Ananias and Sapphira - An Upsetting Story

Ananias and Sapphira – An Upsetting Story

The story told in Acts 5 about Ananias and Sapphira has never been one of my favorites. I’ll bet it hasn’t been one of yours’ either? Am I right? I would find myself feeling upset and confused every time I would read this Bible story. And it frightened the early Christian church too, so Scripture tells us. Why would God deal so harshly with this couple when they messed up a bit? Haven’t we all messed up at times? Would God strike us down too?



We don’t know much about Ananias and Sapphira. The name ‘Sapphira’ means ‘beautiful’ in Aramaic. Perhaps she was beautiful. This Christian couple may have been part of that group of believers who waited in the upper room for the Holy Spirit to come at Pentecost. Or they may have become believers and joined the church a few days or weeks after that. But Ananias and Sapphira were both members of that very first church in Jerusalem - our spiritual ancestors.



We are told several things about Ananias’ and Sapphiras’ church. For one, at Pentecost the Holy Spirit had fallen on each believer in a powerful way and now the church group was experiencing miracles and healings in their gatherings. And also many of these new believers in their enthusiasm had sold their homes and land and were giving all their money to the group so that everything could be shared in common. “Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.” (Acts 2:44-45)



It seemed that Ananias and Sapphira loved the Lord and wanted to fit right in with the other new Christians. And since most of their friends were selling their homes and giving the proceeds to the group, Ananias and Sapphira felt pressured to do the same, even though they may have had some reservations. Shouldn’t they join in and appear to go along with the crowd?



Scripture says that Ananias and Sapphira went ahead and sold their home even though their church group didn’t require that of them. And then they decided to keep part of the money from the sale and give part of it to the church group. Nothing wrong with that either. But if they let the other church members believe that they had given all of the money from the sale to the church instead of just part of it; they might make a better impression! They wanted to look good and keep up with the other church members who were giving everything. What could be wrong with that?



So Ananias talked it over with Sapphira and the two agreed together to tell a little white lie to their church leaders. They would tell Peter that they were giving all of the money from their sale and Peter and the others would be impressed with their generosity! Next day Ananias walked in and gave the money to Peter saying that he was giving the church the full amount of money from the sale of the home and wasn’t he a nice guy? Peter, being full of the Holy Spirit, immediately knew that Ananias was lying! He didn’t need to give all of the money to the church, Peter insisted, but he should never lie to the Holy Spirit. Peter spoke out angrily to Ananias: “…Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” (Acts 5:4b) Ananias was so shocked at Peters’ words that he fell to the ground at Peter’s feet and died instantly.



Three hours later Sapphira came by not knowing that her husband had died. She walked up and told Peter the same little lie that Ananias had told, insisting that they were giving the church all of the money from the sale and even quoting a false amount. And then Peter told her what he had told her husband: “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out too.” (Acts 5:9) Sapphira also dropped dead at Peter’s feet and she was buried next to her husband. This sad story ends with a report that great fear came upon everyone in the church when they heard about what had happened to Ananias and Sapphira. (Acts 5:11)



We are left with questions. Why did Ananias and Sapphira die instantly when they lied in church when I am sure others have lied in church and haven’t been struck down in such a fashion? What is going on here? Let’s dig a little deeper.



Let’s remember that, when Ananias and Sapphira told their lie, the Holy Spirit had just recently fallen on the church with visible signs like wind and fire and power. At one prayer meeting the Holy Spirit had shaken the meeting room. Healings and miracles were happening every day through the Spirit. And the apostle Peter was so filled with Holy Spirit power that thousands believed in Jesus when he preached and throngs brought their sick out in the streets hoping that Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them and make them well! Acts 5:16 states: “Multitudes gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were ALL healed.”



I dare say that none of us today have been part of a church quite like that early church, where Gods’ presence through the Holy Spirit could be seen and felt and experienced so powerfully. Back then every single person Peter touched was healed through the Holy Spirit. Ananias and Sapphira had been there for the healings and the miracles. They had experienced God’s power there with them and seen and felt God’s holy presence residing in Peter and in the church. When Gods’ presence resides so powerfully with His people, they should be reverent in His presence. So when Ananias and Sapphira walked in and casually lied to the Holy Spirit, present there in full power, where was their reverence for God?



We read another story in the Old Testament that is similar to the story of Ananias and Sapphira. In Leviticus 9 and 10 we read about the very beginnings of Israel’s priestly ministry. God had given Moses instructions of how the priests were to sacrifice the animals on the altar for the sins of the people. And Aaron and his four sons had been chosen to be the Israel’s’ first priests. All of the Jewish people gathered around to worship God and after Aaron and his sons had made the sacrifices, Aaron blessed the people. Then the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people and fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering on the altar. And when the people saw Gods’ glory in their midst they all shouted and fell down on their faces. (Leviticus 9:23-24)



It was a holy moment. Gods’ presence and glory had come to be there with the people. All of the people were deeply moved and in reverence to God bowed and fell to the ground. But while the people were on their faces in worship, two of Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu decided to show off and offered ‘profane’ fire right in front of the visible presence of Gods’ glory! Let’s listen to what happens next. “Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.” (Lev.10:1-2)



These sons of Aaron didn’t seem to respect or fear the presence and glory of the living God. As priests they had been instructed as to how to come into the holy presence of God, but they decided to do their own thing instead! Where was their fear- their reverence for God? After these young men died while everyone was looking on, Moses explained to the stunned Aaron why his two sons had been struck down. “And Moses said to Aaron. ‘This is what the Lord spoke, saying:’ ‘By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy. And before all the people I must be glorified.’” (Leviticus 10:3)



The power and glory of God was physically present in both of these stories from the Bible. Ananias and Sapphira thought nothing of lying when the Holy Spirit was present in great power and Nadab and Abihu played games in front of Gods’ fiery glory. These four people casually did their thing before Gods’ presence and didn’t regard Him as holy. They paraded their sin right in front of a holy God. Most of us have felt Gods’ presence and we know that He is with us. But probably none of us have been in circumstances like these where the glory and power of God could be seen and experienced physically. And if we ever were in the presence of Gods’ glory, I doubt if we would make the same mistake and not honor Him!



Scripture tells us that after we die we will stand in front of the living God in all His glory. God is holy and we will not be acceptable in His presence unless we are holy. We aren’t good enough on our own and in our sin and doing our own thing. We won’t be able to tell our little white lies there or bring in profane fire. We will need to be ready! Heaven is a sinless place and we can not enter it and hang on to our sin. But the God who is holy and pure is also a God who loves us and brings us salvation. He has provided a Way for us to be covered and come to Him, a Way to take away our sin, and a way to be ready. And that Way is Jesus. (Acts 4:10-12) Let’s accept Gods’ gift of Jesus now so that when it’s our time to go we will be prepared to meet our Maker.

The Very Beginnings of the Church

The Very Beginnings of the Church

When we speak about the Church, perhaps the first thing that comes to mind may be a congregation of members who come together on Sunday mornings for Sunday school and worship service in a church building. But of course a church building isn’t the definition of the Church. And a local congregation is only a very small part of the universal Church. All of the believers in Jesus around the world who are alive today or who have ever lived during the last 2000 years make up the mystical Body of Christ, - the Church. And the Holy Spirit has put them all together in one Body. (The Body of Christ).



It is believed that Pentecost was the birthday of the Church. At that time there were only about one hundred and twenty people who believed that Jesus was Lord and that He died for their sins. It had just been nine or ten days since Jesus had gone back to heaven and had instructed His followers to wait for the Holy Spirit to come upon them. So when the Holy Spirit fell upon these believers, the Church – the Body of Christ- was born!



God was doing a new thing. These very first Christians had been brought together as one body by the power of the Holy Spirit and they were all on fire for God. The men and women who loved the Lord in Old Testament times lived out their lives under the law while waiting for God’s future promise of salvation. But now that promise of salvation (Jesus the Savior) had come and the waiting was over. The Age of Law had given way to the Age of Grace. Jesus had suffered and died to redeem His Church. So the Church (the believers) was born through the power of the Holy Spirit!



