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November 2014

Daily Bible thoughts 749: Monday 17th November 2014:

 Isaiah 49:8-21

I remember when Alex Haley’s book, ‘Roots’, was turned into a television series, and it was a phenomenal success. Haley was interviewed by Michael Parkinson, who asked him, ‘’What is the secret of your success?’’ He replied, ‘’ I don’t really know, but I remember something my grandmother used to say: ‘You never know when the Lord’s going to come, but He’s always on time!’‘’ We may have to pray for a long period before we see God’s Word come to pass, but if we are patient things will change; breakthrough will come. When the time is right; ‘’the time’’ of God’s ‘’favour’’ (8a; see 2 Corinthians 6:2), chains will be broken and ‘’captives’’ (9) will be freed. The theme of a second exodus appears again in (8-13). God will lead His people home through the desert, lovingly caring for their needs. This turn around in the fortunes of God’s people is reason for universal rejoicing (13). ‘’There’ll be foodstands along all the roads, picnics on all the hills – Nobody hungry, nobody thirsty, shade from the sun, shelter from the wind, For the Compassionate One guides them, takes them to the best springs, I’ll make all my mountains into roads…Heavens, raise the roof! Earth, wake the dead! Mountains, send up cheers! GOD has comforted his people. He has tenderly nursed his beaten-up, beaten-down people.’’ The Message. These verses, however, must also look beyond the return from Babylonian exile. In them, the ‘Servant of the Lord’ is again addressed (8b; see 42:5-7). Verse 12 surely speaks of a broader ingathering of the Jews than the one that occurred after the exile. Jesus, the good Shepherd, is going to come and rescue all His weary people (Matthew 11:29, 30). When you think that (10) is alluded to in Revelation 7:17, you have to recognise that this passage is also about Gentiles coming in and coming home.

In the days of waiting for God to fulfil His Word, we can feel that He has forgotten and abandoned us (14). That’s how Israel felt during the exile years. In the tenderest language, the Lord assures them that this is not the case, whatever they may feel (15, 16). Jerusalem’s ‘’sons’’ (18a) are going to return home. They will be like beautiful jewellery worn by the bride, Jerusalem (18b; see also Revelation 21:2). Her best days are still to come.

The depopulated city of Jerusalem is going to be repopulated. It will be so significantly built up in numbers that there is evidently something miraculous going on. This transcends what happened after the exile. It must look on to the future extension of God’s Kingdom and growth of the church. It’s a picture of what occurs in revival, when there can be a sudden and dramatic growth surge in the church. ‘’And your ruined land? Your devastated, decimated land? Filled with more people than you know what to do with!…The children born in your exile will be saying, It’s getting too crowded here. I need more room.’ And you’ll say to yourself, ‘Where on earth did these children come from? I lost everything, had nothing, was exiled and penniless. So who reared these children? How did these children get here?’’’ The Message. May God graciously do it here!

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you that you are building your church, and the gates of Hell will never prevail against it.

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Daily Bible thoughts 748: Friday 14th November 2014:

 Psalm 109:1-20

You can’t read this psalm without feeling sorry for David. We’ve all been there; we’ve been hurt by people. In some cases, men and women to whom we have done only good, have savagely turned on us. We are left bewildered; perplexed! How can people be like this?

Here are some pointers to how you can live in an unjust world and not lose your mind! The world is not fair and people are not always fair. Life is not fair. Things are not how God originally intended. But you don’t have to let this crush you. There is another way; a better route to travel:

