the world, but it’s also just about
impossible to figure out what it might be, or how best to say it,
without getting the hell out of it again.
Idleness
is not just a vacation, an indulgence or a vice; it is as indispensable
to the brain as vitamin D is to the body, and deprived of it we suffer a
mental affliction as disfiguring as rickets. The space and quiet that
idleness provides is a necessary condition for standing back from life
and seeing it whole, for making unexpected connections and waiting for
the wild summer lightning strikes of inspiration — it is, paradoxically,
necessary to getting any work done. “Idle dreaming is often of the
essence of what we do,” wrote Thomas Pynchon in his essay on sloth.
Archimedes’ “Eureka” in the bath, Newton’s apple, Jekyll & Hyde and
the benzene ring: history is full of stories of inspirations that come
in idle moments and dreams. It almost makes you wonder whether loafers,
goldbricks and no-accounts aren’t responsible for more of the world’s
great ideas, inventions and masterpieces than the hardworking.
“The
goal of the future is full unemployment, so we can play. That’s why we
have to destroy the present politico-economic system.” This may sound
like the pronouncement of some bong-smoking anarchist, but it was
actually Arthur C. Clarke, who found time between scuba diving and
pinball games to write “Childhood’s End” and think up communications
satellites. My old colleague Ted Rall recently wrote a column proposing
that we divorce income from work and give each citizen a guaranteed
paycheck, which sounds like the kind of lunatic notion that’ll be
considered a basic human right in about a century, like abolition,
universal suffrage and eight-hour workdays. The Puritans turned work
into a virtue, evidently forgetting that God invented it as a
punishment.
Perhaps the world would soon slide to ruin if everyone
behaved as I do. But I would suggest that an ideal human life lies
somewhere between my own defiant indolence and the rest of the world’s
endless frenetic hustle. My role is just to be a bad influence, the kid
standing outside the classroom window making faces at you at your desk,
urging you to just this once make some excuse and get out of there, come
outside and play. My own resolute idleness has mostly been a luxury
rather than a virtue, but I did make a conscious decision, a long time
ago, to choose time over money, since I’ve always understood that the
best investment of my limited time on earth was to spend it with people I
love. I suppose it’s possible I’ll lie on my deathbed regretting that I
didn’t work harder and say everything I had to say, but I think what
I’ll really wish is that I could have one more beer with Chris, another
long talk with Megan, one last good hard laugh with Boyd.
And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea.22 Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet23 and implored him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.”24 And he went with him.
And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him.25 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years,26 and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse.27 She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment.28 For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.”29 And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.30 And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?”31 And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’”32 And he looked around to see who had done it.33 But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth.34 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
35 While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler's house some who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?”36 But overhearing[ignoring, hearing] what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.”37 And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James.38 They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly.39 And when he had entered, he said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping.”40 And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was.41 Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.”42 And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement.43 And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat. This would have taken place in Capernaum. It is an interesting dilemma - one we can think about today. Should we acknowledge Jesus in our lives. Jairus has to decide. Is he a Jew running the synagogue. Is it worth it to let Jesus come to his house to see his dying daughter. She probably didn't just get sick that day. Events are pressing in on Jairus.
21 Times Jesus has healed with His Spoken Word 13 Times Jesus has reached out to touch 9 Times people were healed dfuring preaching and teaching, plus the 2 times the Scripture says "He healed them All." 8 Times Jesus drove out demons 7 Times ill people where healed because they had faith 4 Times Jesus was moved with compassion 1 reached out to touch Him.
And Jairus sees the woman reach out to Jesus. Jairus has done the same thing. He has put aside the pride of his position to reach out to Jesus. And the woman is healed. Jairus must have been so glad. And then crushed. Jairus' face must have been completely stricken.
Jesus immediately reacts to Jairus. Saying
"Do not fear, only believe.”
Mark 9:24 Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"
Faith. Jesus saw it waver, in those around Him, all the time.
Matthew 14:30-31 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
If Jesus sees faithlessness so often, what set Jairus, the boy's father and Peter apart?
Romans 4:3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”
Romans 4:20-25 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” 23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
Both Jairus and the woman - reached out to Jesus. And in reaching out. Jesus had compassion on them. Lives were changed. Hearts renewed. This is what Jesus is about. Making people know how wide, how deep, how unfailing is God's love. For us.