Acts 2-4 tells the story of how those very first Christians lived and what the Church (the group of believers) was like in those first few months. To start with, immediately after the Holy Spirit fell on the believers at Pentecost, a large group of people in Jerusalem crowded around to see what was happening to this noisy group.



Peter took this opportunity to preach to the crowds and about three thousand people believed in Jesus that very day. “Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’….Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.” (Acts 2:38 and 41) So it seems that the Holy Spirit gave Peter great power in his preaching. And the Holy Spirit also convicted three thousand people to accept Christ as Savior and be baptized; they were added to the number of Christians in the new Church. In those early days the Holy Spirit was operating in His people (the Church) in a very powerful way!



That first group of Christians in Jerusalem didn’t build a big church building but instead they met in the temple court (that first group was mostly Jewish) and ate together in each other’s homes and shared everything in common. Peter and John and some of the other men who had been Jesus’ disciples became part of that very first Church. These early Jewish Christians studied Jesus’ disciples’ teachings and prayed and ate together constantly. Let’s try to get a picture of that very first group of Christians. “They devoted themselves to the disciples’ teachings and to the fellowship and the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the disciples. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Everyday they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:42-47)



Peter and John were members of this very first church. One day on their way to the temple they stopped to talk to a lame beggar sitting at the temple gate. The beggar was asking for money. Peter told him that he didn’t have money with him but he would give him what he had –he would heal his lameness in the name of Jesus Christ. (Acts 3:6-9) So Peter commanded him to walk in Jesus’ name and immediately the lame beggar jumped up and began to walk and leap around and praise God.



All of this excitement caused quite a stir as many people crowded around in amazement. This crowd had always remembered this man sitting with withered legs by the temple gate begging, but now he was running and jumping about. So Peter had another chance to preach to the crowds and tell them about Jesus the Savior.



Just as Jesus had healed a lame man and had gotten in trouble with the religious leaders, now Peter and John also would get in trouble with the same religious leaders for healing this lame man in Jesus’ name. The high priest and the Pharisees threw Peter and John in prison, later releasing them with orders to never preach about Jesus again. These powerful rulers also threatened to imprison or kill any Christian in Jerusalem who might disobey their orders and preach about Jesus.



Peter and John went back to the Church and reported all that had happened. Peter told his fellow Christians of how they had been ordered never to preach about Jesus again. They all knew that these authorities could throw them into prison and possibly have them put to death if they disobeyed. It hadn’t taken long for the new Church to be persecuted for their faith! Would these new believers obey the religious authorities or would they risk prison or death and keep telling others about Jesus? What would we do in similar circumstances?



Let’s see what Scripture says they did. “When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God,… Now, Lord consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus. After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.” (Acts 4:24, 29-31)



I don’t know about you, but I am really impressed with that first church and the way that they reacted when they were threatened by prison and death. Instead of being intimidated and playing it safe, these early believers prayed for boldness to speak all the more about Jesus. And they prayed for more healings and miracles to be done through them in His name. God must have been pleased because after they prayed, the meeting was shaken and the Holy Spirit filled them with even more power and boldness.



That very first Church is a great model for us to follow. Those early Christians were joyful and enthusiastic about their Savior, Jesus and about what the Holy Spirit had done by putting them together as the Church. And they loved each other and shared everything with one another. They didn’t even let threats of prison or death scare them but prayed for the boldness to speak out even more for Jesus.



We also have been placed into Christ’s Body, the Church, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Let’s be enthusiastic and let’s pray for more boldness to speak out for Jesus. Let’s love and share with each other the way they did. And let’s pray that our Church today can be as fearless and loving and filled with the Holy Spirit as that very first Church was.

Pentecost - When the Church Received the Holy Spirit

Pentecost – When the Church Received the Holy Spirit

Jesus was getting ready to go to heaven. He had gathered His disciples together on Mt. Olivet and was saying goodbye to them. They all had sad faces because they didn’t want Him to go. He was going back to the Father and they would be left down here on their own. Jesus had reminded them earlier, “I will not leave you orphans.” (John 14:18) But perhaps they still felt like they were being abandoned.



Just before Jesus left He gave His followers a promise. “For John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1;5) “…And you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts1:8)



Jesus instructed His disciples to go back to Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit to be poured out upon them. Then He began to rise in the air. With heavy hearts the disciples watched as Jesus left them and was taken up to heaven. After Jesus was gone they trudged back to Jerusalem to wait for His promised Holy Spirit. They settled down to wait in the upper room of a large house, and many more followers of Jesus (about 120 of them) came to join them. This large excited group of believers stayed together in the upper room for the next nine or ten days. No one left since Jesus had promised that every believer would receive this wonderful gift. The anxious group waited and prayed together day after day for the Holy Spirit to come upon them.



It must have been quite a prayer meeting! And then it finally happened. Let’s listen: “When the Day of Pentecost had come, they were all together and in agreement in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them tongues, like fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Acts 2:1-4)



A group of people from many different countries were in Jerusalem during Pentecost and heard this noisy group and the story of Jesus being told, each in his own language. Surprised as to how these believers could speak so many different languages, this international group of on-lookers gathered around these ecstatic believers as they were speaking in tongues. How could each foreigner hear the gospel in his own language? What was going on here? Were they all drunk? Then Peter stood up and preached to the crowd and told them that the Holy Spirit had just been poured out onto these believers. (Acts 2:14-17) Peter went on to tell them that Jesus had died for their sins and the crowd listened and many believed. Scripture tells us that three thousand people believed in Jesus that day and were saved. The power of the Holy Spirit was present in full force!



Jesus had not left his followers after all! His Spirit had fallen on each one of them there at Pentecost. He would still be doing His work on earth through them. And through us too. Scripture says that every believer is filled with the Holy Spirit! “For we are all baptized by one Spirit into one body – whether Jews or Greek, slaves or free – and we are all given the one Spirit to drink.” (1 Corinthians 12:13) Jesus is in the world today through those of us who believe in Him. We are His body and we are being changed by the Holy Spirit that is in us.



At Pentecost the coming of the Holy Spirit sounded like a mighty rushing wind and was seen as a tongue of fire over each believer’s head. Some say that the Holy Spirit is like fire because the He is so powerful. And the Spirit is often likened to the wind because we can’t see where the Spirit is moving, as God works in mysterious ways. “The wind blows wherever it pleases, you hear its sound but you cannot tell where it has come from or where it is going. So it is with everyone that is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8)





Do we believers appreciate this gift of the Holy Spirit that we have living in us? The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit is constantly working in us: teaching us spiritual truths, convicting us of our sins and leading us. (John 14:26) He pours out God’s love in our hearts. (Rom.5:5) He gives us gifts for ministry and strengthens our inner being. (1 Cor. 12;4-11 & Eph.3:16) He seals us for heaven and His presence in us is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance of the kingdom. (Eph.1:13-14) And Scripture tells us that we can grieve Him. (Eph.4:30)



Let’s try to be aware every day that the Holy Spirit is living in us. Listen for His still small voice, wait on Him and never grieve or squelch Him. Life in the Spirit is a wonderful mysterious journey- a marvelous gift. Let’s receive everything He has for us. And let’s submit to His guidance and allow Him to lead us all the way.

Sodom and Gomorrah - When God Has Had Enough

Sodom and Gomorrah

When God Has Had Enough

Once upon a time, two ancient cities named Sodom and Gomorrah sat in a lush fertile valley. Walls surrounded these gated cities and they even had a king and an army. Sodom and Gomorrah were wealthy thriving cities back in Abraham’s time, 4,000 years ago, and Abraham’s nephew, Lot chose to live there with his family.



One day God spoke to Abraham and told him that He was planning to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Let’s listen to what He said: “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me: …” (Genesis 18: 20-21)



God had honored Abraham by telling him what He planned to do, but Abraham was shocked and upset. Probably Abraham was worried about his nephew, Lot. “Would You destroy the righteous with the wicked?” Abraham asked. “Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city: would You also destroy the place and not spare it if fifty righteous persons were in it?” (Genesis 18:23b-24)



God answered Abraham and assured him that He would not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if fifty righteous people could be found living there. Abraham kept arguing with God – bargaining with God for the cities. Finally Abraham asked God to promise that He would not destroy the cities if ten righteous people could be found living there. And God promised Abraham that He would save Sodom and Gomorrah if ten good people could be found there.