  • Be a person of praise (1). Don’t ever forget that God is ruling, and make Him your continual focus. Remain God-centred. Stay true to Him whatever others may do. You can’t control what anyone else does, but you are in command of your own behaviour. Choose to be a worshipper of God. Always have a ‘’hallelujah prayer.’’ The Message. (As we will see, this psalm opens and closes with praise.)
  • Be a person of prayer (4). I read these words, and I think, ‘This is what I want to be more than anything else. I want to be a man of prayer.’ Even when life seems mad, and I don’t understand; all is well when I get on my knees before the sovereign Lord of the universe. Prayer brings perspective; and, of course, prayer changes things. Most importantly, perhaps, it changes me! It helps me to change my attitudes. And I am in constant need of transformation. It is good to ‘’take it to the Lord in prayer.’’ My pastor, when I was a young lad, under whose ministry I became a Christian, used to sing, ‘’A little talk with Jesus makes it right, all right.’’ I have found that it does (even if nothing outwardly changes!) David committed his case to God in prayer. In this way we see him as a forerunner of Christ (1 Peter 2:21-23.)
  • Be a person who desires justice (6-20). It is good to want justice. We Christians tend to struggle with the kind of prayer recorded in this psalm. It feels distinctly un-Christian. It is true that, given the fuller revelation in the New Testament, this is probably not an example of how we should pray for enemies. However, it does show that we can be honest with God. It does reveal that He cares about our deepest feelings. It does say that we can bring our wounds to Him for healing. It does make the point that God cares about justice and it is right for us to care about it too. It is also reminds us that those who are unjust will face the justice of God if they do not repent. This is a moral universe and God knows and cares. One day He will right all wrongs. No sin is overlooked. Every transgression has been fully paid for in the cross of Christ. Every act of wickedness gets punished. ‘’Remember that this psalm is a prayer; David is not planning revenge, but is asking God to act. David’s enemy is a hardened sinner, heartless and wicked. God has clearly stated in Scripture what will happen to such people (Leviticus 26:14-39)…David is only asking God to do what He has already said He would do. If a sinner repents and turns to God, he will be forgiven. But, by definition, a ‘’hardened sinner’’ is one who refuses to repent; thus he places himself beyond God’s forgiveness. Jesus told us to pray for our enemies (Matthew 5:43-44), and the most important thing we can pray for them is that they might repent.’’ Tom Hale: ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary, p.905. (Compare verses 12-15 with Exodus 20:5 and 34:7/verse 8 with Acts 1: 20.)’’The best way to get rid of an enemy is to leave him or her with the Lord.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word,’ p.380

Prayer: Living in the midst of this mad, mad world, please help me to be a praising, praying person.

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 747: Thursday 13th November 2014:

Galatians 5:16-26

‘’Every time we say, ‘I believe in the Holy Spirit,’ we mean that there is a living God able and willing to enter human personality and change it.’’ J. B. Phillips.

The Christian life is not a matter of keeping laws (18). As we have seen, we trust in Jesus to rescue us from sin. (Michael Green once wrote that the very Name ‘Jesus’ means ‘God to the rescue!’) Now we come to the further truth that we are transformed by the Holy Spirit. As we live by the power of the indwelling Spirit, He enables each one of us to ‘’not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.’’ (16). Because of His enabling, we can avoid toxic behaviours such as those described in (15, 19-21 and 26.) Notice that we will feel those desires, but the Holy Spirit will help us to ‘Just say no!’ I think it was Martin Luther who said, ‘’You can’t help the birds flying around your head, but you can stop them building a nest in your hair!’’ The old hymn is spot on: ‘’Yield not to temptation, for yielding is sin.’’

There is no doubt that we are capable of such bad behaviour as described in verses 19-21. Verses 16-23 point to what someone has called the fact of Christian conflict. This is a shorter version of Paul’s longer argument in Romans 7. The problem for every follower of Christ is that we still have a ‘’sinful nature’’. It is not surgically removed at the moment of conversion. It will be with us until we die. Just as a crown green bowling ball is fitted with a ‘bias’, and therefore has a tendency to go off course, so do we! We tend to veer off from the straight and true. We have this thing within that wants to sin and likes to sin. It is permanently inside us. At least, it is until we die. We can, for example, want to bite and devour fellow believers. We can feel proud or jealous. We can hate. We can be egotistical. We can have wrong sexual desires. We are capable of terrible things. Each one of us is aware of an inner ‘tug of war’ between the new nature and the old. The war within is real and relentless. A young pastor asked an older, veteran pastor, ‘At what age will I cease to battle with lust?’ The old man replied, ‘Son, when I get there I’ll let you know!’ This fight is ferocious, and it can be deeply distressing to those who long after holiness. The Holy Spirit causes us to desire things that are contrary to what the sinful nature has appetites for, but oh how this inward civil war rages! The Spirit stirs up hankerings after goodness, but the flesh resists furiously. There is no getting away from this fact of conflict.