John 20:29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
I recently woke up recently on Padre Island and decided to use the energy and joy to walk on the beach. As I walked, I realized the sun was rising out of a collar of clouds, very similar to this photo and the sun was perfectly centered. It was a great blessing. The color of the clouds actually looked more like yesterday's photo. Only One is Good. Jesus the LORD.
Psalm 30
I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me. 2 O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. 3 O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.
4 Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name. 5 For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
6 As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.” 7 By your favor, O Lord, you made my mountain stand strong; you hid your face; I was dismayed.
8 To you, O Lord, I cry, and to the Lord I plead for mercy: 9 “What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness? 10 Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me! O Lord, be my helper!”
11 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, 12 that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!
Genesis 18:32-33 Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” 33 And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.
The angels saved Lot and his two daughters in Genesis 19.
Jeremiah 5:1 "Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city."
Ezekiel 22:30 "I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none."
John 2:23-25 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.
Matthew 23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!"
Matthew Henry's Commentary 2:23-25 Our Lord knew all men, their nature, dispositions, affections, designs, so as we do not know any man, not even ourselves. He knows his crafty enemies, and all their secret projects; his false friends, and their true characters. He knows who are truly his, knows their uprightness, and knows their weaknesses. We know what is done by men; Christ knows what is in them, he tries the heart. Beware of a dead faith, or a formal profession: carnal, empty professors are not to be trusted, and however men impose on others or themselves, they cannot impose on the heart-searching God.
2 Samuel 7
English Standard Version, David Cochran Audio
Now when the king lived in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, 2 the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.” 3 And Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.”
4 But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, 5 “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: Would you build me a house to dwell in? 6 I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. 7 In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’ 8 Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. 9 And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. 10 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, 11 from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. 12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, 15 but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. 16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’” 17 In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.
18 Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? 19 And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God. You have spoken also of your servant's house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord God! 20 And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord God! 21 Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness, to make your servant know it. 22 Therefore you are great, O Lord God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. 23 And who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name and doing for the great and awesome things by driving out before your people, whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods? 24 And you established for yourself your people Israel to be your people forever. And you, O Lord, became their God. 25 And now, O Lord God, confirm forever the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, and do as you have spoken. 26 And your name will be magnified forever, saying, ‘The Lord of hosts is God over Israel,’ and the house of your servant David will be established before you. 27 For you, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have made this revelation to your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house.’ Therefore your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. 28 And now, O Lord God, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. 29 Now therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue forever before you. For you, O Lord God, have spoken, and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever.”
Romans 8:26-38
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised— who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!”2 And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”
3 And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately,4 “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?”5 And Jesus began to say to them, “See that no one leads you astray.6 Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray.7 And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet.8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains.
9 “But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them.10 And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations.11 And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.12 And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death.13 And you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
14 “But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be ( let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.15 Let the one who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter his house, to take anything out,16 and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak.17 And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days!18 Pray that it may not happen in winter.19 For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, and never will be.20 And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days.21 And then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it.22 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect.23 But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand.
24 “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light,25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.26 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.27 And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
28 “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.29 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates.30 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.33 Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come.34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake.35 Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning—36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep.37 And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”
Jesus is teaching. Telling them long ago; and us, today, about things of this earth and heaven. He is not like Buddha - seek, seek and seek. He listens, hearing what the disciples say or ask and He is Responding. It is only because He is met with faith on the earthly things that He continues. That which is acknowledged today as permanent and enduring - is not. Jesus is saying there is much more ahead.
We know Jesus' words about the Temple came true. It is true for own lives as well. We never know when our permanent and enduring lives will end. Today at my house, a very young woman, my son's girl friend, played a friend part to a tragic drunk driving accident claiming 2 lives. Her friend will live and go home in two days from the hospital ICU. There really aren't cars left at all from the accident.
And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.
Father God, help us each day to do something for You. Let us put out our hands to love, to comfort, to teach, to affirm one another. And know each day is Yours. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,2 “Avenge the people of Israel on the Midianites. Afterward you shall be gathered to your people.”3 So Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian to execute the Lord's vengeance on Midian.4 You shall send a thousand from each of the tribes of Israel to the war.”5 So there were provided, out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.6 And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand from each tribe, together with Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand.7 They warred against Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses, and killed every male.8 They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain, Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. And they also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword.9 And the people of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones, and they took as plunder all their cattle, their flocks, and all their goods.10 All their cities in the places where they lived, and all their encampments, they burned with fire,11 and took all the spoil and all the plunder, both of man and of beast.12 Then they brought the captives and the plunder and the spoil to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the people of Israel, at the camp on the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.
