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Daily Bible thoughts 579: Monday 24th March 2014:

 Micah 2:6-11

Do you really want to hear God’s Word to you? Don’t be too quick to say, ‘Yes’. Of course, I hope your answer to the question is in the affirmative and that it rises from your heart. But are you sure you want to hear God speak to you if His Word contradicts your ways? Isn’t there something in your fallen nature that wants to contradict His Word in such circumstances? Well, not exactly contradict it, because that would never do. (Here we run into the deceitfulness of sin.) But you’d like to be able to say that it doesn’t really mean what it appears to assert. There must be some other and more appealing interpretation. Never forget that God’s Word does good to those who want to do God’s will and walk in His ways (7b). Such people need not fear it. So what is your heart attitude today?

Micah’s preaching was not popular because he went ‘straight down the line.’ There was no messing about with him. He shot from the hip; told it like it was. He saw that the people of Israel had a forthcoming appointment with the justice of God (6, 7), and that this would mean eviction from their land (10). Again, we encounter cause and effect, sowing and reaping: You rob unsuspecting people out for an evening stroll. You take the coats off their backs like soldiers who plunder the defenseless. You drive the women of my people out of their ample homes. You make victims of the children and leave them vulnerable to violence and vice. Get out of here, the lot of you. You can’t take it easy here! You’ve polluted this place, and now you’re polluted – ruined! The Message. They had unjustly put people out of their homes; the Lord would justly rip up their tenancy agreement. They had made the land ‘sick’ and there would be a purging (see Leviticus 18:24-28). (Note: it has been pointed out that God is not against those who become rich by hard work and honest means, nor does he take the side of people who are poor because of laziness or sin in other forms. But He is anti every form of oppression and injustice. He wants everyone to have fair and equal possibilities.)

We still have false prophets in the church today who do not preach the unpalatable parts of the Bible and do not want to hear them taught. They want to silence faithful Biblical preaching. I am appalled when I hear, from time to time, how far some clergy veer from the clear standards and precepts of the Bible. I am sure that many do it to justify their own infidelity. It is also likely to elevate your ratings in the popularity stakes (in some sectors) when you regularly dish up 5 minutes of what people want to hear. Don’t put anything in front of them that will disturb them. They might leave and then we’d lose their 50 pence from the collection plate. It all adds up you know!

Not talking about the anger and judgment of God against sin won’t make it go away. In fact, to continue wilfully in sin, and encourage others to do so, is to invite it to draw nearer. Here is a word to those who occupy a pulpit from time to time: It is a solemn responsibility to preach God’s Word. Never say anything other than what the Bible clearly says, even if you don’t like it; even if you think it will make your congregation squirm. Here, too, is a word to those in the pews: search the Scriptures yourselves to see if what you are hearing is true. Test all things. Just because he (or she) is wearing a back to front collar it doesn’t necessarily mean the preacher is telling the truth. It ought to, but that’s another matter! (See Jer.6:13, 14 for a similar situation to Micah’s)

There is a contemporary resonance to these words. They wanted ‘prosperity’ preaching:  If someone showed up with a good smile and glib tongue and told lies from morning to night – ‘I’ll preach sermons that will tell you how you can get anything you want from God: More money, the best wines…you name it’ – you’d hire him on the spot as your preacher! The Message.

If you stay on the highway of God’s truth you will remain safe; but if you veer from it you will end up plummeting to destruction. False prophets drive off the cliff, with a bus load of passengers. In destroying themselves they destroy many. These prophets are eagerly listened to; they talk about the Lord’s blessings but they say nothing about His demands. They prophesy what people want to hear, not what God wants to say. Thus they are ideal ”prophets” for those who love prosperity more than they love God. Tom Hale: The Applied Old Testament Commentary, p.1264.

Prayer: Lord, speak into my life all you want to say that is for my good and your glory. Help me listen.

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Daily Bible thoughts 578: Friday 21st March 2014:

 Micah 2:1-5

There always have been, and there always will be (at least until the end of time) evil people who plot and plan dastardly things, without even a flicker of an impact on their consciences (1). Doom to those who plot evil, who go to bed dreaming up crimes! As soon as it’s morning, they’re off, full of energy, doing what they’ve planned. The Message. They do wrong because they can. They are powerful and able and they don’t believe anyone can stop them. They are also convinced that they will get away with it. This section says otherwise. As a man sows so shall he reap. God has His own plans for those who do evil against the poor and needy (3), and who …see people only for what they can get out of them. GOD has had enough. He says, ”I have some plans of my own:’ The Message. The mighty in the land had not respected proper boundaries. God says through Micah that when the invader comes in nobody’s boundary lines will be respected.

GOD HATES INJUSTICE. This is the particular form of iniquity/evil in mind in (2). It’s the rich and powerful trampling on the poor and exploiting them. As part of our discipleship, we do need to ensure that we are siding with the God of justice, and not inadvertently supporting things that grind the poor into the dust. The prophetic books will show to us again and again a God who cares deeply about social justice. As Christians we should do all we can to stand with the poor (all-be-it, according to Jesus, poverty will never be eradicated this side of the second coming.)

God judges sin (3-5). I know this is highly repetitive, and there will be no evading this point as we study the prophetic books. Perhaps God wants us to understand how serious a matter this is and that He really does mean what He says. (This is one of the key doctrines the devil has persuaded many theologians and preachers to ditch. Or at very least, he’s got people to soften the message and dilute the truth.) But here are some of God’s Words to an unrepentant people: Mocking ballads will be sung of you, and you yourselves will sing the blues: ‘Our lives are ruined, our homes and lands auctioned off. They take everything, leave us nothing! All is sold to the highest bidder.”’ And there’ll be no one to stand up for you, no one to speak for you before GOD and his jury. The Message.

