Hear and see

 

Hab 2:1

I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.

There is something interesting in this verse, which is easy to miss on first reading. The prophet says: I will look to see what He will say to me… We do not often use our sight to hear something, do we? And yet, it is such a natural thing to do. If I were to speak to you about the deliciously cold glass of Coke we drank after a long walk in the mountains on a sunny summer day, I just know that you would vividly picture that tall glass, covered with condensed drops of moisture on the outside, as I was speaking!

God most often speaks to us in picture language, which is why He designed us to have an imagination. If I mentioned a beautiful red apple, you would “see” it in your mind’s eye, which is your imagination. You would not see it as letters spelling a-p-p-l-e. And it would not matter whether your physical eyes were opened or closed – in both cases your spiritual eyes would see the apple, using your imagination.

This is why it is so important that we ask God to sanctify our imaginations, and then very carefully guard what we allow to go into our minds via our eyes and ears, so that we do not defile it. This has become the most critical battlefield of our time – to not be exposed to the ever-increasing obscene images strewn all over our environment, and the God-reviling words reaching us via music and other media forms.

How do we use our imagination to hear from God? There is a vital key given to us in this verse from Habakkuk, when we read that we must “stand” and “station ourselves”.  To stand means to come to a standstill, to stop. Station yourself means to present yourself to God. Therefore, you need time, and an eagerness to hear from God. Choose a time in the day when you can cease all your activities, when there is nothing that will interrupt your special time with God. And start that time with positioning yourself before God in your imagination, it could be kneeling before Him in the throne room, it could be meeting Jesus at the well. No details are necessary, it is the intention of the heart that is important to God. And then patiently wait on Him to respond. Do not let your own thoughts intrude, keep your mind stayed on Him. If He gives you a vision, or Scripture, write it down when the encounter is over, and ask Him to interpret it for you. If nothing happens, praise Him and worship Him, and go about your day knowing that He is always with you, whether you “feel” something or not – take by faith the truth of Jer 29:13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. And joyfully schedule the next meeting with Him for tomorrow. And the next day. And the next. Persevere. Very soon your spiritual eyes and ears will become sensitive to His way of communicating with you!

Points to ponder:   Think about Jer 29:13 – what does “with all your heart” mean? What do I need to do differently to let this be true in my life? Do I need to re-order my day? Stop looking at certain shows and videos? Choose different forms of music to listen to?

Encounter Jesus

Total fulfilment

 

Lev 23:15-17

From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering (this is the firstfruits offering presented during the Feast of Firstfruits), count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the LORD.

During this past week, Jews all over the world celebrated the Feast of Shavuot (the plural of a word meaning week, or 7), also called Pentecost (the Greek name meaning 50).

This feast is uniquely linked to the Feast of Firstfruits (where the first sheaves of the barley harvest were presented to the Lord, so that the rest of the harvest would be sanctified as well) by 50 days of counting the omer, or sheaves, day by day. This is the time when the wheat harvest is ready, and another offering of new grain is presented to the Lord as firstfruits.

Jesus fulfilled the Feast of Passover with His death, He fulfilled the Feast of Unleavened Bread by the burial of His sinless body, and He fulfilled the Feast of Firstfruits by His resurrection. He fulfilled these feasts in incredible detail. Let me show you just the following regarding the Feast of Firstfruits:

In ancient Israel, since not all the barley ripens simultaneously in the land, a small plot of land was set apart in the Kidron Valley to grow this firstfruits offering. On the Day of Passover (14^th Nisan), the place where the first sheaf was to be reaped in that field was marked by members of the Sanhedrin, by using a red cord to bind three bundles of the standing barley designated to be cut down. Three days later, on the 17^th of Nisan (a Sabbath day in the year Jesus was crucified), as the sun was setting, a large crowd would follow the delegates of the Sanhedrin outside the city, across the Kidron brook, and watch them cut off the marked barley sheaves. They would worship and return to the temple to prepare these to offer to the Lord. It was now officially the morning after the Sabbath (remember, the new day starts after sunset on the previous day in Israel).

Now celebrate the fulfilment of these details with me: About the time that Caiaphas, the High Priest, was trying Jesus, the Sanhedrin members were assessing the crop in the field to decide which would be selected to be harvested for firstfruits. While the Romans were binding Jesus up for crucifixion, the disciples of the Sanhedrin were binding up the sheaves designated for the firstfruits offering. Three days later, when the red cord was cut and the sheaves gathered, Jesus rose from the dead after sunset on the Sabbath, officially the morning after, to be presented to the Father as the Firstfruit from the dead, the first to arise from the dead never to die again!