The scene now shifts to Sodom. It is evening and Lot is sitting at the city gate when two travelers, who are really angels, walk by. Lot jumps up and bows down before them and invites them to spend the night at his house. The two angels who looked like traveling men agree and Lot takes them to his house and prepares a nice dinner for them. While Lot and the angels are eating, a large group of men from all over the city began banging on Lot’s door. Scripture tells us that every man in Sodom, both young and old is there and has surrounded Lot’s house and they are all ordering Lot to open his door! “Where are the men who came to your house tonight?” they all shout as they bang on the door. “Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.” (Genesis 18:5)



Lot tries to turn this mob away from his home but to no avail. The group of men are beating down the door. Finally in desperation he offers this sex perverted mob his two virgin daughters to use as sex objects for the night. But the men of Sodom shout louder and beat down the door. The men refuse Lot’s offer of his girls to assuage their perversions, as they prefer using Lot’s male guests. (Genesis 19:8-9) Finally the two angels get involved and confuse and temporarily blind the aroused men so that they can’t see the door. At last the befuddled group of men wanders off. Then the angels tell Lot and his family that God is going to destroy Sodom and they urge them to leave Sodom as soon as possible.



Time was running out and the next morning the angels grabbed Lot and his family by the hand and hurriedly pulled them out of Sodom. After they were outside the city of Sodom the angels gave Lot and his family some instructions: “Escape for your lives! Do not look behind you or stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.” (Genesis 18:17b) Lot’s family ran for their lives and when they had reached safety Scripture tells the story: “Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But his wife disobeyed the angels and looked back at the burning cities, and she became a pillar of salt.” (Genesis 18:24-26)



Abraham went out that morning and looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah. “And he saw the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace.” (Genesis 18:28b) Abraham lived on a hill in Hebron which was about eighteen miles away from Sodom and Gomorrah.



Bible scholars believe that the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were located near the south end of the Dead Sea. Scripture described the area around Sodom and Gomorrah as a lush fertile plane. Lot had chosen the area as ideal for grazing his vast herds of sheep and goats. But today the south end of the Dead Sea is a desolate wasteland. Is it desolate because God reigned fire and brimstone down on it so long ago? And if just ten good people had been found in the two cities, God’s judgment would have been averted! Do we believers have more influence in our world than they realize?



What did Sodom and Gomorrah do that was so evil? Ezekiel 16:49-50 gives us a clue. “Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned: they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before Me. Therefore I did away with them, as you have seen.” And also Jude 1:7-8 tells us more. “”In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire. In the same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings.”



What can we learn from this scary Bible story? I suppose this ancient history lesson teaches us that God won’t tolerate over the top sinning indefinitely. God judged Sodom and Gomorrah when they gave themselves up to homosexuality and immorality. And God punished Sodom and Gomorrah when they became proud and haughty and forgot to take care of the poor. God judged the world with a flood in Noah’s time and prophecy tells us that He will judge the world again at the end of the ages. God has limits and we better not test them. Better not because there comes a time when God has had enough!

What Would Jesus Take?

What Would Jesus Take?

This week Rush Limbaugh, a conservative political talk show host here in the good old U.S.A., shouted and banged his fists on his desk while arguing about Jesus. Mr. Limbaugh was fulminating about a liberal political talk show hostess who had dared to mention Jesus on her morning program. And Rush was fighting mad! ABC’s Christiane Amanpour had made this statement to her viewers: “As Christians around the world celebrate Easter, we ask some of America’s most influential pastors, in these turbulent times, has America lost its way? Taxes and budget cuts. What would Jesus do?”



Rush ranted a bit: “A favorite tactic of the left, you know, when it suits them they’ll talk about Jesus Christ….” He went on fussing that liberals try to make Jesus into a liberal who would stand up for the downtrodden and tax the very rich, whereas Jesus is really a conservative who would never tax the very rich but would balance the budget by cutting out aid to the poor.



Rush continued on arguing his point with these words. “You know the real question is, Ms. Amanpour and the rest of you who seek to co-opt Jesus Christ as simply another prop in your march toward the decline of America. The question is not what would Jesus do, the question is not what would Jesus cut, the question is what would Jesus take? That’s the question you never want to answer. That’s the question you never want to ask. …Who would Jesus Christ decide they got too much and we’re gonna take it from ‘em. …….No, Ms. Amanpour, it’s exactly on the path you and your friends in the media and your president have chosen, the path toward decline, right on schedule. Who would Jesus decide they got too much? ( the rich?) And we’re gonna take it from ‘em? You can try co-op Jesus Christ for your cause all you want … Taxes and budget cuts, what would Jesus do? Well what would Jesus take? That is the question people need to ask to put this in perspective. Of course the answer is nothing. …..”



Rush Limbaugh seems to be speaking for Jesus, a new improved political Jesus, of course. The question that Rush is trying to answer is this: how much would Jesus tax the rich so that the poor and elderly in the U.S.A. could continue getting help. “Of course the answer is nothing” Rush insists. Jesus would never expect the very rich to give any of their wealth in taxes– “ nothing” – no taxes from the wealthy to keep Medicare running and aid continuing for the elderly and the poor. The rich get rich and the poor get poorer. That must be Rush’s Jesus.



It didn’t take long for a liberal talk show host to reply. Lawrence O Donnell on late night MSNBC sounded a lot like a Fundamentalist preacher as he paced back and forth quoting one Bible scripture after another in his response to Rush the next day. O.K. Rush, what would Jesus take? Lawrence O Donnell asked. What would Jesus require from the rich – or from all the rest of us for that matter? Lawrence O Donnell disagreed with Rush Limbaugh’s belief that Jesus would expect “nothing” from the rich – no taxes at all. O Donnell actually believed the opposite! Why Jesus would require everything – our all- he insisted. And then he quoted Bible passages to try to back up his claim.



First O Donnell reads from Mark 10:17-22 where the rich young ruler comes and asks Jesus what he must do to be saved. “As Jesus started on His way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before Him. “Good Teacher,” he asked, ‘What must I do to inherit eternal life?’ ‘Why do you call me good?’ Jesus answered. ‘No one is good – except God alone. You know the commandments: Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’ ‘Teacher,’ he declared, ‘all these I have kept since I was a boy.’ Jesus looked at him and loved him. ‘One thing you lack,’ He said. ‘Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.’ And the man’s face fell. He went away sorrowing, because he had great wealth.”



Next O Donnell quoted Isaiah 3: 14-15. “The Lord enters into judgment against the elders and leaders of His people: “It is you who have ruined my vineyard: the plunder from the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor?” And he followed up with Luke 14:33. “In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be My disciple.”



And Lawrence O Donnell, our talk show host turned evangelist finished with a scripture about the sheep and the goats found in Matthew 25:31-46. “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, …all the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left. Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come. You who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in, needed clothes and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you came to visit Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed You, or thirsty and gave You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and invite You in, or needing clothes and clothe You? When did we see You sick or in prison and go to visit You?’ The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it for Me.’ Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite Me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after Me.’ They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help You?’ He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’ Then they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”



Lawrence O Donnell ends his program by inviting Rush to find a Bible passage anywhere that says that Jesus would be upset that the rich might be required to be generous to the poor. And so it goes. This argument will never be resolved. What would Jesus take (require) of the rich? Is Jesus a liberal or a conservative? Or is He neither?



The Bible tells about a man who comes to Jesus and asks Him to take half of the inheritance money from his brother and give it to him. Let’s listen to what Jesus has to say when it comes to getting involved politically here. “‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.’ Jesus replied: ‘Man, who appointed Me a judge or an arbiter between you?’” (Luke 12:13-14)



Jesus also says: “My kingdom is not of this world.” (John 18:36) Perhaps we are blaspheming Jesus Christ when we try to represent His message as being partly political? Could we Christians be grasping for more power when we dare to combine church and state. Maybe we are adding to the Word when we mix our own political leanings into our church teachings as part of the one true Christian faith. How many seekers have been turned away from the Lord because many of our churches have become so political? I know several.



