Restoration, Love in Marriage, and Care for Others

Isaiah 27, Song of Songs 1:8-17, I Timothy 5

In Isaiah 27 we see that God wants to deliver his people from all evil.  The phrase “In that day,” refers to the end of all evil as we know it. The Leviathan in ancient literature was a seven-headed monster, the enemy of God’s created order.  Here Isaiah is comparing the slaughtering of that great enemy with God bringing an end to the wicked and all evil.  In the New Testament we read of Jesus’ second coming and the final judgement and the coming of heaven.  The imagery of the vineyard is one used in the scriptures by God to refer to Israel.  When the vineyard is faith there is fruit and fruitfulness.  When the vineyard, Israel, is unfaithful there are weeds, wild grapes, and dead branches.  The trampled vineyard of Isaiah 5 (see Isaiah 5:1-7) will be restored in God’s new earth and heaven.  Always we see God reaching out to save and rescue his people; sometimes just trying to get their attention.

We can ask, if this week we have been God’s faithful and fruitful people in our relationships, work, neighborhoods and families?   If we have been less than faithful to Jesus we can ask for forgiveness, knowing that God longs to restore and heal all of our sins and shortcomings.

In Song of Songs we read of the joy and wonder of a husband and wife on their wedding day.  Here we see that the love, sexual intimacy, and companionship between a wife and husband are gifts from a good and wonderful God.  Take a few moments today to pray for all those whom you know are married.

In I Timothy 5 we read instructive teaching on caring for widows and elders.  Instructions for slaves are in Chapter 6 and for Monday’s blog.  In the Greco-Roman world of the early church there were no pensions & 401-K programs, no social security, no life insurance, and much fewer honorable jobs for women.  Thus it was not unusual for many widows to be unable to support themselves.  Their support was often a responsibility of their families.  The early church stepped into areas of need in their culture and society and had a heart for caring for widows, as well as orphans, the poor, and disabled.

And so here we find practical guidelines for giving care.  The idea was to serve those in need and to encourage those who could work to not be idle.   Elders, older men and women were to be treated with respect.  The elders who direct and lead the church were to be paid and elders who fell short of what Christ wants were to be called to task, fairly, and given the opportunity to repent.

Take some time today to pray for those who are elderly, widowed, and leading in our churches.

May the Lord bless you to be a blessing this day wherever you go.

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Training…

Today’s Passages (all 1 link):  Isaiah 26; Psalm 100; 1 Timothy 4

Isaiah 26…this is a song celebrating God’s defense of Jerusalem and the defeat of Jerusalem’s enemies.  The people sing in confidence about their future – a future from God.  We live in a world filled with strife and turmoil but here, we are reminded of a peace…Shalom…from Yahweh for those who keep their faith in him – who trust in him.

Psalm 100…one of my favorite Psalms – it’s message is simple and to the point.  Know that the Lord is God, the Creator who made you and I.  If you know this the natural response is to sing our praises to God…to give thanks to God…to worship God.  Why?  “For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.”

1 Timothy 4…The theme of knowing and trusting in God continues into this passage where Paul is writing to Timothy about dealing with hypocrites and liars who seek to get others to believe a different reality about God.  In this warning comes some insights into knowing truth…are you nourished on the words of faith in and of Jesus?  Are you training yourself in godliness?

Devotional Thought:  We talk a lot in this country about being physically in shape.  But what about your spiritual fitness? Ask yourself…what does it mean to train yourself in godliness and how would you go about doing it?

Oh, how God loves you!

Isaiah 25
Song of Solomon 1:1-7
1 Timothy 3

Yesterday I was with an older Christian woman and after I had rambled on about some sin I’m struggling with (anger can be a beast, am I right?) this woman just smiled so softly and said “Oh, how God loves you, Karissa!” To be honest, I was a little surprised by her response because I was certain I should have been scolded or reprimanded for being angry.

The Song of Solomon remind me of that “oh, how God loves you!” feeling. I know there is theological debate surrounding the Songs and I am not well versed in that debate. When I read through Songs I see a groom so in love with his bride. I see a beauty in this relationship–and is the church not the bride to Christ?

So in Song of Solomon 4:7 when it says, “You are altogether beautiful my darling; there is no flaw in you.” I see Christ speaking to me and He says “You are altogether beautiful my darling Karissa; there is no flaw in you.”

When she says, “Dark I am, yet lovely…” (Song 1:5-7) and goes on to speak that she is dark because of the misfortune in her family I once again think of me–I think of the misfortunes in my life and how God has made them lovely.

Have you ever personalized a verse to speak to you?

Would you like to try it this morning?

Many Blessings,
Karissa

The Lord’s reigns

Isaiah 24

Psalm 99

1 Timothy 2

This past week I watched thousands of people protesting against the Romanian government, a protest that drew Romanians from across the world. The meeting that started out peacefully turned violent with thousands being pepper sprayed or bitten by the police forces. All I can say is that as I watched the events unfold in Bucharest, I could not believe what I was watching and my heart was crushed by the violence displayed.