And 50 days later, as the Israelites faithfully counted the omer, the 120 disciples of Jesus became the firstfruits of the emerging church of Jesus Christ by baptism of His Holy Spirit, an offering of new grain to the Lord in the fulfilment of the Feast of Shavuot, ensuring that the harvest of souls to follow would be sanctified by Him also.

Points to ponder: Meditate on how Jesus is showing that He is the fulfilment - to the very last detail - of every Feast of the Lord, and let this forever be your guarantee that He will fulfil every promise He ever made to you!

The anchor of my soul

Honour

 

1 Sam 2:29-30

……Why do you give your sons more honour than you give me……

……But I will honour those who honour me……

When God sent this message to Eli by word of a nameless man of God, he was the priest (probably the high priest) over the Tabernacle at Shiloh. His sons, Hophni and Phinehas, also served as priests in the temple, but they were base and worthless, they did not know or regard the Lord. Instead, they were corrupt - stealing, embezzling, even committing acts of sexual immorality with women who came to the Tabernacle to worship. Their wickedness profaned the Tabernacle, but even worse than that, people avoided coming to worship God because of their actions.

Now Eli was made aware of what his sons were up to, and we read in verse 23-25 that he spoke to them about their sinful behaviour. Nevertheless, God held him accountable for the actions of his sons. Why would this be?

Eli’s responsibility was two-fold. As their father, he should not have condoned some of their behaviour by sharing in the illicitly gained portions of the offerings that people brought to the Tabernacle to offer to God. They took the portions that were meant for God for themselves, sometimes even threatening to use force - verse 29 Why do you scorn my sacrifice and offering that I prescribed for my dwelling? Why do you honour your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choice parts of every offering made by my people Israel? And then as high priest he should have fired the two of them for the disgraceful way in which they conducted themselves, sinning against God in every way possible instead of leading the nation to serving God.

It is Eli’s inaction to do something about his sons' wicked behaviour that leads God to ask why he honours his sons more than Him, and this misplaced honour is the sin that Eli will be judged for.

We have all been in this situation, where we see wrongdoing, but because we do not want to lose the love and regard of brothers/sisters/parents/friends/work colleagues/fellow church goers… we fail to do something about it. It is however important to heed Paul’s instructions regarding this in 1 Cor 5:12-13 It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning. God will judge those outside. We first need to build relationships with fellow believers before we may lovingly confront them with the truth, following Holy Spirit’s leading all the way.

Points to ponder: Carefully consider the question: who do I honour above God? Is there a situation in my home/work/church that I am ignoring, simply because it is easier to just do nothing about it, than to open that can of worms and maybe ruffle a few feathers? Ask God for a strategy to confront wrong in a loving but honest way. And this will become a win-win situation, because of His promise to honour those who honour Him!

Jesus is the name we honour

Calling good evil

 

Proverbs 11:1 and 16:11

A false balance and dishonest business practices are extremely offensive to the LORD, But an accurate scale is His delight.

The LORD demands accurate scales and balances; he sets the standards for fairness.

On first reading, these verses are very directly focussed on fairness in business dealings – only accurate standardised measures are to be used so that the true proportions or weight of products are presented to the seller, no false representations that are hidden from sight.

We have all been exposed to familiar products suddenly appearing in containers that are slightly smaller, priced in such a way that we are misled to believe that we are buying a bargain when in actual fact the product works out to be much more expensive this way! Other products come in such overwhelming big packaging that we think that we are justified in paying a hefty price for something much bigger than what is revealed once the packaging is removed. Advertising is specifically aimed at tricking us into buying certain products, often through misrepresentation of the truth. And so we can go on naming the dishonest business practices routinely used in our society today.

Not only does the Lord our God find these practices offensive, but He actually forbids them in Lev 19:25 “’Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight or quantity.”

But there is a deeper spiritual connotation here. When a civilization redefines its values, ignoring God, moving away from His created order – this is also using faulty scales and balances. When man’s idea of justice begins to take precedence over God’s absolute truth and righteousness, such a civilization starts measuring its values and norms against false scales. Man begins to conform what is right and wrong to fit his idea of morality, to fit his own sinful desires. And the result is corruption and decay on all levels of society.

What would some of these altered weights, false measures or changed values be? We could name legalised abortion; altered male/female identities; same-sex relationships; fornication; cursing Israel; accepting bribes; among others.

It is a sobering thought to know that God will deal very severely with those guilty of using man’s corrupt scales of measurement over and above God’s absolute measuring rod of truth and righteousness – Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

Points to ponder:

Meditate on whether you are conforming your life and life decisions to the truth that is found in the Word of God, or to principles as upheld by the society around you. Clarify for yourself what God’s standard is by searching the Word, not by listening to corrupting debates based on philosophies of man.