I wonder if the question for Christians should be: “What would Jesus ask?” Rather than “What would Jesus take?” I personally believe that Jesus would ask us to love one another and to give to the poor. He would ask us to be compassionate and be our brother’s keeper. We know that Jesus cares deeply about the needy and He wants us to care too.



I could be wrong but I don’t believe that the Lord would want our country to balance the budget on the backs of the elderly and the poor and the desperate by taking away their safety net, even if the wealthy did have to pay more taxes. I believe that God speaks to us through the Bible telling us to give to the needy. I believe He asks us to do that and I believe God wants our country to do that too. But He “asks” us, He doesn’t “take” from us. He waits for our answer. God always seems to respect our free will. He leaves the decision, right or wrong, to us-and to our country. God won’t force us or our country to take care of our poor. Sometimes I really wish He would!

"Because I Love, You Shall Live Also" John 14:19

“Because I Live, You Shall Live Also” John 14:19

We celebrate Easter because Jesus rose from the dead and because He conquered death. But Jesus didn’t just conquer death for Himself, He conquered death for us. He did it for you and me! He tells us, “Because I live you will live also.” We receive new life that lasts forever from Him. What a gift!



Our new eternal life doesn’t start when we die; it begins when we first believe. Christ gives the gift of the Holy Spirit to every person who believes in Him. Scripture says that the Holy Spirit seals us into eternal life and is our guarantee and our ‘down payment’ on this new life. “Now it is God who makes us to stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, sets His seal of ownership on us, and puts His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” (2 Corinthians 1:21-22)



So you see, through Jesus so much has already been done for us. Scripture says that this eternal life is given as a free gift to each person who believes in Christ. But we do have choices to make in what we do with our gift. We can either learn to live in this amazing new life, or we can continue in our old life habits of sin. The Lord will call us to change through the still small voice of the Holy Spirit, but He will never force us to change. Since we have free will, it’s our choice.



When we believe in Christ and receive new life, we are instructed to “put to death” our old sinful ways. “Since you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, …not on earthly things…Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.” (Colossians 3:1a,2,5) “But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed…” (Colossians 2:8-10)



A friend of mine, who is a Christian, had a problem with these scriptures telling her to “put off” anger and un-loving feelings. She wanted to obey the Lord but her feelings of anger kept hanging around. As a child she had enjoyed a close loving relationship with her mother. But since she had become an adult, her mother had continually criticized her and put her down. Her mother did not seem to like the person that she had become as an adult. She twisted and turned in the wind trying to please her mother and regain her mother’s love, but her mother continued lashing out at her with unkind remarks and encouraging her grown son to do the same.



“How can I “put off” my feelings of anger toward my mother?” she asked the Lord. “Help me feel the way You want me to feel Lord. Give me the ability to love my mother and not always be so frustrated and angry with her.” She prayed. And then the Lord who promises always to be near and help us in our troubles spoke to my friend in that still small voice.

She tells us that first the Lord asked her to give her relationship with her mother to Him and to stop worrying about it. So she stopped and with tears let go of her troubled relationship with her mother and gave it to God. Then the Lord seemed to show her that her mother was not capable of being the loving mother that she wanted: that her mother had problems of her own that kept her from having a close relationship with her. God spoke to her heart and assured her that He would be a “Mother” to her and give her what her mother was unable to give. And then the Lord impressed on her heart that she should love her mother for the good things in the relationship that she still enjoyed and not take the many criticisms to heart.



My friend insists that her prayers were answered and that she was able to “put off” her anger toward her mother even though the criticisms continued. “God gave me the strength and power to not be angry,” she reported joyfully. “I quit counting on my mother to be what I had wanted her to be to me. I gave that up to the Lord. And God gave me the strength to love her and not let her criticisms upset me. God gave me that freedom. I could have never done that in my own strength,” she reported with a smile.



After we have been commanded to “put to death” the sinful desires in our lives and “take off” our old selves, then we are instructed to “clothe ourselves” with or “put on” our new selves. Here is what God asks us to “clothe ourselves” with or “put on”. “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all of these virtues put on love…Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts… and be thankful and let the word of Christ dwell in you richly …” (Colossians 3:12-14b,15-16a)



Jesus has given us eternal life and He leaves instructions along with His gift. We are instructed to take off pride and put on humility, take off anger and malice and put on love and forgiveness, take off greed and selfishness and put on compassion and generosity. That’s a lot of “taking off” and “putting on” He is asking of us. But the good news is that we don’t have to do all of that by ourselves. God through the Holy Spirit will give us the power to “put on” the new life and “take off” the old one. (John 14:26, John 1:12, John 16:13 and 1 Cor. 2:10) All we have to do is be willing to follow!

Findinf God Is Like Falling In Love, Lessons from Song of Solomon

Finding God Is Like Falling In Love

Lessons from the Song of Solomon

We were having lunch with a Religious Studies professor from a local Christian college and for twenty minutes the professor had been discussing the importance of keeping our Christian doctrines pure. We Christians are proud of our moral code and of our belief system, he declared. We find God through the traditions and doctrines of the church that have been carefully passed down from generation to generation, he insisted. We must guard against any departures from the correct interpretations and we must continue to honor our rich heritage.



My eyes glazed over. The good professor lectured on but I couldn’t concentrate on what he was saying. Of course we shouldn’t allow heresies to creep into our faith. But it seemed to me that he was describing our living faith as a dry academic dogma! I sensed that he was comparing finding God to finding the correct answer to a problem? And all the time I felt like finding God was more like falling in love!



And I’m not the only one to wonder if perhaps the believer’s mysterious relationship with God is more like falling in love! Scripture tells us that believers are the bride and the body of Christ. (2 Corinthians 1-2) (1 Corinthians 10:16) And we read in the Bible about God’s great love for us and about the Holy Spirit wooing and drawing us to Him. (John 3:8and 16 and Acts 5:14) That sounds a bit like romance now doesn’t it? And when we turn to the Song of Solomon the whole book from beginning to end is about two lovers in love. Jewish scholars have long believed the Song of Solomon to be an allegory expressing the love relationship between God and His chosen people. And for centuries the Christian Church saw the book as reflecting the love between Christ and the Church.



The Song of Solomon begins with: “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth – for your love is better than wine. Because of the fragrance of your good ointments, Your name is an ointment poured forth: …”(Song of Solomon 1:2-3) And the rest of the book continues with the bride praising and romancing her bridegroom and the bridegroom praising and romancing his bride. The young couple is so deeply in love.



The bride proclaims: “…I sat down in his shade with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting table and his banner over me was love. Sustain me with cakes or raisins; Refresh me with apples, for I am sick with love.” And “I am my beloved’s and his desire is toward me.” (Song of Solomon 2:3b-5 and Song of Solomon 7:10))



And the bridegroom answers: “You are all fair, my love, and there is no spot in you.” And “You have ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse: You have ravished my heart with one look of your eyes, with one link of your necklace. How fair is your love, my sister, my spouse. How much better than wine is your love…. “ A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed….” (Song of Solomon 4:7, 9,10,12)



Since the bride is represented here in this love song as her bridegroom’s garden she exclaims: “”Awake. O north wind, and come, O south! Blow upon my garden that its spices may flow out. Let my beloved come to his garden and eat its pleasant fruits.” (Song of Solomon 4: 16) If the bride here is an allegory for the Church or the believer, could this verse represent the believer praying that the Holy Spirit (represented in Scripture as wind) blow into her life or give her power to bear the fruits of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, etc? Isn’t it true that the Holy Spirit lives in the believer and continually enables the believer to bear fruit? Fruit that will please our Lord.



The bridegroom answers: “I have come to my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey: I have drunk my wine with my milk.” And: “O my love, you are as beautiful as Tirzah. Lovely as Jerusalem. Awesome as an army with banners! Turn your eyes away from me, for they have overcome me.” (Song of Solomon 5:1a and 6:4-5a)



If the bridegroom here is an allegory for Christ and the bride represents the Church, or if it is God and His people, then these verses are telling us that somehow we matter deeply to our Lord, that He is in love with us and we are attractive to Him. I don’t know about you, but I can’t even begin to take it all in.



