Monthly Archives: October 2011

Hebrews 4:12

19 Wednesday Oct 2011

Posted by in Hebrews, New Testament, THE WORD

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For the word of God [is] living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and
marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

Ah, The Word of God… How amazing is our God that He has given His living, written Word that we can look to for all things? I truly lack the communication skills to be able to describe just how  it is that God has given men His Word. His Word that speaks simple, plain, and consistent truth regarding the most important facets of life, yet also speaks to individual hearts through the same medium… Just amazing. Over the course of my day today I have gone from an over-anxious heap of a man who was seemingly wound waaaaaaaaay too tight, to basking in the love and faithfulness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And the reason for the calm, settling of my soul is the Word of God. The love of Christ, and the promise of His faithfulness are the only things that can truly calm a man’s spirit.

In Zephaniah 3:17, the prophet Zephaniah is comforting the Israelites after proclaiming God’s judgements on their grotesque sin by reminding them that God is faithful, and will not utterly forsake them. One of things he tells this Israelite is,

“He will quiet you with His love”

I can barely write that without tearing up. Although, this was a distinct promise to the people of Israel, this also applies generally to all people of God. That no matter what we are going through in life if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. He will quiet His people with His love… all I can say is thank you.

Now, back to the living and powerful Word of God, and how that correlates to my roller-coaster of a day. Let me recap the beginning of my day in hope of giving a clear illustration of the Word of God being truly alive: I woke up late absolutely dreading the sound of my alarm clock at 5:30, I finally rolled out of bed at approx 6:15 ( or about 15 minutes before I am usually at Tuesday morning prayer), and I had run out of coffee at my house so I had to go out for coffee. All of which caused me to completely skip my Bible time this morning… that is extremely rare for me. I cannot remember the last time I didn’t at least read a psalm before starting my day. So, I went to prayer and had a blessed time with my brothers. Then, I went to work and proceeded to allow my mind to run wild down every avenue of life that a trusting heart in Jesus has no business venturing upon. This continued throughout the day untill I came home, did a couple of errands, and perused the internet aimlessly. Finally, I came to the moment where I KNEW there was no good reason why I should be catching up on my Bible reading for the day, but I almost felt paralyzed by thought of trying to quiet and focus my mind on the Word of God. I then forced myself to sit down, prayed for help, and opened up the Word (Glory to God for His Spirit dwelling inside of me, otherwise I never would have had the discipline to get this far). As soon, as I started reading Psalm 108 it was like an enormous weight was lifted.

All of the sudden, I went from being completely overwhelmed by the cares of the world to being a child safely remembering a perfect Father’s promise of love and care. I was reading through the Psalm and seeing the psalmist give glory and praise to God, and I was reminded of how awesome my Father in heaven is, and I remembered that I had nothing to worry about it. That all I needed was to do was abide in the True Vine, and press into the love my God has for me. As I continued, I came to the spot I left off in my Old Testament reading the day before: Zephaniah 3.

I read that God will quiet you with His love, and that was exactly what God was doing to me. It was as if God wrote those words just for me just for that very moment. As if He knew this day would come, and before the beginning of time He had planned for me to come upon this promise just so that I could be comforted by His love for me, and reminded of the truth. My question for you is: How many other people do you think have been comforted by this verse in the past 2000 years? I’m going to venture a guess of thousands, if not millions. So you see, the Word of God is alive, it is powerful, and it will cut to the hearts and to the souls of individual people in a perfect way. It will speak straight to the heart of whoever is willing to sit down and give even the smallest amount of time to read God’s words and hear His voice.

