Psalm 7 A model for us while in distress (part five)

Arise, O LORD, in your anger; lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies; awake for me; you have appointed a judgment. Arise, O LORD, in your anger; lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies; awake for me; you have appointed a judgment. Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you; over it return on high. The LORD judges the peoples; judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me. Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end, and may you establish the righteous– you who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God! My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart. God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day. If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword; he has bent and readied his bow; he has prepared for him his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts. Behold, the wicked man conceives evil and is pregnant with mischief and gives birth to lies. He makes a pit, digging it out, and falls into the hole that he has made. His mischief returns upon his own head, and on his own skull his violence descends. I will give to the LORD the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the LORD, the Most High. From Psalm 7.

David finishes half his prayer in which he fled to G-d, came to grips with his enemies, and sorted through his lack of guilt for such response against him. Now turns David calls upon G-d to take action. “Arise, O LORD, in your anger; lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies; awake for me; you have appointed a judgment.” Without another breath, David declares his knowledge of G-d as judge, jury, and executioner.

David shows us that he knows G-d wants confession and repentance from the guilty. David also declares that those who do wrong, perish by their own doing, at their own hands. In the end those who do evil perish. Those who bow their knees to Y’shuaJesus will be with Him for eternity.

Psalm 7 provides a model for us in our prayers. It presupposes that, like David, we know G-d through Y’shuaJesus. That means that we understand our lives are to be as peaceful as possible, living like lambs. It also means that the one to whom we turn in times of distress, whether physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual, is the same One to Whom David turned. We must be innocent, and we understand our righteousness comes from Y’shuaJesus. Finally, we call upon G-d to go forth in His anger as He deems necessary.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Hadassah (continued)

“When Mordecai perceived all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry. . .” Esther 4:1 KJV

“. . .and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king’s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews. Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her and command her to go to the king to beg his favor and plead with him on behalf of her people. And Hathach went and told Esther what Mordecai had said. Then Esther spoke to Hathach and commanded him to go to Mordecai and say, “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law–to be put to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter so that he may live. But as for me, I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.” And they told Mordecai what Esther had said. Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther 4:7-14 ESV

Okay, so undoing Mordecai’s disobedience of the king, his not reverencing Haman, is now the responsibility of Hadassah? Oh, that’s right, we are not considering Mordecai to have disobeyed, but to simply have obeyed G-d. So it is G-d that has made a mess that Hadassah must risk her life to turn around, right? Why? Why ever would G-d cause a situation in which His own people would be put into harm’s way? As I see it, G-d’s people were already in harm’s way. And it was just a matter of time that something else would have triggered a massacre of His people. G-d foresaw it coming, prepared people in the right places. Look at what Mordecai tells Hadassah: “Who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

G-d is wise. We try. One thing I notice throughout the Bible is that G-d has the end in sight. He has a plan. And as rough as it is for me to take, G-d allows suffering if it produces what is necessary for G-d’s plan to succeed, for G-d to succeed. For if G-d succeeds, we succeed. He is our Victory. His Victory, is our victory. It can be no other way. We are too short-sighted. We haven’t the end in sight. We live too much in the present. Oh, sure, that’s what the New Age is all about—living in the present, not the past, not the future. And certainly, in some instances this may seem prudent. But we must have hope, and G-d’s Victory is our True Hope.

We must remember that in taking a look at various scriptures within the Book of Esther, or any Book of the Bible, it is easy to loose sight of the whole picture. Esther shows us there is persecution of those who would belief the One Lord, the One G-D. And we are shown that in the end, the Goodness of G-d prevails against His enemies. That’s right. Haman isn’t just the enemy of G-d’s people; Haman is the enemy of G-d. As I’ve said, and say again, G-d is Victorious. We are victorious in Him. Thank G-d for Y’shuaJesus, through Whom we come to G-d, the Father, and have right to be called Sons and Daughters of the Living, Holy G-d.

Still curious about connivance? Maybe next time. And remember the military academy cadet? Perhaps we shall discuss this event, too.

Until then, let us keep the Feast, and think of the Feast with Y’shua to come. Maranatha, Lord, Maranatha!