If nothing else, the Song of Solomon teaches us that we don’t have all the answers when it comes to our relationship with the Lord. In the third chapter of Song of Solomon the bride is walking the streets at night looking for her bridegroom. She has lost him and is asking the watchmen of the city to help her find him. Like this anxious bride searching for her bridegroom, we too are not in control of our relationship with God! Sometimes He is elusive and seems to hide and there is no three step program to hurry Him back. Our spiritual life is a mystery. There is no easy formula to follow in being a Christian other than believing and obeying and listening for the still small voice of the Holy Spirit. We can’t put God in a box.



But God holds us and keeps us through the Holy Spirit in this sacred relationship, mysterious as it may be. When we have once found the Lord there is no where else to go. His love is the best and somehow we know it. The Song of Solomon tells of a night when the bride was looking for her bridegroom and the daughters of Jerusalem asked her why he was so special to her. “My beloved is handsome and ruddy, Chief among ten thousand,” she replies. (Song of Solomon 5:10) And soon after that she found her bridegroom and she exclaimed: “Scarcely had I passed them when I found the one my heart loves. I held him and would not let him go…” (Song of Solomon 4:3)



The bride tells it like it is. There is no other. Her bridegroom is the best. She held him and would not let him go. And that is the way it is when we have a relationship with the Lord. There is an ecstasy in the relationship that is beyond compare. Finding God is like falling in love.

Dem bones, Dem bones, Dem Dry Bones: Can These Bones Live?

Dem Bones, Dem bones, Dem Dry Bones:

Can These Bones Live?

An old Negro Spiritual, “Dem Bones” picks up on a really wild story in the Bible about a valley full of dry human bones scattered everywhere. The prophet Ezekiel is writing the story and he tells us that God carries him off and puts him down in the middle of a valley of bones. And as he is standing there looking over the piles of scattered bones, God asks him if he thinks the old bones could come to life! Ezekiel doesn’t know, he doesn’t have a clue. So God tells him to prophesy over the dry bones. Ezekiel prophesies and amazingly the bones rattle and rustle around and come back together into skeletons. Then flesh and muscles grows over the skeletons and dead people appear lying all around the valley where all the dry bones had been.



Then God tells Ezekiel to prophesy again and ask breath to breathe into the dead people so that they might live. So Ezekiel obeys and prophesies again as God commanded him and the dead bodies come to life and stand up and become a large army of people. I told you it was a really wild story.



The story is from Ezekiel 37 and reads: “The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ I said, ‘Oh Sovereign Lord, You alone know.’



Then He said to me, ‘Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath to enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin: I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’



So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.



Then He said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath: prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’ So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath entered them: they came to life and stood up on their feet – a vast army.



Then He said to me: ‘Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone: we are cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them: This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Oh My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them. I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people will know that I am the Lord,…” (Ezekiel 37:1-13a)



The ten “lost” tribes of Israel were carried off into captivity by the Assyrians 2,700 years ago. Over the centuries they intermarried and lost their Jewish identity and were scattered throughout the world. Only the two tribes of Judah remained. No person in their right mind could believe that after nearly three millenniums those lost tribes from antiquity could be found and be put back together again! But in this story where old scattered bones are brought back together and breathed upon so that they become living people, God is proclaiming that He can and will do just that. With God nothing is impossible.



After Ezekiel finishes his story about the bones coming to life God gives him another picture lesson that says the same thing. – that none of the tribes of Israel will be lost forever. God has Ezekiel take two sticks and write the names of the two tribes of Judah on one stick and the names of the ten lost tribes of Israel on the other. Then God instructs Ezekiel to join the two sticks and hold them together in one hand as one and prophesy over them that they will all be one nation together again in their own land and they will give up their sins and serve God. (Ezekiel 37:15-27) Of course this perfect vision may not happen until Jesus comes again. But according to Gods’ Word it will happen!



The miracle of the bones coming to life is a promise made by God just for Israel isn’t it? Don’t some of the rest of us need a miracle from God too? We have children who have gone wrong or health issues that drag us down. Money problems that never stop or betrayals that we never expected. We’ve waited a long time for answers and finally all our dreams have dried up and scattered and all our hope is dead. We have our own personal valley of dry bones!



But God has made us some promises too! He has promised to breathe new life into the dry bones and valleys of our lives. Let’s listen to just a few of His many promises to us. “The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.” (Psalm 145:18) “And all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer believing, you shall receive.” (Matthew 21:22) “Whatever you ask in My Name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (John 14:13) “Exceeding great and precious promises have been given to us that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature.” (2 Peter 1:4) and “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be My witness…” (Acts 1:8)



God commanded Ezekiel to prophesy over the dry bones first before He brought them back to life. And God tells us to pray in faith over our problems and then He will answer. Isn’t it amazing that we are privileged to be co-workers with God. Our prayers and our faith are important to God. He has chosen to use them in His work.



Scripture says that whatever we ask in prayer believing we will receive. That’s a pretty heavy promise. But sometimes we keep praying and believing and praying and believing and nothing seems to happen. Years pass by and still the answer doesn’t come. The dry bones in our valleys are still scattered and dead.



Let’s keep praying and believing. Let’s remember that the dry bones in Ezekiel’s valley aren’t living yet, even though Ezekiel saw the miracle ahead of time. That promise to Israel may not be fulfilled until the end of the age. That may be a long time to wait. And some of our prayers may not be answered until after we die. We may have a long time to wait too. But our prayers will be answered. God will breathe new life into our dry bones. We need to keep the faith.

The Year of Jubilee

The Year of Jubilee

When God gave Moses the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai, He also gave him commands as to how the Israelites were to manage their farms and vineyards, their businesses and their real estate. If God gave these commands to us today we would have to forget everything we know about business, farming and real estate and start all over again! What God commanded His people to do is mind blowing!



First of all God promised to generously and continually give material blessings to His people if they would try to obey His commands. All He asked them in return was to trust Him with all of their needs and to follow His example and give generously to the needy in their midst. God’s generosity to His people would set them free to pass on that generosity to everybody around them and especially to those in need.



First of all God commanded His people to rest from all of their work every seventh day. Not only were the Israelites to rest, but their workers and their animals were to have the day off too. Notice how God cared about how they treated the animals too! One of the Ten Commandments reads: “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. …” (Exodus 20:8)

In that agrarian society 3,500 years ago, most of the Israelites were farmers. God instructed the Israelites to work on their farms and vineyards for six years and then to take a years’ vacation the seventh year and let the land rest. This is what the Lord ordered. “When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath to the Lord. For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather your crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a Sabbath of rest, a Sabbath to the Lord. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest.” (Leviticus 25:2b-5)

I can just imagine that if God instructed all of our farmers to stop farming one whole year out of every seven we would have a fit. “Surely we won’t have enough to eat,” we would insist. And I think the Israelites wondered if they would have enough to eat if they took the year off work. But God wanted His people to let go and trust Him to provide for their needs. Here is what God told Moses to tell the people: “You may ask, ‘What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops? I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years. While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in.” (Leviticus 15: 20-22)

God added: “But during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.” (Exodus 23:11b) God would bless His people so abundantly that they could feed the poor among them and the wild animals. Also God’s people were instructed during harvest time to leave a portion of their crops for the poor and the hungry to take. They were to look after each other, give to anyone who asked for help. They were to have time to rest and recharge, listen to God and enjoy life. No tight penny pinching folks in God’s group!

And if these amazing commands weren’t enough, God commanded His people to proclaim the Year of Jubilee every fifty years. Every fifty years trumpets would sound and liberty would be proclaimed throughout the land. All debt would be canceled and all the slaves would be freed! All land that had been sold would be given back to the original owner. If the Jewish nation obeyed God and observed the Year of Jubilee, the poor would be given a fresh start and those who had been forced to sell their land or their homes would get them back. The rich wouldn’t become richer on the backs of the poor in God’s economy.

And real estate was conducted differently than it is today. God instructed them: “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine.” (Leviticus 25:23) God’s people were given the use of the land. They were managers of the land but not owners. God was the sole owner and landlord of all the land.