But the passage also points to the way of Christian victory. There are two clear things we have to do: i) we must crucify the sinful nature (24): this is something we ‘’have’’ done at our conversion. But also, we know it is something we have to continually do. We must live in repentance, dealing radically with all forms of temptation; we have to be ruthless in our resistance, cordoning off all possible highways to sin (Matthew 5:29, 30); ii) we are to ‘’keep in step with the Spirit.’’ (25). It strikes me that these two principles are in tandem. We can’t perform the first without the second. Only by God’s power can anyone hammer nails into the sinful nature. Without that divine energising we will pander to the flesh and let it have its own way. ‘’Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every area of our lives. This means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.

The Message: Thank you that the Holy Spirit is in my ‘corner’ and that He is the ‘Champion’. Thank you that He has got the beating of my sinful nature, and will train me to be a winner.

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Daily Bible thoughts 746: Wednesday 12th November 2014:

Galatians 5:7-15

We have all known brothers and sisters in Christ who at one time ‘’were running a good race.’’ (7). There is always a reason why we find them sitting in a crumpled heap beside the track. It may not be the same one that we find in Galatians, but there will be a cause. It is never less than heart-breaking to see someone drop out of the race.

Something was happening in the churches of Galatia that was not of God (8). The believers were being affected (and infected!) by false teaching, and a little drop of that poison can do a whole lot of damage (9). You don’t need a huge portion of it to wreck the local church. A grain or two on your plate will be enough. The ‘’offence of the cross’’ (11b) is, at least in part, the message that faith in Jesus’s sacrifice alone will save you. You don’t have to add any other good works into the mix. This applies to circumcision – a rite that was so important to Jews (11). Paul was ‘’persecuted’’ because he preached that salvation is by grace alone and through faith alone. Simple trust in Christ will suffice. He reserved the strongest language for those who wanted to pervert the gospel message (12). ‘’Why don’t these agitators, obsessive as they are about circumcision, go all the way and castrate themselves!’’ The Message. Tough words!

The battle for the faith was not something to be taken lightly (Jude 3). There were people who were spreading the rumour that Paul was preaching circumcision. He absolutely refutes this, saying that he would not be experiencing persecution if it were true. The Judaizers would let him alone if that were the case. But he had not given up hope for the Galatians (10), and believed that they would not turn away from the true gospel. He was clear in his mind that false teachers would get their punishment.

As Christian people we are ‘’free’’ (13-15). We are free from trying to save ourselves by our own efforts. We are freed from that self-defeating approach to life. But this ‘’freedom’’ does not then become a license to sin (see also Romans 6). People who misunderstood or misrepresented Paul’s teaching would argue that this is what he said. But nothing could be further from the truth. We are free from a man-made, do-it-yourself religion of works. Even more important, we are free from the guilt of sin. But Paul also emphasises that we are free to live right and responsibly, before God and with each other. ‘’It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom.’’ The Message. ‘’Law works by compulsion from without, but grace works by compassion from within.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.770

Sadly, many Christians have proved the truth of (15), probably without knowing (or remembering) that these words are in the Bible: ‘’But if you act like wild animals, hurting and harming each other, then watch out, or you will completely destroy one another.’’ The Good News Bible.

Prayer: Thank you for this wonderful freedom in Jesus; a liberty to do right and not do wrong. I am free indeed. Thank you Lord.