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

The Feast of Purim; Sundown Tonight

“Then Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, obliging them to celebrate the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same month, annually, because on those days the Jews rid themselves of their enemies, and it was a month which was turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and rejoicing and sending portions of food to one another and gifts to the poor.” Esther 9:20-22

Home made Haman's ear (Photo credit: zeevveez)

Purim is celebrated by the reading of the Scroll of Esther, known in Hebrew as the Megillat Esther, which relates the basic story of Purim. Under the rule of King Ahashuerus, Haman, the King’s prime minister, plots to exterminate all of the Jews of Persia. His plan is foiled by Queen Esther and her cousin Mordechai, who ultimately save the Jews of the land from destruction. The reading of the megillah is typically a rowdy affair, punctuated by booing and noise-making when Haman’s name is read aloud.

Purim is an unusual holiday in many respects. First, Esther is the only Book of the Bible in which God is not mentioned. Second, Purim, like Chanukah, is viewed traditionally as a minor festival, but elevated to a major holiday as a result of the Jewish historical experience. Over the centuries, Haman became the embodiment of every anti-Semite in every land where Jews were oppressed. The significance in Purim lies not so much in how it began, but in what it has become – a thankful and joyous affirmation of Jewish survival against all odds.
This is from: http://urj.org/holidays/purim/

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Hadassah

“And when Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage to him, Haman was filled with fury.

“But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone. So, as they had made known to him the people of Mordecai, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.” Esther 3:5-6

Matthew Henry Comments on Esther 3:4
“Mordecai refused to reverence Haman. The religion of a Jew forbade him to give honours to any mortal man which savoured of idolatry, especially to so wicked a man as Haman. By nature all are idolaters; self is our favourite idol, we are pleased to be treated as if every thing were at our disposal. Though religion by no means destroys good manners, but teaches us to render honour to whom honour is due, yet by a citizen of Zion, not only in his heart, but in his eyes, such a vile person as Haman was, is contemned, Psalms 15:4. The true believer cannot obey edicts, or conform to fashions, which break the law of God. He must obey God rather than man, and leave the consequences to him. Haman was full of wrath. His device was inspired by that wicked spirit, who has been a murderer from the beginning; whose enmity to Christ and his church, governs all his children.”

As we approach the Feast of Purim, I have Hadassah on my mind. As with all scripture, if we take the time, if we seek the leading of the Spirit of G-d, we shall gain much. As the Apostle Paul wrote:

“. . .the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:15-17.

Now Hadassah and Mordecai lived during the Exile between 483BC and 471BC. They, as all Jews in exile, were unable to worship in the Temple. They began to gather together for teaching, prayer, and mutual encouragement. As we see in the Book of Esther, G-d makes a way for His people to assemble if we really want to learn about Him, praise Him, worship Him, and grow in His Ways.

Let’s think about that, and return together Wednesday.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Eve of Destruction

“For this is what the LORD says: ‘Just as I have brought all this great disaster on these people, so am I about to bring on them all the good I am promising them.’ ” (Jeremiah 32:42 HCSB)

If pictures are worth a thousand words, songs are worth a thousand pictures. There’s a saying that tells that the Welsh were not born with silver spoons in their mouths, but poetry raging through their veins, and music filling their hearts. And I know African’s are the same as the Welsh. And being Welsh, myself, it shouldn’t come as a surprise if I turn often to music, and song lyrics.

Barry McGuire sung the S.F. Sloan song Eve of Destruction with a loud, poetic voice, exposing all sorts of heinous things taking place in our world. In one verse he pleads

Don’t you understand, what I’m trying to say?
Now, Can’t you feel the fears that I’m feeling today?
If the button is pushed, there’s no running away,
There’ll be no one to save with the world in a grave,
Take a look around you, boy, it’s bound to scare you, boy,
And you tell me over and over and over again my friend,
Ah, you don’t believe we’re on the eve of destruction.

On one internet site that has the lyrics, a man commented: “The song is a grave warning of imminent apocalypse, and considered by some to be the epitome of a protest song. It expressed the frustrations and fears of young people in the age of the Cold War, Vietnam, the nuclear arms race, and the civil rights movement.”