The Truth

Contradictions

 

We sometimes find what appears to be discrepancies in the Bible. Sceptics then immediately proclaim that this proves that the Bible is not accurate - that what is written there cannot be trusted.

One such example is the written account of the demon-possessed men, found in Matthew 8:28 – 34 “28 When He came to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, two men who were demon-possessed met Him as they were coming out of the tombs.”  When we read about this same incident in Mark 5:1-20 and Luke 8:26-39, “26 Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27And when He came out onto the land, He was met by a man from the city who was possessed with demons”, we see that they refer to only one man who was demon-possessed. Another difference we note here is that Matthew writes that this happened in the country of the Gadarenes, whereas Mark and Luke both noted that it happened in the country of the Gerasenes.

Which of these accounts are right? Well, they all are! Upon closer investigation we learn that the capital city of this region was Gerasa, which explains the description that the men were from the country of the Gerasenes; and this incident happened in the vicinity of a city called Gedara, only a few kilometres away from the Sea of Galilee. There were two men involved in this story, however, only one man remained after he was delivered and earnestly asked Jesus if he could stay with Him. This man later proclaimed Jesus throughout the whole region, while the other just disappeared from the scene. It is therefore no wonder that Mark and Luke focused on him.

We see another example of seemingly different accounts of the same incident, found in the Gospels when Jesus called His disciples. In Mark 1:16-20 we read that Jesus saw Simon and his brother Andrew fishing in the Sea of Galilee, and upon calling them, they dropped everything and followed Him. The same happened thereafter with James and John. In his Gospel account, John does not even mention this incident. He says Simon and Andrew met Jesus many miles to the south, along the Jordan river: John 1:35-42  “35Again the next day John (the Baptist) was standing with two of his disciples, 36and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Again, both accounts are accurate. In real life, people do not normally drop everything and follow a total stranger. Simon and Andrew had first met Jesus along the Jordan River and were among His disciples who witnessed the miracle of the water turning into wine in Cana. They believed in Him and returned to their fishing where they witnessed about Jesus to their business partners James and John. Jesus then asked them to accompany Him around Galilee (Mark 1:16-20) which they did. Back in Capernaum they returned to fishing, and witnessed another miracle when Jesus instructed Simon to throw his nets into the water yet again, and they caught an incredible number of fish! Then Jesus called them to follow Him full-time, which by now they did without hesitation.

Points to ponder: Do I read the Bible with a humble spirit and an open heart, wanting to meet God there, to learn about Jesus there, to let Holy Spirit minister to me there? Or do I approach His Word with a critical spirit, not searching deeper if I do not understand?

Ancient Words

Road to rebellion

Gen 4:6-7

And the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you so angry? And why do you look annoyed? You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”

God’s rejection of Cain’s offering made him terribly angry, and his disappointment showed so clearly in his face that God even commented on it. God’s next sentence (“You will be accepted if you do what is right”) shows that Cain knew the right way to bring his offering, but that he had chosen to do it his own way. We know this because our loving Heavenly Father did not respond by saying: “Let Me show you the correct way to offer”. Some teach that the offering was not acceptable because it did not involve an animal, but this was not a sin offering which would have required the blood of an animal – it is stated in verse 4 that Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock, implying that this was a fall first-fruit offering, where both the animals from herds and also crops from the harvests were to be offered.

We can now clearly follow the progression of rebellion as events unfolded from here:

Firstly, just as Eve, his mother had believed a lie planted by Satan, Cain had to have heeded the lie that his own method of sacrifice would be just as good as God’s way.

Secondly, when God Himself rebuked Cain, he refused to hear the truth and instead of repenting, responded with anger. His own parents had done the same by playing the blame game instead of admitting their error and asking forgiveness.

Thirdly, Cain then went to his brother in the field and confronted him, the anger in his heart making way for hatred to develop. No doubt Abel had tried to persuade him to take responsibility for his wrong attitude, but the rebellion in his heart made him blind to his own faults.

Fourthly, Cain rose up and killed his own brother. If this was not bad enough, he tried to cover it up when God confronted him about it. His defiant answer, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” showed his absolute disrespect for his Creator, and his self-righteousness would lead to bitterness later as he left God’s presence.