What a lesson and what a reminder of one of the most obvious (to the point of embarrassment) truths in the life of a Christian. That we need to prioritize time spent with the Lord Jesus above all things in life. Prioritize time spent in the Word of God. Prioritize time spent in prayer. Prioritize time in fellowship with other believers. Stay steadfast in the Apostle’s doctrine, in prayer, in fellowship, and in the breaking of bread (Acts 4:42). As Jesus corrected Martha who was complaining that her sister was not helping with all serving in Luke 10:

38 Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”   
41 And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. 42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Let the fact that although we have day-to-day responsibilities that must be dealt with, the absolute best place to be is at the feet of Jesus hearing His voice and being in His presence. This is the most important THING. -Cory

Be Still…

07 Friday Oct 2011

Posted by in Old Testament, Psalms, THE WORD

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Psalm 46:10

Be still, and know that I am God…

This is a very well known scripture for most Christians. It serves as a great reminder that God is the one in control, and we know that this is the preferred method of walking with Him. God has spoken very clearly to me through this verse whether it be about relationships or serving Him in some new and exciting way. I can remember vividly laying on my bed while at the Bible College in Santiago, Chile and realizing that I had no idea what this verse even meant, and praying that God would teach me what it is to be still, and KNOW tha He is God. My wife and I love this verse so much that we actually have a painting on our bedroom wall with this verse as the centerpiece of the artwork.

Yet, just last week I found myself worrying about the direction of my life, and focusing on all the circumstances around me. Then as my wife and I were praying, she prayed that we would be still and know that He is God ( MEN: You are the leaders of your household, BUT your wives often will say the wisest things and have the purest prayers IF we are willing to put down our pride and listen.) When she prayed this I was floored because I hadn’t considered or remembered this portion of God’s Word that has been so dear to my heart in quite awhile. Even after I had read, meditated, and prayed on this particular verse, when the time in my life came to put this verse into practice I had forggotten it completely.

This all made me realize how easily my heart can wonder even when my desire is to walk with the Lord as intimately and closely as possible. It served as reminder that we never attain to anything, but must continually press into Jesus Christ, and be continually abiding in Him, the true vine. I was definitely humbled, and maybe some of you can relate to this experience. The good news is God is faithful to complete the work He starts in us until we are received up to Glory with Jesus our Lord (Philippians 1:6). In this we rejoice. -Cory

He has shown you, O man, what is good;   
      And what does the LORD require of you 
      But to do justly, 
      To love mercy, 
      And to walk humbly with your God? 
– Micah 6:8

Hosea 1:6,7

02 Sunday Oct 2011

Posted by in Hosea, Old Testament, THE WORD

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And she conceived again and bore a daughter. Then God said to him:

“ Call her name Lo-Ruhamah,
For I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel,
But I will utterly take them away.
Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah,
Will save them by the LORD their God,
And will not save them by bow,
Nor by sword or battle,
By horses or horsemen.” (Hosea 1:6,7 NKJV)

We are continuing on in the book of Hosea, and looking at couple of things in verses 6 and 7. After being blown away by the depth of verse 4 alone, I was literally bubbling over with excitement to look at what God had in store next, and I was not disappointed. As I read ahead about the next child bore to Hosea, Lo-Ruhamah (Meaning No-Mercy), the first thing that jumped out at me was Judah being shown mercy, and not Israel. Why was Judah benefitting from the mercy of God, and not Israel? That doesn’t seem fair, but I know that God is just, so there had to be an answer. Secondly, what does God mean when he says He “will save them by the LORD their God”? Again, a little research into the books of Kings and Chronicles would absolutely blow my mind.

First off, I wanted to know why Israel was being chastised, seemingly severely, by God via the Assyrians, and not Judah. I needed to understand that although the punishment recapped in 2 Kings 17 was indeed severe, the punishment was also completely called for and righteous. As it says in 2 Kings 17:7-8, “For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and they had feared other gods, and had walked in the statutes of the nations whom the LORD had cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.” The people had forsaken the Lord even after all He had done for them, and after all the prophets He had sent them, such as Isaiah and Elijah. And although God takes no pleasure in death (Ezekiel 18:19-32, Matthew 23:37), they had refused to walk with God at every turn, therefore they had to be judged. Israel had every opportunity to turn from their sins, and God wanted them to come to him desperately, but they refused.

