2014-12-05
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week, we looked back at the times when our child did something wrong, and we asked him what punishment was appropriate for this misbehavior. You’ll remember the shock we received when we realized his idea of this was much more severe than the punishment we thought was right for this offense. I have the feeling the same would be true if God, as our Father were to ask us to weigh in on the consequences for one of our offenses, as King David may have thought. PS 103: 13, “The Lord is like a father to His children, tender and compassionate to those who fear Him.” But, David knew our God is merciful. God had described David as “a man after My own heart” [1 SAM 13: 13-14]. David’s decision to send Uriah [Bathsheba’s then-husband] to war where he was slaughtered and David’s subsequent decision to bed Bathsheba were indeed offensive. The prophet, Nathan, was sent by God to let David know this and rebuke him [2 SAM 12: 1-20]. Even a compassionate God knew the punishment for David’s behavior would have to be severe, and it turned out to be the death of the child Bathsheba bore by him. David was contrite and prayed. In PS 41: 4, “I said, ‘Be merciful to me and heal me. Be merciful to me and restore my health.’” David’s “illness” had put distance between himself and God, and David wanted to be restored to God’s favor. As events lay out after this, God did forgive him, because He knew David’s real heart-attitude was to put God first. Some of David’s most beautiful prayers of confession are found in PS 51: 1-12. We should take the time to read them.
Just before David was to go out to battle, he prayed in PS 20: 4-6, “May He give you the desire of your heart and make your plans succeed. We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the Lord grant all your requests. Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed; He answers him from His holy heaven with the saving strength of His right hand.” God really was at the center of David’s life, and He wants to be at the center of ours, as well. The stakes for keeping our end of the Covenant are high, but they are truly worth our efforts to please God.
There is a huge “elephant on the table” in today’s society, something that all too many people ignore. It is the issue of integrity in all phases of our lives. This extends to all the ethics of our lives, as God sees them. The minor prophet, Micah (probably writing in Moresheth Gath in southern Judah), understood this as he wrote during his ministry (738-698 BC). MICAH 6: 8, “He has showed you, O man, whet is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” The dates are mentioned here to remind us just how long in human history God’s will for us has been known. Once again, this author must ask, “Why won’t mankind learn from their history?” It’s a question for which the answer still escapes us. God has told us His will in both the OT and NT, so why do we ignore it? Why don’t we remember that we are judged by the Lord to prevent condemnation, not to bring it on? He wants us to be disciplined and reveal the fruits of the Holy Spirit in our thoughts, decisions, and actions [GA 5: 22-23].
We are given specific instructions on how to interact with the Lord and with other people. So, it is time that we consider that our leaders are held to a higher standard than others, because they have been given authority to influence more people for Christ. TITUS 1: 5-7, “An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer is entrusted with God’s work, he must be blameless –not overbearing, not quick-tempered, and not given to drunkenness, not violent, not of pursuing dishonest gain.” How much clearer can it be? These same things would certainly apply to a pastor, other church leaders, a boss in the workplace, or any other leader in society. In 1 TIM 3: 1-3, these same qualities are mentioned with the addition of not being a lover of money, not a recent convert, not conceited, and with a good reputation with outsiders for any overseer. This is so he will not fall into a trap set by the devil.
Our society is saddled with false criteria for prestige. One’s manner of dress, his education, how much money he has, etc. are all ways people are ranked by others. None of these can replace the qualities mentioned above. None of these serve God. Socio-economic and psychological barriers, like the wearing of suits and ties to work, as opposed to business casual as one way of indicating who one thinks he is in comparison to others. God’s criteria in judging us has to do with our character, integrity, faithful obedience to Him, and the way we treat Him and other people. God doesn’t care about the same trappings that humans do. King David knew he would be punished when he foolishly took the census, in 2 SAM 24: 10, 12-14. He confessed before God and wisely, placed his punishment in God’s hands rather than human hands. He knew our God is merciful.
PRAYER: O Lord, we come to You in reverence and awe of You. We bow our heads and express our praise and thanks to You for being the compassionate and merciful God that You are. PS 145: 18-19, “The Lord is near to all who call on Him in truth. He fulfills the desires of all who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them.” Your great acts of mercy and offering of grace to us is received with the understanding that we are yet sinners and don’t deserve them. These are things that come from You, not because of anything we did, but because of the precious heart for us that You have [EPH 2: 8-9]. PS 40: 1-3, “I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, our of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a Rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in Him.” Each of us looks at the circumstances and events of his own life. In this prayer we feel motivated to rehearse our own individual history with You. That firm place to stand, that Rock, is Jesus Christ. Our faith in Him is strong, as is our desire to obey His teaching. We thank You, Dearest Abba, for giving us the Scriptures, so that we can know You and Your will for our lives. We praise You, Father, for opening the two-way channel of prayer to us. We recognize our responsibility to have integrity and to seek out Your words, through the Holy Spirit, to say these words to those who don’t yet have the blessing of faith in You. These words are our witness to our faith in You and our hope that it will open the way for them to also have faith in You. 2 COR 4: 6, “For God Who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” We thank and praise You in the holy/mighty name of Christ for such wonderful blessings. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: The message for us to not allow condemnation to come to us or others continues. Not taking Scripture and distorting it, taking it out of context is another issue to be discussed. Our Covenant Partner knows that if we will follow Him, we can avoid condemnation. This implies that we take the time to get to know Him through daily reading the Scriptures and having an active prayer life. We must understand that prayer should be two-way communication with God in which God gets to speak first. Think about what this implies. We must calm our spirit from the stresses, events, and problems brought on by our lives. We are being bombarded with ads, commands from our superiors in the work place, family and church expectations, and other stress-producers in our lives. All of this must be put aside, so as to hear God’s often still, small voice. He advises us, stepping in the way of ill-conceived human thoughts and behavior. We must look for the lessons He has for us and seek Him out often for His intervention and/or advice. Isaiah wrote, in IS 42: 8, “By day the Lord directs His love, by night His song is with me—a prayer to the God of my life.” We must ask ourselves, “Is this our prayer too?” God gives us hope, if we will allow Him. 1 PET 1: 3, “Praise be to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has give us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” What blessing could be more worth our efforts to live as Christ directs us? Our God deserves every praise and thanks we can give Him, for He shows us His love every day of our lives—here on earth and in all eternity!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2014. All Rights Reserved.
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