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Daily Bible thoughts 745: Tuesday 11th November 2014:

 Isaiah 49:1-7

A friend, who has been an energetic servant of Christ, had a heart attack last year, and he had to drop down a gear or two. The pace of his life had to slow. I’m pleased to say that he is now much better, and active again. But he told me (and shared this with others) that for a time he felt he was like the ‘’polished arrow…concealed…in his quiver.’’ (2b).

In 48:16 you read these words: ‘’And now the Sovereign LORD has sent me, with his Spirit.’’ Who is speaking? Some commentators believe it is Isaiah, interjecting a comment about himself and his ministry. But many others think it is the ‘Servant of the Lord’, who we meet in today’s passage. (If that is the case, we have a glimpse of the Triune God in that verse in chapter 48; the One only to be fully revealed in the coming of Jesus.) At first the ‘’servant’’ appears to be Israel (3). However, quite quickly, we see this figure as an individual emerging from within the nation. The servant is an embodiment of a perfect Israel, an idealized Israel. He will succeed in His mission where Israel as a nation failed. Here is someone who will have a ministry to Israel (5, 6a), and also to the world (6b). (Verse 6 has been called the Old Testament version of the great commission. Paul quoted it on one occasion, applying it to himself and Barnabas (Acts 13:46, 47). All believers share in the ‘Servant’s’ world embracing mandate.) Jesus is going to have a worldwide impact (7), but this will follow rejection by His own people (see also John 1:11). It is almost impossible to not see the Lord Jesus Christ in these verses. ‘’He says, ‘’But that’s not a big enough job for my servant – just to recover the tribes of Jacob, merely to round up the strays of Israel. I’m setting you up as a light for the nations so that my salvation becomes global!’’ ‘’The Message. For Jesus, there were many hidden years. There are days, weeks, months we know nothing about. But at the right time, God the Father ‘fired’ Him into the world (2) and what an impact He has had, and will continue to have until that day when every knee bows before Him, and every tongue confesses that He is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:11). I like how The Message expresses the first half of verse two: ‘’He gave me speech that would cut and penetrate.’’ The Words of Christ have so profoundly impacted human history. When preachers are filled with the same Spirit who came upon Jesus, their words can have a similar impact (Acts 2:37; see also Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12; Revelation 1:16).

Note that God’s glory is supremely manifest in His Son (Hebrews 1:3; John 17:4).

‘’In verse 4, we see the servant frustrated and discouraged; his mission seems to have failed. Yet he places himself in the Lord’s hands; the Lord will surely vindicate him and reward him. All of this came true in the life of Jesus (1 Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 12:3). And it continues to come true in the lives of Jesus’ followers today. Let Christian workers not be surprised when they meet with frustration and failure; their Master did likewise (John 15:18, 20). But like their Master, they will ultimately receive their reward.’’ Tom Hale: ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary’, p.1049.

‘’The paradox of an Israel sent to Israel is part of the powerful thrust of the OT towards the NT, since not even the ‘remnant’ of true Israelites…can fulfil the boundless expectations of vs 1-13. We are driven to seek a more perfect embodiment of God’s light, salvation (6) and covenant (8) in Christ at the head of his church, ‘the Israel of God’ (Acts 13:47; Gal.6:16). Also the theme of conquest through service, broached in 42:1-4, has begun to sound the note of suffering and rejection (4, 7), which will increase in sharpness and significance in the third and fourth ‘Songs’.’’ Derek Kidner: ‘New Bible Commentary, p.660.       

 Prayer: Thank you God for the wonder of Jesus. Thank you for the light He shines into my life.