Yes, the song was written in July 1965. That was 47 years ago. I was sixteen, in high school, and not too concerned with the world outside my peaceful life in rural California. It took a few years for me to see that truly we were on a road toward destruction. The most important question then, as too often now, is “When is the coming destruction?” When Y’shuaJesus pointed out that the beautiful Temple in Jerusalem would soon be torn down, the disciples followed with the same question, and also wanted to know the signs of the Lord’s return.

Since the time the song was written, sung, and listened to around the world, many, many destructions have taken place. We’ve seen countries rise to great levels of economic opportunity only to collapse into utter ruin and despair. We’ve seen wars, and heard rumors of wars. There have been earthquakes, floods, drought, famine. So far these destructions, as devastating as they have been, have been localized and regionalized. Destruction has not engulfed the Earth entirely, and at one time. Yet we’ve sung these lyrics for nearly half of a decade.

Today, on the internet, in various gathering places throughout the world there are those, Christian and not, crying out that we are on the Eve of Destruction. And just as many voices return with their own cries of denial. I submit to you, that since day one of the Jewish calendar 5770 years ago, we have been on the road, sitting on the very Eve of Destruction. And yet it hasn’t happened. At least not yet! How then shall we act? How then shall we go on? I believe the words of the Lord through Jeremiah point to our proper response, to our beneficial attitude: “Just as I have brought all this great disaster on these people, so am I about to bring on them all the good I am promising them.”(Jeremiah 32:42 HCSB)

Yes, there is hope. Yes, though things fall apart, there is life and joy after. When the Lord brings destruction, and we, His people are affected, He showers us with great things in the aftermath. It is terrible for those who fail to heed His admonishment! And worse for those who fall away, those who are lead away, for they will find no such reward. We, then, have the hope of Noah, who settled the Earth after the flood. We, then, have the hope of Rahab, who survived the destruction of Jericho. We have the hope in the form of a promise from our Lord and Savior, Y’shua, who said He would never leave us alone. He lived with us, died for us, rose from the dead and sent His Spirit to fill us until His return in glory. Master. Savior. Lord. G-d.

So as the world ignores the warnings, and as some who see them freak totally out, we who are True-Born Believers in the Hope of Messiah NOW. Remember Rahab after the destruction of Jericho: “So the young men who had scouted went in and brought out Rahab and her father, mother, brothers, and all who belonged to her. They brought out her whole family and settled them outside the camp of Israel.” (Joshua 6:23 HCSB)

There is HOPE!

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Contend for the Faith (jonahzsong.wordpress.com)

We are Ready!

“His Divinity has granted to us everything toward life and piety, through the knowledge of Him Who called us by His Own glory and excellence.”(2 Peter 1:3 MRC)

His Divinity? El-shaddai, G-d all-sufficient! To whom did He grant everything necessary for life and piety, which is holiness? To us, thanks be to G-d! How is this done? It is through the Knowledge of Him Who called us. Who called us? El-shaddai, G-d all-sufficient!

It sounds circular. It is. We awake in the morning and experience another day followed by a night. The Earth turns. It revolves. After 365 of these revolutions, circles, the Earth completes its circle around the sun. And as the Earth revolves around the Sun, we have seasons. We have Spring, followed by Summer and Fall, followed by Winter, which returns us to Spring.

We are called into this circular existence by El-shaddai, G-d all-sufficient! Our lives begin with El-shaddai. Our lives exist in El-shaddai. El-shaddai is the center. Things will not fall apart for those whose center is El-shaddai, G-d all-sufficient.

Here, in Georgia, USA, it’s raining today. It’s raining hard. I think of Noah on such days. What if Noah awoke one morning, Ark nearly completed, but not fully, and it was raining. Would he get up, scared, and run out to work on the Ark? I don’t think he’d be scared. He knew the One Who called him. El-shaddai, G-d all-sufficient. Noah must have known, if it were raining, then he’d certainly get done before the flood. How? El-shaddai, all-sufficient!

Like Noah, we are involved a project, or perhaps many projects. These are a bit like our houses. Perhaps we?ve not finished the roof or its repair, and we see storm clouds gathering, warning of rain. FEAR NOT! Where we are, we are, and He is our center. To us it is written: ”And from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.” (John 1:16 ESV) and as was said to Paul, is said to us, ”My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV) Where I am, I am. When the storm arrives, I’ll be where I need to be. El-shaddai, G-d all-sufficient.