I was also confronted by the reality that each government, leaders of parties and presidents are to serve the greater good, raise above the events and promote peace and seek the welfare of many.  And the thought that the “Lord reigns” kept ringing alongside the crowds on the TV. How are we, as Christians, going to respond to situations like these? How are we going to stand with integrity and faith before God in the middle of a troubling world?

Today’s texts seem to align to this struggle. On one hand, you have devastation that God brings as means to deal with the sin of the world, and on the other hand, you have people praying and living their lives with the understanding that God can and will sort things through. Psalm 99 speaks about that perfect balance between the two, The Lord reigns, the king fears the Lord, the priests serve the Lord, everything is working hand in hand and the people of the land enjoy God’s blessing. I wish that for all of us. I really do. But there is a price to it. Timothy calls all Christians, to prayer, to living just, to follow God’s teachings and in holiness.

As I was thinking through all this, I had to ask myself: Am I living my life with that understanding? Are we as Christian ready to embrace this standard for our lives.

Today I pray that as we walk through life, as we face the ups and downs of our world, we will be awakened as believers, and embrace prayer, holiness, and justice as our compass.

Be blessed,

Bo M.

PS. Say a prayer for safe traveling for me as I am heading back home on Tuesday. 🙂 See you soon.

Faith of Job

Isaiah 23; Job 42; 1 Timothy 1

We finally reach the culmination of the story of Job. As we have all read through the past several weeks, Job, who was a man of great faith. God allowed Satan to put Job to the test to see just how faithful he actually was. Job lost everything. In a very short period of time, he lost all of his wealth, his sons, and his livestock. He suffered from physical ailments. Life went from great to horrendous. Then Job sought out counsel from his wife and two of his friends, all of whom attempted to steer Job in the wrong direction by placing blame on Job himself, saying that his sins have been too great and that God is bringing his wrath upon Job. As we all know now, in the end, by faith and continuing to trust in God, Job’s life gets turned back around. Job’s blessings are doubled in the later years of his life.

In all of our lives, we will all face tests; many of which may seem impossible to overcome. I am a believer that we all must go through these difficult times in order for us to rely on God to bring us out of the difficult times. If everything was 100% perfect 100% of the time, we might forget that all of those amazing things come to us by the grace of God. But if we face challenges that we can’t handle on our own, we will ultimately come to God to ask for guidance and redemption. My prayer for all of us is that as we face difficulties throughout our days, we remember to rely on God to lead use out. If we remain faithful to him, he will remain faithful to us. Jesus said “Abide in me as I abide in you” (John 15:4). We can’t do this life alone. We need Jesus daily.

Praise!!

Today’s Passages (all 1 link):  Isaiah 22; Psalm 98; 2 Thessalonians 3

Isaiah 22:  Concerning this passage from Isaiah, which is so hard to comment on separated from the rest of the book, my first comment to myself was, there awaits destruction for the lazy.  In verse 12 “The Lord God of hosts called you to weeping, to wailing, to shaving the head, and to wearing sackcloth.  Instead, there is gaiety and gladness,..eating of meat, and drinking of wine…”  It seems the people were seeking a more leisurely life style, not pursuing Godliness or trusting Him for their protection, but taking an easier course.

2 Thessalonians 3:  Paul is closing his second letter to this group of believers.  He asks them to pray for the future salvation of many through his ministry, and warns them about evil and perverse men who actually try to disrupt his teaching and evangelizing. It also seems there are men among this group who have taken the idea that they can depend on the graciousness of others to provide them with food and other necessities.  Paul says to stop that, anyone able to work needs to work.  The return of Christ is no excuse to be lazy until He comes.  Just as Israel exiled in Babylon was told to build houses, and plant crops, so we are to engage in everyday commerce to earn our own living.

Psalm 98:  is a great psalm of praise to Jehovah, “for the mighty works He has done. He has made known His salvation, He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations… Shout joyfully to the Lord all the earth!”  Which brings to mind,  as we say things like, “Praise the Lord,” shouldn’t we then do it?
Just last night on the news I heard the tragic story that in Kansas not too far from where we now live, a van full of teens from a church, on their way to a retreat, blew a tire, lost control, rolled over and three kids were killed.  Three more were hurt badly and the van was totaled.  This strikes very close to home for me, for as many of you know, while moving down here to Missouri, just a few weeks ago, I was driving my work van loaded with about 1,000 pounds of tools, to our new home in advance of our actual move.  15 miles short of our destination I had a double blow out on Highway 70, at 70 miles an hour.  Both rear tires blew out at pretty much the same time, I fishtailed for a short distance on the steel rims, having almost no control, finally hitting the guard rail with the rear fender.  This then spun me perpendicular to the highway.  At this time, because in these situations everything seems to happen in super slow motion, I turned my head and looked out the drivers side window to see what vehicle was going to crash directly into the side of my van and send me to eternity.  There was no one even close, God had placed my vehicle far enough ahead of the next group of cars to allow me to drive with control across the highway to the left shoulder and pull parallel on to it safely.  I had two nephews following me in another truck who witnessed the entire event and pulled safely to the right side of the road. After two cars passed us they then were able to cross to the left side ahead of where I stopped.
Had the guard rail not been there, had I been in a pack of cars, had any of a variety of circumstances occurred, other than the mighty hand of God protecting me, my wife would be a widow, a few people would mourn my passing, and life would be different for my family.  As to why some are protected and others allowed to die tragically I have no answer, but I think of this event often and praise Jehovah’s mighty name for the protection He has afforded me. He will protect and provide for your every need also.