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 744: Monday 10th November 2014:

 Isaiah 48:12-22

  •  God is creator and controller of the universe (12, 13). It’s like everything in the universe stands to attention at God’s command. They all salute Him and obey His bidding.
  •  God knows the end from the beginning (14 -16). Here we arrive again at this repeated theme in the later chapters of Isaiah, about God knowing and predicting the future: ‘’None of the gods could predict that the man I have chosen would attack Babylon; he will do what I want him to do. I am the one who spoke and called him; I led him out and gave him success…From the beginning I have spoken openly, and have always made my words come true.’’(14-16) The Good News Bible.
  •  God knows what is best for your life (17). ‘’I am GOD, your God, who teaches you how to live right and well. I show you what to do, where to go.’’ The Message. God’s will is not your worst nightmare. The devil will try to sell it to you in those terms, but in fact it is always His ‘’good, pleasing and perfect will.’’ (Romans 12:2b).
  •  God’s Word requires obedience on our part (18, 19; compare 18, 22): ‘’…the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.’’ Holiness is actually in our best interests. Enjoyment of God’s full blessings is contingent on obedience. ‘’If you had listened all along to what I told you, your life would have flowed full like a river, blessings rolling in like waves from the sea.’’ The Message.
  •  God will bring His people home (20, 21). The ‘second exodus’ theme appears yet again. As the Lord once led His people through the desert, He will do so again. If God has set us free from slavery, this is something to be joyfully ‘announced’ and ‘proclaimed’. In the Bible, ‘’Babylon’’ was a nation and a city, but it also represents this present world system (Revelation 18; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18). It is so easy to settle down in ‘Babylon’ and make a life there. But the call of the Bible to God’s people is to come out. We need to heed this call constantly. We can ensure that we are not ‘of the world’ even as we live ‘in’ it. ‘’This is the first time God (or Isaiah) mentions the name Babylon in connection with Cyrus’ mission. The Israelites must have been doubly confused when they heard this message because Babylon was not even a great power when Isaiah wrote these words. And yet someone named Cyrus (who hadn’t been born yet) was going to destroy Babylon and free the Jews from exile – an exile which itself was a hundred years in the future!’’ Tom Hale: ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary, p.1048.
  •  God speaks (12, 14, 16, 17; see 1). Are we listening today?

The chapter closes with the challenging thought that there is ‘’no peace’’ for those who rebel against God. The ‘Good News Bible’ translates this word as ‘’safety’’. The word ‘’peace’’ includes health, security, prosperity, and, above everything, fellowship with God and everlasting salvation. ‘’To forfeit such peace is truly a high price to pay for the momentary ‘’benefits’’ of rebelling against God!’’ Tom Hale: ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary, p.1049.

Prayer: I don’t want to live as a citizen of ‘Babylon.’ Help me to live as a citizen of heaven in ‘Babylon’

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Daily Bible thoughts 743: Friday 7th November 2014:

 Isaiah 48:1-11

In this chapter the attention switches back from Babylon to Israel and Judah. It is possible to have ‘’a form of godliness’’ but deny ‘’its power’’ (2 Timothy 3:5). That’s how it was with God’s people at times: ‘’…you who…pray to the God of Israel…But do you mean it? You claim to be citizens of the Holy City; you act as though you lean on the God of Israel…’’ The Message. However, it was all empty routine and ritual. They did not want to know the ‘’truth’’ or live right (1). As Derek Kidner observes, they ‘’…emerge…as hardened hypocrites(1, 4, 8).’’ New Bible Commentary, p.660

God had made many promises to them that had already come to pass (3-6a). The reference is probably to things like their deliverance at the exodus, the conquest of Canaan, and the consequent settling in the Promised Land and flourishing as a nation. God told them many things in advance so that they would not be able to give the credit to idols for these blessings: ‘’ For a long time now, I’ve let you in on the way I work: I told you what I was going to do beforehand, then I did it and it was done, and that’s that…So I got a running g start and began telling you what was going on before it even happened. That is why you can’t say, ‘My god-idol did this.’ My favourite god-carving commanded this.’ You have all this evidence confirmed by your own eyes and ears. Shouldn’t you be talking about it?’’ The Message. Although no-one can prove the existence of God, there is much evidence that points to the Bible being true. Fulfilled prophecy is one of the greatest pieces of evidence that the Bible is God’s Book, and that He really lives. But the human heart can be stubbornly resistant to the obvious (4; see Romans 1:18ff.) I heard a story about a lawyer who lived in New York. One day a pastor was in conversation with him, and he asked him if he had ever considered the evidence for Christ’s resurrection. The legal man said that he hadn’t. Well, would he like to? ‘Yes’ replied the lawyer. The minister took him painstakingly through the compelling evidence. But the story goes that the attorney eventually said, ‘’The resurrection of Christ is established beyond all doubt as a fact. But I find I am no nearer the faith, for my problem is not with my head but my heart.’ If the story is true, that is a penetratingly honest assessment. It certainly is true to life.