And how is it that we come to the knowledge of El-shaddai, G-d all-sufficient? Make no mistake, we only know G-d through our Savior, our Lord Y?shuaJesus. ”I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me,” said Y’shuaJesus. (John 14:6 ESV) The Father, El-shaddai.

We must NEVER forget Who called us. El-shaddai, G-d all-sufficient!

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Lay up Treasures in Heaven; Leave some Behind

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
(Matthew 8:19-21)

Toward the end of Paul’s final letter, his second letter to Timothy, he spoke of knowing his end was near, and that he’d fought a good fight. Just a bit later in the letter, he says those in ministry with him are all gone, and he asks Timothy to come to him. I wondered if he were lonely, and needed companionship as he faced his final days on Earth. Yet he says to bring along Mark, as both Timothy and Mark would be useful to his ministry. Finally he gives greeting from others of the believers in Rome. He wasn’t lonely; he wanted to continue the work he’d been involved in, and only they could assist, as he was in prison. Paul wasn’t settling in on his past accomplishments, his crowns earned; Paul needed to continue the good fight to the very end.

Paul was storing up treasures in Heaven. He was also leaving something behind. Here’s the lyrics to a country song, Three Wooden Crosses, by Randy Travis, in which he sings, “it’s not what you take. . .It’s what you leave behind.”

A farmer and a teacher, a hooker and a preacher,
Ridin’ on a midnight bus bound for Mexico.
One’s headed for vacation, one for higher education,
An’ two of them were searchin’ for lost souls.
That driver never ever saw the stop sign.
An’ eighteen wheelers can’t stop on a dime.

There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway,
Why there’s not four of them, Heaven only knows.
I guess it’s not what you take when you leave this world behind you,
It’s what you leave behind you when you go.

That farmer left a harvest, a home and eighty acres,
The faith an’ love for growin’ things in his young son’s heart.
An’ that teacher left her wisdom in the minds of lots of children:
Did her best to give ’em all a better start.
An’ that preacher whispered: “Can’t you see the Promised Land?”
As he laid his blood-stained bible in that hooker’s hand.

There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway,
Why there’s not four of them, Heaven only knows.
I guess it’s not what you take when you leave this world behind you,
It’s what you leave behind you when you go.

That’s the story that our preacher told last Sunday.
As he held that blood-stained bible up,
For all of us to see.
He said: “Bless the farmer, and the teacher, an’ the preacher”
“Who gave this Bible to my mamma,
“Who read it to me.”

There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway,
Why there’s not four of them, now I guess we know.
It’s not what you take when you leave this world behind you,
It’s what you leave behind you when you go.

There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

From some turn away

“. . .from such turn away.” 2 Timothy 3:5

As we’ve seen, sins must be purged that we may become gold and silver vessels for use by the Master. Here in the third chapter of 2 Timothy, Paul tells Timothy about some very unsavory people. He lists them as “lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.

These now are things other that sin that affect our lives. And now we hear Paul tells Timothy, and us, to turn away.

Previously, Paul had written about people within the church that, through teaching with patience and instruction with meekness, “might recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.” 2 Timothy (2:24-26) I believe the people of chapter three that Paul wrote about, the people from whom we are to turn away, are not people within our Lord’s Church. They may enter a congregation, a church, but their names are not written in the Book of Life; they are not true-born believers in Messiah, Lord, Y’shuaJesus. They are of reprobate mind. They will not receive teaching or instruction in the Truth. Their future is only doom and gloom. We are to turn from them; for their aim, whether or not they intend it to be so, is to bring us closer to doom and gloom ourselves, should it be possible.

So isn’t turning from people because we think they are doing wrong things unkind of us? Isn’t it unloving? Aren’t we guilty of that which we accuse others, of self-love, perhaps, for wanting to not be around them because we are too good, too holy? Have you ever been told that something you do isn’t what the Bible teaches? And told by someone who hasn’t read, let alone accepted, the Bible and its Author. The perilous times aren’t perilous for those committing acts of evil, but for us, the People of G-d. We will be accused. We will be the ones doing wrong. And Paul tells this to Timothy. He tells this to us, also.