(Side Note: Such is the case with people today. God gives every person every opportunity to turn from their sins, and give their life to Jesus, but he does not force anyone to come to Him. We all have our desire fulfilled in the end: Either to be with God, or to be separated from Him for all eternity.)

So, what about Judah? Just a quick run through the scriptures will tell us they had sinned against the Lord as well, yet they were spared this judgement from God while Israel was not. Something was brought to my attention while I was reading through David Guzik’s commentary on Hosea that I had not thought about previously. The thought that caused me to pause and think was the definition of mercy. Mercy by definition is not earned. Guzik says, ” It does not really matter if Judah was more worthy of mercy than Israel was, because by its very nature mercy is mercy. If one deserves leniency, then leniency is a matter of justice, not mercy. Mercy is only shown to the guilty. Therefore it is within the wise and loving heart of God to show mercy to whom He will show mercy (Romans 9:15). But no one is ever unfair for not showing mercy.” So, really who am I to cry unfair when God is all-knowing, all-wise, knows exactly the best course of action to have the most people brought to Him, and execute perfect judgement. Just writing that makes me feel pretty silly for even questioning God, but that is the great thing about God; He wants us to get to know Him more and more, invites questions of Him, and even rewards those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).

Yet, there is something to Judah being spared in this situation. During the time of the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah, Israel was perpetually ruled by kings that did not walk with the LORD their God, while Judah was somewhat hit or miss with kings that walked with God and those who did not. Their current prophecy of Hosea is going to take place at a time in which Judah was being ruled by one of the kings that walked with God: Hezekiah. I firmly believe that one of the reasons Judah was delivered was because when Judah was being besieged by the Assyrians, Hezekiah humbled himself and sought the Lord for help (2 Kings 18,19). More simply put, Judah was delivered because Hezekiah prayed. While Israel had been carried away by their unfaithfulness, Judah tore their clothes, covered themselves with Ashes (Ancient tradition symbolic for mourning and humility), went to the Lord, and prayed. This coupled with the arrogant boasting of the Assyrians against the God of Israel, and the abundant mercy of God leads to Israel being miraculously spared the judgement of God.

Now, as we move on to verse 7 of Hosea 1, we look at how God did in fact miraculously deliver Judah from the Assyrians. Remember God said through Hosea, “Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah, “Will save them by the LORD their God, And will not save them by bow, Nor by sword or battle, By horses or horsemen.” To get a some perspective of the situation, the Assyrians had already taken most of the nations around Judah, including all of the northern tribes, the Babylonians, as well as all the fortified cities of Judah when they decided to besiege Jerusalem. Hezekiah had been so afraid of the Assyrians that 2 Kings 18:16 tells us, “At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.” So, Jerusalem is being besieged by the mighty Assyrians who even taunt the Judeans at the wall, and mock God’s ability to deliver them. Then after Hezekiah turns to the Lord and prays, God promises to deliver them, and soon after God does this as shown in 2 Kings 19:35-37, “And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the LORD went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh. Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the temple of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Then Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.” (NKJV). This is the most amazing thing to me. God had promised to show mercy to Judah, and to deliver them, but not by any human means, and did so years before this event actually happened. Yet, the events described come to pass more accurately than ever could have been imagined! The worthiness, reliability, and accuracy of the Word of God is just amazing.

The main thing that all of this reinforces in me is that The Word of God is to be trusted in, and leaned upon in every situation, and at all times no matter what the circumstances around us are telling us. I know the Word of God is true, but when I test, and look into, the Word of God it just reinforces my faith, and brings the Word to an even more tangible place in my heart. So, I encourage everyone to dive in to the Word of God, to be passionate about getting to know God, and see just how amazing our Lord is.

May God bless you, and cause you to grow in His Word and love.

 -Cory