God had new things in store for Israel which He was about to reveal (6, 7). These things probably included the deliverance from exile, the restoration in their own land, and, ultimately, the establishment of the Messianic kingdom. God would do these things even though His people had rebelled against Him (8). They deserved to be ‘’cut off’’ but He would ‘’delay’’ His wrath (9). Though they had been false, God would continue to be true and uphold the honour of His Name. Instead of destroying His people, God would refine and test them in the ‘’furnace’’ of Babylonian exile (10; compare Deuteronomy 4:20). In this way God would preserve a remnant of His people and keep His Name from being defamed (11). God’s supreme passion is for the glory and honour of His own Name. Let that desire for His fame in all the earth fire and fuel your life!

‘’God finds his supreme motive in Himself…God’s motive is his character, his name and nature, the maintenance of his honour in the face of the universe…He did not begin to save us because we were worthy or lovely, but because He would; and therefore He will not give up because we prove ourselves weak and worthless and difficult to save.’’ F.B.Meyer: ‘Great verses through the Bible’, p.287.

Prayer: Lord I don’t want to fight you on any issue. I know I can’t win!

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 742: Thursday 6th November 2014:

 Isaiah 47

We are constantly talking to ourselves. This is happening whether we are aware of it or not. We had better take care regarding our beliefs. We are quite capable of lying to ourselves. In this forty seventh chapter of Isaiah we get to hear three things the Babylonians were saying to themselves. They believed what they were saying and they were deluded.

  1. They believed they were secure (7, 8a): They had a sense of invincibility. History shows how wrong they were. God knew they were trusting in a mirage all along. People today can have this same intoxicating belief in their indestructibility. You see it, for example, in young people who drive their cars with reckless abandon, not seeming to realise that they have a dangerous weapon at their fingertips. Many have ended up killing themselves and/or others. But such a misleading euphoric feeling is not limited to the young. The Babylonians trusted in astrology, sorcery and magic, but it could not save them (9b, 12-15)

 

  1. They believed they were superior (8b, 10a): Pride goes before a fall, and here is an important lesson for us. In the church we are capable of feeling that our ministry, our work for God is somehow better than what others are doing. The big danger is that this vain imagining may not happen at a conscious level, but we can have such a superiority complex. The Bible shows that God is opposed to pride, and we should take steps to rid ourselves of it, with His help.

 

  1. They believed they were secluded (10a): They thought no one important was watching and that they would not be brought to book. There was no one who would hold them accountable. How many furtive acts of sin take place, with the mistaken belief that no-one sees? God does see everything and will judge sin (3) if we do not trust in Him to be our Redeemer (4). It is also true to say that although no one may see what we want to hide, ‘truth will out.’ Ultimately there will be ‘no hiding place.’

 

There is no evading the serious note of judgment in this chapter. God used the Babylonians to judge His people (6; see James 2:13), but they over-stepped the mark in their cruelty, so He would deal with them. The pride of the Babylonians led to their downfall. It has brought down the mightiest empires, and it still brings individuals low. God’s judgment can arrive ‘’suddenly’’ (11b) and rapidly (9). Everything can change in the blink of any eyelid.

Look at James 4:6-10, and pray that God will help you to do what it says. (See similarly 1 Peter 5:5, 6).

Prayer: Help me Lord to heed the warnings of this passage so that I do not fall into the same pit. May I remember your law of gravity which says that ‘what goes down must come up’ (Philippians 2:1-11).

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