Karl

Sunday Reflection: God as Light

The first passage that comes to mind for me is John 1:1-5; “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into beingin him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”

There are a couple of realities in this passage (among many)…Light’s nature is to shine and dispel darkness. Darkness is unable to overpower light and there will be many that will resist the light without success.  Despite the opposition, the Light will be victorious.

Reflection:  In what ways have you allowed the light of Christ to shine into your life? Let Christ guide your life, and you’ll never need to stumble in darkness.

 

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This coming week’s readings:

8/13	Isaiah 22	Psalm 98	2 Thessalonians 3	Karl
8/14	Isaiah 23	Job 42	1 Timothy 1	Matt
8/15	Isaiah 24	Psalm 99	1 Timothy 2	Bo
8/16	Isaiah 25	Song of Solomon 1:1-7	1 Timothy 3	Karissa
8/17	Isaiah 26	Psalm 100	1 Timothy 4	Dale
8/18	Isaiah 27	Song of Solomon 1:8-17	1 Timothy 5	Craig H.

The Day of the Lord

Isaiah 21     Job 41     2 Thessalonians 2

Review: The conditions for Christ’s return are spelled out – a falling away form God and a man becomes leader of the whole world replacing God in significance (2:1-4)…Lawlessness is coming (2:5-10)…God helps this fallacy along (2:11-12)…Paul instructs to cling to Christ through the Spirit, traditions, and good works (2:13-17).

Analysis: Like my previous blog on Isaiah 14, what we have here is idolatry…This letter is primarily about eschatology or the future…That it was given to the peoples of Thessaloniki, Greece – home of the Greek prophecy god Apollo in Delphi hardly seems coincidental…A main feature of this read is the “lawless one,” an agent or the devil himself, who will be god-like and bring about world-wide corruption through deceptions, signs, and wonders (2:3-4, 9-10)…The coming false leader is a common theme in the NT (Matt. 24:5, 24, Luke 21:8-9, 2 Peter 2:1-3, 1 John 2:21-23, 2 John 7-11) vs. God fearing resistance (Rev. 13:1-10)…The antichrist identified here has varied with the passage of time…Previously bad popes (John XII) and rulers opposed to the Roman church (Frederic Barbarossa) have been labeled antichrist…Martin Luther thought antichrist was the papacy itself…They dress in red…God has awarded me no special insight as to what is to come, the Bible read is enough for me, or the timing of said events…What I can say is our communications technology, our political climate, our gullible mindset, and our thirst for a savior to solve all our problems makes the “last days” scenario more plausible now than ever before.

It’s About Trust.

Isaiah 20, Psalm 97, 2 Thessalonians 2:1 (NIV)

Trust is the issue in all three passages for today.  Who or what do we trust with our lives?  These passages come to us from three entirely different parts of the Bible (Prophets, Psalms, Paul’s Letters) and yet they all point in one direction, to trust.

Isaiah, as a prophet is asked to do something very bizarre to us, strip down, walk around and become a visual message.  It was a tough assignment to be a prophet to God’s people.  The message is that when you place your trust in places other than God; here it’s in foreign alliances with other nations for security, you are going to end up with nothing.  It’s not going to work.  Your life will be stripped away.   The Philistines who counted on Ethiopia and Egypt to protect them against the Assyrian invaders were disappointed, devastated, and defeated. The message for God’s people was to not trust in Egypt to protect them from Assyria.  Instead they were to trust in God and put their faith in the Lord, and that brings us to Psalm 97.

Psalm 97 calls us to trust in God as we read, “The Lord is king!…Lord of all the earth…who rescues them [his people] from the power of the wicked.”  God wants to be their king, their God.  God desires that his people, “Rejoice in the Lord,…and praise his holy name.”

In 2 Thessalonians 1, Paul writes to the followers of Christ to place their hope in Christ’s return and trust in God even though they are being persecuted.  They are suffering for their faith.  Furthermore, they misunderstood Paul’s teaching on the second coming of Jesus, in his first letter to them.  Some in the church had stopped working.  They rationalized their idleness by referring to Paul’s teaching.  Since there was persecution many thought it was the time of Jesus’ return and that’s why some stopped working.

This letter is a continuation or a followup to the first letter.  Paul calls the followers of Christ to continued courage and consistent conduct as they follow Jesus.  God is just and will one day punish those who persecute his people when Jesus returns.  And he will give relief to his people.  The idle need to return to work.  Paul gives thanks for their faith, which is growing more and more and for the love they have for each other, which is also growing.

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV) summarizes the core message of todays passages, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”  

May it be said of all of us, In God we trust.