Points to ponder:  God’s warning to Cain, that sin was crouched at his door because of his wrong choices, is still true for us today. We have to watch for the sin door-openers in our lives and firmly keep those doors shut! (This means we must repent sin, and deal with wounds quickly, as they occur). They are usually the following four doors: Anger and bitterness; Fear; Sexual wounds; Occultic participation. Evaluate your own life in the light of the road on which Cain travelled: are you believing a lie; do you repent when confronted by truth; are you letting wrong heart attitudes dictate your behaviour; do you defend your wrong choices instead of dealing with sin/wounds in your life? Turn your rebel heart back to God, and so avoid the consequences Cain faced when he refused to do so!

Rebel Heart 

Thunder and lightning

 

Job 37:6-7

He directs the snow to fall on the earth and tells the rain to pour down. Then everyone stops working so they can watch his power.

The weather is a quite common topic of conversation. Even when meeting strangers, discussing the current weather patterns is a convenient way of starting the getting-to-know-you process.

But rarely do we acknowledge our God in these conversations, He Who is the Creator and Designer of it all as we soon realize when God Himself asks Job in Job 38:25 Who created a channel for the torrents of rain? Who laid out the path for the lightning?

 On reading our verse quoted from Job 37, I came to realize that God intended that adverse weather conditions such as snow in winter and torrential rain, should also keep us indoors and disrupt our outdoor activities in order that we can cease our tasks and meditate on His power and might.

In the midst of a powerful storm, when thunder claps ring in our ears and lightning lights up the dark clouds and sky in an awesome display of indescribable power, we can be reminded of a few instances in the Bible where God is associated with thunder and lightning:  The day God wished to reveal Himself to the Israelites at Mount Sinai in Ex 20:18 When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance. We know that Daniel, Ezekiel, and John reported that the throne of God emits flashes of lightning and peals of thunder (Rev 4:5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder). The voice of God sounds like thunder, as we read when God spoke to Jesus in John 12:29 When the crowd heard the voice, some thought it was thunder, while others declared an angel had spoken to him.

Hail reminds us that God uses hail in judgment (Job 38:22-23 Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail, which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle?) Which indeed He used in the past (Joshus 10:11 As they fled before Israel on the road down from Beth Horon to Azekah, the LORD hurled large hailstones down on them, and more of them died from the hail than were killed by the swords of the Israelites.) and will again in the future (Rev 16:21 From the sky huge hailstones, each weighing about a hundred pounds, fell on people.)

God’s voice often comes through the whirlwind, as Asaph records in Ps 77 and as Job’s companions found out when they were caught in the storm on the refuge heap with Job! (Job 38:1 Then the LORD answered Job from the whirlwind)

Points to ponder:  When next you are kept inside because of a brewing storm or mighty wind or hail or heavy rain, do not grab your devices and search for a film or YouTube video to keep you busy – search instead for Bible verses describing how God is manifested through the weather, and meditate on His power and majesty!

Rain

The fringe of His garment

 

Matthew 14:36

They begged him to let the sick touch at least the fringe of his robe, and all who touched him were healed.

These healing miracles happened in Gennesaret, just after Jesus and His disciples had crossed the Sea of Galilee, where Peter had attempted to walk on the water, and Jesus had calmed the storm. It reminds us of the woman who had been healed from twelve years of blood-flowing after she also touched the fringe of His garment (Matthew 9:20-22).

The Greek word for fringe used here, is kraspedon, which is a translation of the Hebrew words kanaf and tzitzit. In Numbers 15:38 God instructed the Israelites to attach fringes or tassels (called tzitzit) to the corners of their garments (this corner is called the kanaf), and because Jesus was born as an Israelite, He followed the commandments of the law of Moses and wore tassels on His garment.

The people were therefore touching the corner and tassels or fringes on the garment of Messiah to be healed, touching the very symbol God gave the Israelites to remember to do His commandments and be holy unto Him, as explained in Numbers 15:40.

The fact that they believed that healing was to be found by touching the fringe of His robe, is because they knew the Scripture from Malachi 4:2 “But to you who fear My name The Sun  of Righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings;” where the word ‘wings’ is the Hebrew word kanaf – the fringe of Messiah’s garment! They knew that this verse referred to the coming Messiah, and they believed that this was who Jesus was – they literally touched the fringe of the Sun of Righteousness and received their healing in His wings/fringes!

Our God decided to live here on earth among us, brushing shoulders with us human beings, allowing people to touch His clothes to be healed. He is not a far-away God, unapproachable and untouchable. Indeed, He became our High Priest Who understands everything we are going through here on earth, as He experienced the same (Heb 4:15).

Points to ponder:

Think about Jesus’ closeness to you, how He knows every intimate detail of your life, how He loves you despite knowing all about you! And move closer to Him. The woman with the issue of blood had to fight through the throng of people surrounding her to get closer to Jesus. Do not let family/friends/colleagues deter you, rather let your desperation become faith with singularity of purpose – only God can heal and save - move so close that you can touch His garment!