If a Jewish person fell into hard times and had to sell his land, the price would be calculated on how many seasons were left for growing crops until the Year of Jubilee. No real estate sale was ever permanent since Jubilee cancelled all sales. The land would be worth much more if thirty years remained before Jubilee than if just ten years were left. The land was valued by how many years were left to plant and harvest crops before the land would be returned to the original owner!

God continued to remind His people to take care of the poor and sick and disadvantaged in their midst. He warns them that He will not bless them it they forget the poor. “Cursed be he who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.” (Deuteronomy 27:19) And God forbids His people from charging interest when they loan money to one another. “Do not take interest of any kind from him, but fear your God, …You must not lend money at interest or sell him food at a profit for I am the Lord your God,…” Leviticus 25:36-37)

Life for us today in this global economy is vastly different from what it was for the ancient Israelites of Moses’ day. For one thing ancient Israel was supposed to be a theocracy. All of the Israelites were supposed to worship the one true God, whereas in our democratic society we have freedom of religion and all religions are represented. We are an individualistic society whereas ancient Israel was very communal. God’s instructions for those ancient people would not speak to how we do business today. But what lessons can we take from those ancient commands? And how does God want us to do our business today?

For one thing God wanted justice and equity for ancient Israel and He wants that for us today too. God wanted a kinder and gentler society then and He wants that for us today. We live in a competitive and individualistic culture today where there are winners and losers. Even our games are highly competitive. God never encouraged His people to be competitive or to try to get ahead of the pack. Instead God taught His children to work for the common good, and to take care of one another.

We live in a materialistic culture today where the gross national product is valued above everything else. We will sell our souls for the bottom line. The productivity of the average worker has been pushed to the breaking point so that maximum profits can be earned. Frantic workers are often stressed to the breaking point trying to reach their quotas. Employees work harder and longer with less time off. Cut throat tactics are regularly used in the workplace and loyalty is a thing of the past. Jobs are sent overseas and faithful long term workers are fired and replaced with cheaper labor in order to save a few bucks. And some even dare to call these maneuvers Christian!

So we may feel a tinge of jealousy when we read God’s ancient commands in Scripture calling His beloved children to celebrate the Year of Jubilee! Instead of pushing His people for more production, God instructed them to leave part of their harvest for the poor and the wild animals. Instead of teaching His children how to manipulate the stock market, God commanded them not to charge interest when they made loans and to cancel all debt every fifty years. Instead of working them harder, God told His children to take a year off, celebrate and trust Him to provide for their needs.

Maybe in our rush to get ahead, we have done it all backwards after all. We think we are better off financially but we may have paid a price spiritually. Perhaps we can stop and ask God to lead us back to a kinder and gentler way of living. And perhaps we can learn something after all from those lessons given so long ago concerning the Year of Jubilee.

Pride goes Before Destruction

Pride Goes Before Destruction

The Bible passage reads: “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.” (Proverbs 16:18-19)



It was pride that caused the downfall of our first parents. Adam and Eve fell into sin because they were proud enough to think that their own way (eating the forbidden fruit) was better than God’s way (obeying His command not to eat from that one tree). We all need to do the opposite and be humble enough to take our instructions from God and not proudly think that our own ways are better that His.



As Christians we call Jesus our Lord and that means that we try to follow Him. And it takes a certain amount of humility to follow and not lead. It takes humility to trust and obey. It takes humility to believe in Jesus. So we each need to develop a humble spirit (if we don’t have one already!) Scripture says: “…He will beautify the humble with salvation.” (Psalm149:4b)



The Bible tells us that some people don’t believe in Jesus because they don’t want to change their ways of living. Jesus is the Light of the world and some folks don’t want to come to the Light since they would need to give up their darkness. “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict, that Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:17-19)



I think it takes a certain amount of humility to be willing to let Jesus take away our darkness and change us. And since He won’t force us to change-to repent, we need to keep working on staying open and humble so that He can do His work in us. Scripture says: “He leads the humble in doing right, teaching them His ways. (Psalm 25:9)



Jesus told one of His famous parables about the problems of pride and the importance of a humble spirit. Let’s listen. “And He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others. Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men - extortionist, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week: I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you the truth, this man went down to his house justified rather than the Pharisee, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18;9-14)



In Jesus’ story, the Pharisee had obeyed all of the commandments. He wasn’t an adulterer or an extortionist like other men. He reminded God that he was certainly better than the tax collector praying nearby! He fasted and gave tithes. His religion was based on the merit system and he was proud of his high score. Shouldn’t God be impressed?



But Jesus corrects the mistaken idea that all God wants from us are our good deeds. God cares more about the attitude of our hearts Jesus is saying. The Pharisee was proud of himself for being so good. But our righteousness is a gift from God. Scripture says: “But those who think themselves great shall be disappointed and humbled;…” (Matthew 23:12)



And our poor tax collector! He won’t even raise his eyes to heaven. Bowing low and beating his breasts he begs God to be merciful to him, a sinner. But Jesus tells us that his prayer was answered and his sins were forgiven by God. Scripture tells us that God hears our prayers when we are humble. “Humble yourself before the Lord, and He will lift you up.” (James 4:10)



There is a Quaker hymn that goes something like this: “Tis a gift to be humble, tis a gift to be free. Tis a gift to come down where one ought to be.” There is a joy and a freedom in being humble and it is a good gift. The Holy Spirit will give us this gift of humility if we will take it. And we need to take it because we won’t please God without it.















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Pictures of Jesus 700 Years before His Birth - Lessons from Isaiah

Pictures of Jesus 700 Years before His Birth - Lessons from Isaiah







Let’s pretend that a camera had been invented that could not only take pictures of a person’s face and body but could also capture shots ahead of time of how the person would live his life and what was inside his soul and spirit. I don’t think God used such a camera, but God did give Isaiah many detailed pictures of Jesus and what He would do during His lifetime. And amazingly, these pictures were taken about 700 years before they even occurred. They captured scenes showing what would happen to Jesus and even how these future events would affect us. Through his “prophecy” camera Isaiah received the photos and left them in an album for all of us to see. Let’s turn to Isaiah 42:13-15 and Isaiah 53:1-12 and view each shot.



The first picture that Isaiah captured was of Jesus being praised and lifted up. Also He was called “My Servant”. “See, My Servant will act wisely, he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.” (Isaiah 52:13) We read in the New Testament, “Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name.” (Phil.2:9)



The second picture of Jesus was of a broken and beat-up man, astonishing those who saw Him. “Just as there were many who were appalled at Him, His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and His form marred beyond human likeness” (Isaiah 52:14)



The third print is of Jesus cleansing many in the world of sin. The practice of sprinkling with blood or water to cleanse was performed by priests as part of the Old Testament law. “He will sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of Him. …” (Isaiah 52:15)



The fourth photo of Jesus is of an unimpressive, overlooked, ordinary looking person. Nothing special to draw us to Him. If He came today He wouldn’t drive the right car or have a degree from a better university. He wouldn’t even dress to make the right impression. “He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by people, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.” (Isaiah 53:1b-3)



In the fifth picture Jesus is on the cross dying for our sins. “Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:4-6) We read in the concordance that the Hebrew words for “infirmities” and “sorrows” in verse 4 here specifically means physical affliction. Isaiah 53:4 is quoted again in Matthew 8: 16-17. “When evening came, many who were demon possessed were brought to Him and He drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This is to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah: ‘He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.’” (Matt. 8:17) Does this teach that bodily healing is included in the atoning work of Christ?



The sixth photo will break your heart when you look at it. Here Jesus is seen as a lamb being carried off to be killed. And He went to his death voluntarily. “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away. And who can speak of His descendants? For He was cut off from the land of the living, for the transgression of my people he was stricken.” (Isaiah 53:7-8)



The seventh picture in Isaiah shows Jesus dying with the criminals and being given a grave with the rich. This picture also shows that Jesus had not done anything wrong. “He was assigned a grave with the wicked and with the rich in His death, though He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.” (Isaiah 53:9) We know that Jesus died on the cross between two criminals and that Joseph of Arimathea, a rich man, buried Jesus’ body in his own grave.



