This is so much fun

…a still small voice. I Kings 19:12

The first time I rode a motorcycle was so much fun. Mark started me off down the road, to go to the next intersection, turn around, and come back. Half way down to the intersection, I’m all the way up to second gear, 15 MPH!!! This is so much fun!! And I thought, if 15 MPH is fun, I should remember that, even when I can go 75 MPH around corners. There’s no need to always look for the next biggest thrill. There’s a thrill right here at 15 MPH.

Travis is a klutzy horse. He’s old – about 25 years. And he hasn’t been ridden for a long time. But we went for a ride and just walked. He has new shoes, and is more comfortable on his feet. I’ve had fun on other horses, going over jumps, in shows, racing in a field past all the other horses. But Travis doesn’t do that. He’s a klutz.

But a walk on Travis is still fun. A motorcycle ride at 15 MPH is still fun. Which is better, a walk on Travis or sitting in front of TV? Which is better, 15 MPH on the bike or watching the mailbox rust? How many little pleasures in life do we miss because they are not big and exciting? How many times do we miss the leading of God because we are looking for something big and spectacular, but God speaks in quiet ways? God does not live up to our expectations; we must adjust our expectations to meet God. He does not give us thunder and fireworks upon demand; we must recognize the quiet power of God in the way He makes it available.

…And, behold, there came a voice unto him… I Kings 19:13

Words Fulfilled

"But if you abandon me and disobey the laws and commands I have given you, and if you go and worship other gods, then I will uproot the people of Israel from this land of mine that I have given them. I will reject this Temple that I have set apart to honor my name. I will make it a spectacle of contempt among the nations. And though this Temple is impressive now, it will become an appalling sight to all who pass by. They will ask, `Why has the Lord done such terrible things to his land and to his Temple?'And the answer will be, `Because his people abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt, and they worshiped other gods instead. That is why he brought all these disasters upon them.' "
II Chronicles 7:19-22

The Temple is now gone, destroyed by the Romans is 70 CE. The golden dome is the Moslem shrine called the Dome of the Rock.

To depart from God

“…the ark of God has been captured.” When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward off his chair by the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he died, for he was an old man and heavy. I Samuel 4:17-18

During my Sunday school years, I thought that Eli, the High Priest, was a kind and wise man of God. He took in Samuel as a young boy, and taught him about serving God. Eli gave Samuel a part of the service in the Temple and also showed Samuel that the words he heard were from God. Eli was respectful of the message Samuel brought from God. When the ark was captured by the Philistines, Eli’s heart was distressed – so heart-wrenching was this news, that Eli fell and died upon hearing it.

And yet, a deeper look reveals another side to Eli. When he first sees Hannah in prayer, his immediate reaction is “How long will you keep getting drunk?” [I Sam 1:14] And Eli’s two sons were well known to be corrupt and greedy. Although they served as priests, their wickedness was obvious. Eli allowed their wickedness to continue, and he allowed them to continue in service as priests. Because of this, God no longer spoke to Eli. The word of the Lord was rare. The consequence of Eli’s sin was that his family line would end. There would be no atonement, and so his family would be wiped out.

Eli was a man with good and evil qualities. He loved God and brought Samuel up to know God. But he did not restrain his own sons from evil, and was quick to condemn Hannah. Like all mankind, he failed to be perfect. But what Eli did not do was to turn back to God in repentance. Other examples of sinners are in God’s Word. King David, Jacob and Peter all had times of sin and separation from God, but all repented when they realized their sin. God has not changed in this regard – we still need to recognize our departure from God, repent of it (turn back to God), and obtain His forgiveness.

Turn Back

And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes. II Kings 22:11

King Josiah became king as a boy of eight years. He succeeded his father, Amon, and his grandfather Manasseh. They reigned for a total of 57 years, and both worshipped idols. But Josiah turned to God, and ordered that the Temple be cleaned and refurbished. In this clean-up, the book of the law was found, and read for the first time in decades.

Josiah was truly repentant when the book of the law was read to him. Although the lawbook had been lost for many years, Josiah recognized God’s Word in his ears. His reaction was to tear his clothes, a sign of distress or mourning. His reaction was mourning that he and all of Judah had departed so far from the will of God. But he did not stop at mourning and distress; he took steps to put himself into the right relationship with God. He turned back to God, and made a commitment to follow God’s commandments. As a result, the entire country was blessed and protected.

And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. II Kings 23:3

Repentance is a continual process. As our shortcomings are revealed to us, we should turn to God, and commit to follow God, in heart and soul, and to perform the will of God.

Fully Believe

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses … Hebrews 12:1

These witnesses are the people listed in the previous chapter, people like Abel, Enoch, Abraham and Sarah, Moses and Rahab. Witnesses give testimony, like witnesses in court. They say what has happened, and testify to the truth of events. But these witnesses are all dead, and their testimony is not in their words, but in their lives. Like a Last Will and Testament, their lives have been recorded in the Bible for us to read.