The Hem of Your Garment

Am I truly born again

 

1 John 3:9-10

Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God. So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God.

There is a dangerous trend these days for Christians to mingle the ways of the world with what was known in Jesus’ times as The Way. Straying from our biblical roots, in other words. When Jesus started His ministry on earth, He did not fit into the mould of any existing religious party of the day – not of the Pharisees, who attached endless human-made laws onto the Word of God that were passed on to subsequent generations; nor of the Sadducees who headed the other way by denying whole segments of Scripture, e.g. the existence of spirits, angels, the soul, the afterlife, and the resurrection.

On the one hand, contemporary Christianity has become guilty of the error of the Pharisees in the sense that it has added countless humanly devised traditions to our way of worship, smothering the active working of the Holy Spirit in our worship services. On the other hand, it has fallen prey to the tradition of the Sadducees, where copious amounts of New Testament practices have simply been removed. The first century church was a living breathing organism, where every member functioned with the divine life that dwelt in them through Holy Spirit, representing Jesus Christ Himself. Their practices were solidly grounded in the teachings found in the New Testament, where we find that the church held Spirit-led meetings where member participation was encouraged; and was led by non-hierarchical leadership – Jesus was the fully functioning head of His church.

Where did we as modern church go wrong? In my opinion, one of the root causes of our derailment from The Way is the lack of transformation among God’s people. Transformation implies much more than mere change; it is a complete or major change according to the dictionary. It cannot be window dressing only, it involves a radical change of heart, mind, and life choices. The moment the newborn Christian becomes aware of sin in his/her lifestyle, he/she will start procedures to break with that sin. Period. No procrastination, no compromise. Our verse quoted above states that they cannot wilfully keep on sinning, because they are now children of God – truly born again. If they keep choosing to repeat a sin once becoming aware of it, not sincerely repenting for their relapse every time they give in to it but actually telling God that He does not have dominion over that area of their lives - we can ask the question - are they born again? (Our definition of sin is found in the Word of God, not based on man-made traditions or people’s opinions.) Holy Spirit is faithful to point sin out to us by convicting us of it, reminding us that sin harms us, not condemning us and handing out punishment.

Points to ponder:  Examine your lifestyle choices – are you wilfully choosing to sin? Do you have the attitude of “Oh well, I was born this way….”  or “My grandfather did this, so did my father, we cannot help it, it is in our family”, or any self-justification whatever? Be transformed (Rom 12:2) in your mind. Let the gentle Holy Spirit show you what needs to change in you, and then act upon it!

The change in me

Slaves

 

Romans 6:6

“We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.”

Have you thought about slaves recently? If so, you probably had an image from some or other movie come into your mind, because slaves are not normally part of our modern lives anymore!

 A slave is someone who has a master, to whom he must be obedient at all times.  He has no choice in the matter – when his master says: Jump! He jumps…. He does not have the privilege of denying the command.

Which brings us to our verse quoted above. Before we knew Jesus, we were slaves to sin. We sinned because sin was our master, it commanded us to follow the sinful urges jumping up from inside our sinful natures.

But no more! That very same old sinful nature was crucified with Christ and our water baptism is the sign that the power that that old nature wielded over us, is now deader than a doornail! (Col 2:12 For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life) Sin immediately lost its hold over our lives.

Does that mean that we no longer sin after becoming a Christian? Of course not! It means that we now get to choose whether we will sin or not. Yes, you heard right. When you sin now, it is because you choose to do it. Not because a sin slave master cracked his whip over you, and you had to obey.

Remember this image, my friend, when you next feel so powerless because there is some or other sin in your life which you feel is overwhelming you. See your old sinful self on the cross with Jesus, breathing out his last. Then see the new you rising up, facing that sin slave master squarely in the eyes, and saying a resounding, NO!

And simply walk away from the temptation. In 1 Corinthians 10:13 we have such good news about temptations. God promises in that verse firstly that “The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. (so, you are not being singled out for extra punishment), secondly, And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. (He made sure you would be able to counter this temptation, He promises to give you the strength to do so, then with His help it is not beyond your abilities or strength). And also, When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.” (As you walk away, start looking for that way out. The telephone may start ringing, for instance, giving you an excuse to disengage with the temptation. God is such a practical, hands-on God!) And the more you stand up against that old sin slave master, the better you are going to get at it. Hallelujah! Praise God! Jesus set us free indeed!

Points to ponder: I also have a role to play in countering temptation to sin. Am I actively avoiding situations that will trigger me to go back to old sinful patterns again?

No Longer Slaves