This photo shows that it was God’s will to allow Jesus to suffer and die. But I think we are in this picture too. Read along and see. “Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer. And though the Lord makes His life a guilt offering, He will see his offspring and prolong His days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in His hand.” (Isaiah 53:10) The offspring mentioned here are Jesus’ spiritual descendants, according to many scholars. And of course Jesus would rise from the dead and live forever.



And the last picture in Isaiah’s photo gallery shows Jesus as our Savior, victorious, and joyful that His perfect sacrifice has saved so many of us. He is satisfied that His death gave us life and He is praying (making intercession) for us. “After the suffering of His soul, He will see the light of life, and be satisfied by His knowledge my righteous Servant will justify many. And He will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give Him a portion among the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong, because He poured out His life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For He bore the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” (Isaiah 53:11)



Jesus understood His mission and work as the fulfillment of these prophecies (pictures) in Isaiah. Some Bible scholars have called Isaiah 53 the chapter that describes Jesus as the “Suffering Servant”. Jesus was willing to pay the price for us and be our “suffering Servant”. The last verses of Isaiah 53 say that Jesus was pleased that all of His suffering has brought us eternal life. Let’s live our lives in such a way that He will continue to be pleased. Let’s not let Him down.

A Rejected and Upset God - Lessons from Isaiah

A Rejected and Upset God - Lessons in Isaiah

A favorite Bible verse, John 3:16 says that “God so loved the world (we humans) that He gave His only Son,---” We really matter to God. The way we live our lives can be a great pleasure to Him or a great sorrow. God is emotionally involved with us just as we are emotionally involved with our children. In the book of Isaiah, God cries and complains and fumes and argues about His lost relationship with Israel.



I have known several unfortunate parents whose grown children have broken off all relationships with them. These parents love their children and had been good caring parents. These mothers and fathers now feel betrayed and can’t understand why their beloved children have cut them off. If you listen very long to these rejected souls you will hear expressions of loss and love and anger and desperation all mixed together. And that is what you hear when you listen to God as He cries and rails about His lost relationship with Israel and with all of humanity. How did it come to this? It’s all written down in the book of Isaiah as well as the other prophetic books.



Listen as God cries out: “I have reared children and brought them up; but they have rebelled against Me. The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner’s manger, but Israel does not know Me, my people do not understand. Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption. They have forsaken the Lord; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on Him.” (Isaiah 1:2-4)



And again in the book of Isaiah a distraught God compares His wayward child, Israel, to a vineyard. “My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit. …Now judge between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard; I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it.. The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the house of Israel and the people of Judah are the garden of His delight. And He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed: for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.” (Isaiah 5:1a-7)



Throughout the book of Isaiah God lists the sins that bother Him so much – and begs Israel and the other nations to turn from them. He judges the political and religious leaders with this complaint. “The Lord enters into judgment against the elders and leaders of his people: ‘It is you who have ruined my vineyard: the plunder from the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor?’” (Isaiah 3:14-15) All through Isaiah and throughout all of Scripture God holds up this standard for His people to live by. God’s people are to take care of the poor. The ancient Jewish people ignored this standard back then and many Christians are ignoring it today. We find God’s command to help the poor everywhere in Scripture. So how did they miss it? How can we miss it?



But there are many more complaints God makes against His children throughout the book of Isaiah. There was little justice in the corrupt judicial system of ancient Israel. Judges were taking bribes and violence was rampant throughout the land. Many of the Israelites had forgotten their covenant with God and were worshipping idols. God hated to see His people rejecting Him and worshipping idols. God took this personally and was jealous of their misplaced worship. He asks His people: “Aren’t you bowing down to a block of wood? Your idols don’t see or hear or think. Can’t you see that this image you carved yourself is a lie?” (This is a loose translation of Isaiah 44:19-20)



How many human parents are out there who have had their hearts broken because of their rebellious children? The child means everything to the parent. The parent lovingly raises the child with fond hopes and dreams that their child will grow up to become a good person as an adult? But then drugs or sexual perversion or greed comes along and carries the adult child away and the desperate parent is left with a broken heart and shattered dreams. They desperately want a relationship with their child but their child doesn’t want to be bothered. Where did they go wrong as parents, they ask themselves? These sad parents often go round and round blaming themselves for the messes their adult children are in, and wondering why their children have cut them off. But they almost never give up on their children.



When we read Isaiah we see God sadly circling round and round His lost children the way human parents often do! We read in Isaiah where Israel and the surrounding countries reject God and chose an evil lifestyle. The first forty chapters of Isaiah tell of the punishments God reluctantly sends on Israel and on the other nations. But all through these chapters a disillusioned God continues to cry out about how bad He feels and about how upset He is. He has planned only good things for His human children but they are more attracted to the immoral and the criminal. He desperately wants a relationship with His children but they don’t want to be bothered.



God remains a dutiful parent through it all. Along with the His cries of sorrow, He plans and plots to bring His children back. Earthly parents can’t always bring their children back from bad choices, but God can. He does it partly for His own peace of mind it seems. “I even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for My own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” (Isaiah 43:25) “Oh Israel, I will not forget you. I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.” (Isaiah 44:21b-22) The nation of Israel was carried away by the Assyrians seven hundred years before Christ because of their rebellious ways, but God never gave up on them. “But you, O Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend, I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I have chosen you and have not rejected you. (Isaiah 41:8-9) They will be back.



And God hasn’t given up on us either. If we trust in Him He will be our righteousness. “But those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles: they will run and not be weary, they will walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31) All through the book of Isaiah God keeps calling His children back to Him, showing them glimpses of heaven and promising to save them if they will believe Him. “Do not fear, for I am with you, be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you, with the right hand of My righteousness.” (Isaiah 41:10)



Even though God has had to play the part of a rejected and brokenhearted parent in the past, in the end He will have faithful children. He has saved a remnant for Himself. “You heavens above, rain down righteousness: let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness grow with it: I, the Lord, have created it.” (Isaiah 45:8) He has done it all for us. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Seeing Into the Future - Lessons from Isaiah

Seeing Into the Future - Lessons from Isaiah

Scripture tells us that God is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. (Revelation 1:8) God lives outside of time. A day is as a thousand years to Him. Since we humans live out our lives under the constraints of time, we often are confused when we read the prophetic books in the Bible. Isaiah along with other prophets would often tell their people that God was going to perform a certain action or judgment in the future. But sometimes the prophet wouldn’t tell exactly when the predicted event would happen. Would it happen tomorrow or in a thousand years or even at the end of the ages when Christ comes again?



God often starts by discussing a problem that is going on in the prophet’s day. But then almost in the same sentence a future generation is having the same problem and it is also being addressed hundreds of years in the future. And before we can wrap our minds around that, the same prophetic Scripture jumps again to the end of the age and give us a glimpse of the Day when finally every last one of our problems will be no more.



Isaiah is one of the major prophetic books in the Bible. The man Isaiah began his ministry about 740B.C. His name means “Yahweh Is Salvation” or “God is Salvation.” Isaiah was commissioned by God to be a prophet and he was given the gift of being able to hear God’s messages and pass them on to Israel and to us, through the book of Isaiah. Isaiah’s timeless message from God is for us today too.



Isaiah tells us how God called him to be a prophet. “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and lifted up and His train filled the temple. Above Him were seraphs, each with six wings; with two wings they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.” (Isaiah 6:1-2) “‘Woe to me!’ I cried. ‘I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.’ Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, ‘See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.’ Then I heard the Voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for Us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’ He said, ‘Go and tell this people:…’” (Isaiah 6:5-8)



Isaiah prophesied at a time when the nations of Israel and Judah had both given in to pagan worship. Even though some of the Jewish people still stayed with the outward forms of their faith, their hearts were far from God. The wealthy oppressed the poor and violence and injustice were rampant throughout the land. God sent Isaiah to tell the Jewish people how grieved He was that they had turned away from Him and to declare His judgment upon their sin. He also begged His people to come back to Him. But perhaps a larger purpose of the book of Isaiah was to give a promise of hope to the Jews that still remained faithful to God. (and to believers in every generation.) There would always be a few – a remnant –of people who hold onto their faith in God no matter what. And there was that remnant in Isaiah’s day. The book of Isaiah is full of promises of salvation and restoration and final victory for those who put their faith in God. Along with being a book of judgments for the disobedient, Isaiah is a book of promises and hope for the believer in God.