All these followers of God lived believing God’s promises, but they did not see the fullness of the propmise; they all died while still looking forward to the promise of the Messiah. And now we have that promise. Christ has made the sacrifice, and has risen from the dead. But even we have not seen the fullness of the promise, because Christ has not yet returned; and when he does it will be as King and as Lord. Upon his return we will see the dead arise and put on immortal perfect bodies.

So we are encouraged to be patient and joyful in our time on earth. We are still beset with troubles, but we have already seen more of the fulfilled promise than Moses or Joseph or David. Having seen the promises given to these witnesses come to pass, we should fully believe the promises God has given us.

The Acceptable Year

And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

Luke 4:17-21

Jesus read this passage from Isaiah and made this astounding statement in the synagogue at Nazareth. It was the custom to have seven readings from the Bible, one by a priest, one by a Levite and five by others present in the congregation. A person reading the scriptures would stand, and would sit when he began teaching. There are many instances recorded of Jesus teaching in the synagogue, but this is the only recorded instance of Jesus reading the scriptures. Nevertheless, we know that Jesus studied the scriptures, because he “found the place” where he wished to read. He knew the book of Isaiah so well that he found the right place without chapters, verse markings or punctuation. This event happened early in Jesus’ ministry, just after his baptism by John and his temptation in the wilderness. The statement is really an announcement of what Jesus would accomplish.

First, he says that he comes with authority; an anointing from God. He comes for the poor, the brokenhearted, the captives, the blind and the bruised. He brings the gospel, healing, deliverance, sight and liberty. He announces the Acceptable Year of the Lord, a reference to the year of Jubilee, when debts were forgiven and those in captivity would be released. And finally, he says that this prophecy is now accomplished. God has sent him to proclaim the Acceptable Year, and this is that proclamation.

When compared with the verses in Isaiah, we see that Jesus stopped in the middle of a sentence. That is because the next part of the prophecy is not yet accomplished. Those are all to happen in the future. What we have now are the accomplishments listed in Luke. Now that we have the good news (gospel) of Christ, we are no longer poor in spirit, but rich with what God has given us. We were brokenhearted (broken, crippled), but now are bandaged, bound up (in the newness of life). We have been delivered from the bondage of this world and given instead citizenship in God’s Kingdom. We now have the indwelling spirit to guide us into the light and out of spiritual darkness (blindness). And we have been set free of the weight of sin by the resurrection of Christ. We are indeed in an Acceptable Year.

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me;
because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek;
he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD,

and the day of vengeance of our God...

Is 61:1-3

Wickedness

For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood,
but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world,
against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world,
and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:12

It is sometimes hard to remember where our real fight is. We encounter so many situations where other people fail us, disappoint us, and even work against us. It is so easy to see them as the source of wickedness. But this wickedness, these evil purposes and desires, have a spiritual source. Jesus spoke of wickedness to describe the Pharisees when they asked questions so that they might trap and accuse him (Matt 22:15).

In the new Church of the Body, we have tools to deal with evil. We are told not to fight the devil, but that if we resist, he will flee (James 4:7). Knowing when and how to resist requires knowledge – knowledge of God’s Word. We are to be “wise as serpents, and harmless as doves” (Matt 10:16). Most importantly, we have the armor God gave us, but we must make the choice to don and implement it.

The armor is of several parts: truth, righteousness, peace, faith (believing), salvation, the Word of God, prayer and vigilance. Of these, the first ones: truth, righteousness, peace, faith (believing) and salvation are for our defense. Our only offensive weapon is the Word of God. And it is by prayer and vigilance that we perceive our enemy and know the right time to use these tools.

Last Words

The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me,
He that ruleth over men must be just,
ruling in the fear of God…II Samuel 23:3

The last words that a person utters before death are often considered very significant. History records the last words of many famous men. Some words are inspiring or valiant, many more are simply trivial. These last words of King David are significant for two reasons. First, they are included in God’s Word, and therefore must be there for our learning. Secondly, David states that he is speaking with inspiration from God Himself.

David begins as he has lived his life, with the humble reminder that he is only the son of Jesse. His accomplishments are not that he was a great leader or general, not that he was King, but that God raised him up to a position with anointing. He looks back on the psalms he wrote in praise of God, not on his deeds as King. When he does talk about leadership, the first qualification is that the leader rule with the fear (respect) for God. Next, he warns his descendants that they must be faithful to God to retain the promised blessings.

David throughout his life encountered ungodly people, the sons of Belial. He describes them as thorns that cannot be pushed away with bare hands. The only way to overcome these influences is through iron (a symbol of strength) and a staff of a spear (the strength of lawful authority). This is not just the evil of ordinary people, but wickedness which is spiritual.

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Ephesians 6:12-13

I lift up my eyes to the hills.

From whence does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,

who made heaven and earth. Psa 121:1-2

Pagan worship sites were on the hilltops. The groves of Asherah were on the hilltops. Our strength does not come from the worship of pagan gods, but from God alone. He is our strength.

Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills,
and from the multitude of mountains:
truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel. Jeremiah 3:23