Lord help us know Yours. Help us know for whom we are to instruct and pray, and from whom we are to turn away. Give us the strength so to do. Amen.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

The Cure for Anything is Salt Water–

A Psalm of David.
“LORD, I cry unto thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee.
Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips. Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties. Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities. When their judges are overthrown in stony places, they shall hear my words; for they are sweet. Our bones are scattered at the grave’s mouth, as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth. But mine eyes are unto thee, O GOD the Lord: in thee is my trust; leave not my soul destitute. Keep me from the snares which they have laid for me, and the gins of the workers of iniquity. Let the wicked fall into their own nets, whilst that I withal escape.” Psalm 141:1-10

It was Isak Dinison that said, “The cure for anything is salt water—tears, sweat, sea.” And I like this saying very much. Tears can be sweet. No sweat, no gain, throws a spin on the saying “No Pain, No Gain!” And of course the sea offers an uncontrolled environment, solitude, and the feeling of escape.

I might also add wind to the things that cure, if I didn’t know better. I think of the feeling of the wind in my face as it comes over the handlebars of a motorcycle, or through the window of an eighteen-wheel truck heading across the country. And, of course, there’s the wind as it moves across a sail, pressing the boat forward.

Alas, we know that these are only temporal cures, not really cures at all. The also fade quickly. We who are destined to be saints with our Lord Y’shuaJesus have an eternal cure. We have hope. We seek eternal cures not in salt or wind, but in the Kingdom of G-d. “Seek First the Kingdom of G-d! We continually seek the Lord’s Kingdom. He will come. We wait. He will collect us uo. And in this time of waiting, we mature, we grow up in Messiah. And, yes, we enjoy salt water and the wind, all given to us by our Lord.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Walking, Growing, Becoming

English: U.S. Forest Service fire lookout towe... — Image via Wikipedia

“For I was very glad when brethren came and testified to your truth, that is, how you are walking in truth.” (3 John 1:3 NASB)

“Be it ours today, O gracious Spirit, to be ruled and governed by thy divine authority, so that nothing false or sinful may reign in our hearts, lest it extend its malignant influence to our daily walk among men.”—Charles H. Spurgeon

Walking in the truth. I continue to be fascinated by this topic, returning often.

Spurgeon also wrote, “Truth must enter the soul, penetrate and saturate it, or else it is of no value.”

I’ve also been reading “The Pursuit of Man,” by A.W. Tozer. He speaks of the two “Christians” in our churches. On one side are the common Christians that believe and do nothing more. They believe but are not changed. On the other side is the Christian that believes in his/her heart, responds, and is changed. He/she becomes truly a new creature.

It seems clear from the Scriptures that, after we accept the initial offer of salvation, we are saved from eternal condemnation. However, it is equally clear from the Scriptures that once we are saved we must become a new creation. New wine is put into new wine skins—containers that will expand without bursting. So then, we are saints in Y’shuaJesus now, in the eternal scheme, but still we are becoming saints while we remain on Earth. It’s a process of being transformed, and it continues until we leave Earth to be with Y’shuaJesus or He comes to Earth to reign. For only then will we truly be complete.

The process of being transformed is a bit like an ascent up a spiral stairway. Let me illustrate.

Many years ago, while maintaining communications systems for the U.S. Forest Service, I climbed lookout towers. On many towers the stairway led up one level to a platform, reversed direction, and led upward to the next platform. This continued sometimes over a hundred feet (thirty or so meters). As I would ascend, I’d see tree-covered mountains in the distance. At each level, I’d see farther than I could see at the previous level.

Consider our lives as ascents with many levels where we view the landscape in a different way. Consider those towers upon which I climbed and reversed direction at each level. When looking forward, I’d see the landscape in a particular direction only on every other platform. If I take the tower illustration and apply it to my live, which has often felt as though I’ve changed direction, I begin to understand that it still ascends higher and higher, offering me a better view, a better vantage point.

Thinking about ascents can be applied to all aspects of our lives in Messiah. Take reading the Bible, for instance. We read from the Books of Moses, those of the prophets, the Psalms, the Gospels, the letters of the Apostles. They are not novels we read once and put on the shelf; they are living Words that we read and reread as we ascent the tower of our lives. We read. We walk. We read again. We gain new insight from each reading as we are able to see farther on the landscape of our lives.

Y’shuaJesus is the Truth. May we walk His way.

“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” (Jude 1:24-25 NASB)

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

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