13 Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the chiefs of the congregation went to meet them outside the camp.14 And Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, who had come from service in the war.15 Moses said to them, “Have you let all the women live?16 Behold, these, on Balaam's advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and so the plague came among the congregation of the Lord.17 Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him.18 But all the young girls who have not known man by lying with him keep alive for yourselves.19 Encamp outside the camp seven days. Whoever of you has killed any person and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day.20 You shall purify every garment, every article of skin, all work of goats' hair, and every article of wood.”
21 Then Eleazar the priest said to the men in the army who had gone to battle: “This is the statute of the law that the Lord has commanded Moses:22 only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead,23 everything that can stand the fire, you shall pass through the fire, and it shall be clean. Nevertheless, it shall also be purified with the water for impurity. And whatever cannot stand the fire, you shall pass through the water.24 You must wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean. And afterward you may come into the camp.”
25 The Lord said to Moses,26 “Take the count of the plunder that was taken, both of man and of beast, you and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the fathers' houses of the congregation,27 and divide the plunder into two parts between the warriors who went out to battle and all the congregation.28 And levy for the Lord a tribute from the men of war who went out to battle, one out of five hundred, of the people and of the oxen and of the donkeys and of the flocks.29 Take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest as a contribution to the Lord.30 And from the people of Israel's half you shall take one drawn out of every fifty, of the people, of the oxen, of the donkeys, and of the flocks, of all the cattle, and give them to the Levites who keep guard over the tabernacle of the Lord.”31 And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.
32 Now the plunder remaining of the spoil that the army took was 675,000 sheep,33 72,000 cattle,34 61,000 donkeys,35 and 32,000 persons in all, women who had not known man by lying with him.36 And the half, the portion of those who had gone out in the army, numbered 337,500 sheep,37 and the Lord's tribute of sheep was 675.38 The cattle were 36,000, of which the Lord's tribute was 72.39 The donkeys were 30,500, of which the Lord's tribute was 61.40 The persons were 16,000, of which the Lord's tribute was 32 persons.41 And Moses gave the tribute, which was the contribution for the Lord, to Eleazar the priest, as the Lord commanded Moses.
42 From the people of Israel's half, which Moses separated from that of the men who had served in the army—43 now the congregation's half was 337,500 sheep,44 36,000 cattle,45 and 30,500 donkeys,46 and 16,000 persons—47 from the people of Israel's half Moses took one of every 50, both of persons and of beasts, and gave them to the Levites who kept guard over the tabernacle of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.
48 Then the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, came near to Moses49 and said to Moses, “Your servants have counted the men of war who are under our command, and there is not a man missing from us.50 And we have brought the Lord's offering, what each man found, articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and beads, to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.”51 And Moses and Eleazar the priest received from them the gold, all crafted articles.52 And all the gold of the contribution that they presented to the Lord, from the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, was 16,750 shekels.53 (The men in the army had each taken plunder for himself.)54 And Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tent of meeting, as a memorial for the people of Israel before the Lord.
We all know the endearing story, if you went to Sunday School, of Balaam and his donkey. Balaam tried later to work for Balak. It isn't exactly explicitly stated, but by implication. He tried to turn the blessing away.
Deuteronomy 23:5
But the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam; instead the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loved you.
There was a Part Two.
2 Peter 2:14-16
They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! 15 Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, 16 but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet's madness.
Revelation 2:14
But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.
Instead of Balaam, we call it Woodstock.
Although there are some interesting wall murals in Jordan of Balaam. It isn't the right age, but it could be they are historical murals of older legends.
Still. The point is this, it isn't good to manipulate around the LORD's will.
Isaiah 40:31
they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.
Isaiah 64:4
Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
2 Corinthians 4:1
Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.
We believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He has saved all who call upon His name and rely on Him for His Grace. The Scriptures are living & active and are for understanding the Lord Almighty. Biblical readings are chosen from the Ecumenical Christian Church and the Nicene Council, 325 A.D., approved Apocrypha. People remember not just from reading, but by sight and orally- an image has been added as well as audio readings. God tends to link the passages together with fascinates - this blogger, Anne-Laurel Gardere
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