God showed Isaiah many judgments that would be meted out in the future. When a nation turned from God and did not take care of their poor, a judgment would inevitably follow. Scripture has so much to say about the importance of taking care of the poor and the disadvantaged. Isaiah foretold that Israel would be judged and taken away by Assyria and that Judah would be judged and led away into captivity by the Babylonians, and then later released. Isaiah goes on to prophesy the overthrow of Babylon by the Persians (Isaiah 13) and the demise later of the Assyrians. (Isaiah 13-14) The first thirty nine chapters of Isaiah are books describing judgments against nations and against sins. These judgments are interspersed with hope and promises for the remnant who keep their faith in God. And chapters forth to sixty-six are chapters of comfort and promise to the faithful.



Isaiah’s detailed prophesies concerning Israel and the surrounding nations all came true. The Babylonians indeed carried Judah away into captivity as Isaiah had prophesied and later they were returned as he had foretold. Israel was taken away by Assyria. The Babylonians and Assyrians were judged long after he was dead just as he had prophesied. Isaiah prophesied in detail about incidents that would occur hundreds and thousands of years in the future. Indeed he prophesied again and again about the end of the ages and we are still waiting for these prophesies to be fulfilled.



Seven hundred years before Christ, Isaiah foretold of His coming in detail. Chapters 42 through 53 in Isaiah describe Jesus Christ and His Servants ministry along with the salvation He brings. And scattered throughout the book of Isaiah the promise of salvation through Christ is held out again and again.



Here are just two of the many prophecies Isaiah made concerning the future birth of Jesus. “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a Son, and will call him Immanuel. (God with us) (Isaiah 7:14b) and “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders, and He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over His kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9:6-7)



When we read the book of Isaiah we get a different view of the world. We may be discouraged by our family or our money problems or our health and wonder if God cares about our plight. Evil seems to be winning out. But when we read Isaiah we read that God is just and good and there is no future in evil. Good will overcome evil in the end. We can look beyond the sad realities of our sinful world and wait and hope for the new world that God promises us. We can live in the light of the future when as Isaiah prophesied: “Righteousness will be His belt and faithfulness the sash around His waist. The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” (Isaiah 11:5-9)

"How Long Must I Call For Help, But You Do Not Listen? Habakkuk 1:2

“How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but You do not listen?” Habakkuk 1:2

The book of Habakkuk was written between 640-609B.C. shortly before the Babylonians invaded Judah and carried the Jewish people away into captivity. Habakkuk is one of the seventeen books of prophecy in the Old Testament. It’s a short book, as Habakkuk was a minor prophet. In the first two chapters, Habakkuk is arguing with God. He doesn’t understand how God can sit back and do nothing while his fellow countrymen are worshiping idols, killing one another and oppressing the poor.



He fusses at God: “How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to You, ‘Violence!’ but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do You tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds, therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.” (Habakkuk 1:2-4)



Habakkuk’s basic questions and concerns have been questions that have concerned believers down through the ages. Why does evil sometimes seem to go unpunished by a holy God? And why doesn’t God respond to our prayers when we think He should? In other words, why doesn’t God just show up the minute we expect and zap all of our enemies the way we tell Him to?



Then God answers Habakkuk: “Look at the nations and watch—and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. I am raising up the Babylonians,…” (Habakkuk 1:5-6a) God continues describing the strength and the wickedness of the Babylonians and showing Habakkuk that He will use them to carry the offending Jews off into captivity. The apostate nation of Judah is to be punished by an invasion of the godless Babylonians!



God’s answer completely throws Habakkuk off guard! It’s all too confusing and makes no sense! Habakkuk cannot see the justice in wicked Judah being punished by Babylon – a nation that is even more wicked! That doesn’t fit into his theology at all! He argues: “Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?” (Habakkuk 1:13b) Now instead of asking why God isn’t punishing Judah, Habakkuk is asking why God isn’t punishing Babylon? He chides God: “O, Rock, You have marked them (Babylon) for correction? You are of purer eyes than to behold evil,…Why do You look on those who deal treacherously, and hold Your tongue when the wicked devours a person more righteous than he?” (Habakkuk 1:12b-13)



After Habakkuk has fussed and fumed at God, he stands like a sentinel to wait his answer from his God. “I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart, and watch to see what He (God) will say to me,…” (Habakkuk 2:1a) And God indeed comes and gives Habakkuk His answer. God tells Habakkuk to write down His answer. He says, “For the revelation awaits an appointed time, it speaks of the end and will not prove false. though it lingers, wait for it: it will surely come and will not delay,” (Habakkuk 2:3)



Then God contrasts the arrogant Babylonians with the trusting people of God. The person who attempts to trust in his own strength (the Babylonian) is compared with the person who trusts in God. The one who trusts in himself will die whereas the one who trusts in God will have eternal life. God speaks: “See he (Babylon) is puffed up: his desires are not upright--(We all know what eventually happened to Babylon!) But the just will live by his faith.” (Habakkuk 2:4) This truth is written throughout all of Scripture –the truth that our faith in God is everything—but here it is again in Habakkuk! “The just shall live by faith.”



God goes on to explain that crime doesn’t pay. Even if it appears for a time that evil people are getting away with murder, their lifestyle will catch up with them in the end. God spells out that there are punishments waiting for the greedy and the violent, the shameless and the idolaters. God has that programmed into the DNA of the universe, so Habakkuk shouldn’t worry. “Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain …you have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life. The stones of your walls will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it. Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by crime! Has not the Lord Almighty determined that the people’s labor is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing?” (Habakkuk 2: 9a, 10 -13)



God reminds Habakkuk that He does care and He is involved. In the appointed time, evil doers will be punished and justice will be restored. Finally in the end good will overcome evil and love will win out over hate. God gives Habakkuk a glimpse of the coming great victory at the close of the ages, the final glorious outcome! “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” (Habakkuk 2:14)



Habakkuk is a changed man! Hearing from God has made all the difference! Habakkuk has finally learned to trust God regardless of the circumstances. No more fussing and complaining for Habakkuk! Now he will rejoice in God even when everything is going wrong. He realizes that God’s ways are beyond his simple understanding. Habakkuk proclaims one of the strongest affirmations of faith in all of Scripture and sets it to music. “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food. Though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.” Habakkuk 3:17-18)



Habakkuk was concerned about the problems of his day and we have problems today too. Everywhere we look we can see division and prejudice in the political arena today. The greedy take advantage of the poor often while using God’s Name. We go to church and sometimes find political lessons of fear and hate being taught along with the Sacred lessons of Grace! I know a woman who has lost her health insurance and is sick with cancer and doesn’t know what to do. Another friend has lost his job and his house and doesn’t know how he will pay his bills. And a third acquaintance is devastated because her son has committed suicide.



Families are breaking apart and loyalty is in short supply. I do my very best and still rejection and failure have been my companions. Like Habakkuk, I get discouraged with my life and with the world around me and you may be discouraged too. But like Habakkuk I believe that if we ask God for help and listen for His voice, He will give us the strength and vision to keep going. God told Habakkuk to wait for His answer and He may be telling us the same thing.



We can build ourselves up by remembering that we will be part of the victory at the end of the age when “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,…” (Habakkuk 2:14) Today we are to do what we can about the problems around us, and then trust the rest to God. He knows the way through the wilderness. All we have to do is follow.



The book of Habakkuk closes with these words: “The Sovereign Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer. He enables me to go on to the heights.” (Habakkuk 3:19) Habakkuk trusts God and that trust causes his feet to be sturdy like the feet of a deer. He is now able to leave the dark valleys of doubt and fear and climb up the sheer precipices. He can go on to the heights!



Let’s follow Habakkuk’s example and learn to completely trust the Lord. Our faith will be strengthened as we read the Scripture and listen to God’s Word. “Faith comes by hearing, hearing the Word” (Romans 10:17) Like Habakkuk we will be changed by listening to God’s Word. Let’s make the habit of obeying and trusting God an all important pursuit. Then we can leave those valleys of discouragement and like Habakkuk go on to the heights!