The gospel message is enshrined in (3a). A disaster is coming against ever sinner. It is the ‘disaster’ of God’s wrath and judgment. The gospel is bad news before it is good news. We have to understand how bad the bad news is before we will be ready to receive the good news. The good news is that we can be saved. We cannot save ourselves, and this point must be fully understood. But God sent His Son Jesus into the world to be our Saviour, and the Saviour of all mankind. He saves from the wrath of God, all who turn away from a me-centred life and put their trust in Him. That is the best news in the world!

Prayer: Thank God for Jesus!

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Daily Bible thoughts 577: Thursday 20th March 2014:

Micah 1:8-16

  • Sin saddens (9): An old song goes like this: ‘Lord crucified give me a heart like thine, teach me to love the dying souls of men…’ When we watch the news and see just something of what sin does (and let’s face it we only see a fraction of the damage and suffering) how can we remain unmoved and dry-eyed. Micah wept like a man at a funeral. He could see that the Assyrians would invade Judah too (which they did in 701 BC, and they destroyed nearly 50 villages.) Does the certainty of coming judgment cause us to feel deep concern for lost people and seek to win them to Christ?
  • Sin spreads (9): Samaria, the capital city of the northern tribes, had a wound that was incurable. The wrongdoing up north had passed the point of no return. Punishment was inevitable. But now Micah pronounced that the evil he saw there, with its attendant consequences, had travelled as far as the gate of Jerusalem itself. The influence of badness will spread like …yeast…through the whole batch of dough (1 Cor.5:6).
  • Sin starts (13): You were the beginning of sin to the Daughter of Zion… For each one of us there is a beginning of sin and that is the point at which we must nip it in the bud. At the faintest hint of temptation show it your heels; be Joseph like and flee as fast as you can, even if you have to leave behind your cloak. You can’t even begin to consider the possibility of yielding. That is to surrender too much territory to the devil. It is to expose your ‘goal mouth’ to trouble. You’ll be down one – nil before you know it. I heard a well-known Christian leader speaking, and I was impressed by his honesty. He said, ‘One day I was walking in a wood, and just ahead of me I saw a pile of pornography laying on the ground. Someone had just dumped it. You know what I did? he asked. I went as fast as I could in the opposite direction, because I know I can’t handle material like that!! ‘That’s honest. It’s also radical. He wasn’t going to let that ‘litter’ be the beginning of sin to him. It is illustrative of the kind of evasive action you may have to take when feeling under moral pressure. I think it is one example of the kind of approach Jesus was advocating when He said If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away…And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away… (Matthew 5:29,30)

All you who live in Chariotville, get in your chariots for flight. You led the daughter of Zion into trusting  Not God but chariots. Similar sins in Israel also got their start in you. The Message. Sin ‘starts’ somewhere. We must try to head it off at the pass; cut it off at its source.

(By the way, in these verses there are a lot of word plays in the names of towns listed. You may see this reflected in the footnotes in some Bibles. But it also comes across brilliantly in the text of the ‘the Message.’.

Prayer: Lord God help me to go into this day wearing the breastplate of righteousness. Enable me to take my stand against everything you hate.

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Daily Bible thoughts 576: Wednesday 19th March 2014:

 Micah 1:3-7

There are unmistakable messages here:

  • Sin leads to judgment (5): Sins have consequences. The punishment may be a long time coming (because God is patient and merciful), but it will arrive. There is cause and effect in this verse: …because of…because of… This coming national tragedy has a cause.
  • Cities and nations can be adversely affected by sin (6): Samaria and Jerusalem are mentioned, but it could be applicable to London, New York, Paris, and Rome etc. Jacob (Israel) and Judah are referred to, but these words could apply to the U.K., the U.S.A., France and Italy etc. Nowhere escapes God’s all-seeing vision and no-one is immune to His judgment. Cities in the Western world could become heaps of rubble (8) as well. We don’t want to see this happen. It’s a terrifying prospect. But if we persist in our wilful rebellion against God there will be a price to pay.
  • God’s judgment is a terrible and fearful thing (3, 4): This is a powerful picture of God coming with enormous power to deal with His errant people, and nothing and no-one can stop Him. Psalm 104: 32 describes God in these terms: …he who looks at the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains, and they smoke.
  • Sexual sin will be punished (5, 7): Of course, there is much more to sin than sexual sin, and all sin is sin. But there was an abundance of sexual immorality/promiscuity in Israel and Judah in Micah’s day. You ask, ”So what is Jacob’s sin?” Just look at Samaria – isn’t it obvious? And all the sex-and-religion shrines in Judah – isn’t Jerusalem responsible? The Message. However, as you can see in that quote, the bad sexual stuff was linked to false religion, and that was the real problem. They were worshipping pagan gods who were okay with this kind of living. (You might say they lived that way themselves.) A religion will only ever be as good as its gods, and these gods were bad. The religion actually taught that it was fine to have sex outside of God’s boundaries. It was expected and permitted as part of the worship. So it was a very popular religion. (This reminds me of the second half of Romans 1, which says, in effect, that people don’t like the true God who has revealed Himself in nature, so they swap Him; they trade Him in for gods who will give them the thumbs up to do what they like. But Paul also emphasises that there is a major cost to doing this.) When you consider the tidal wave of immorality in our sex-sodden society, you have to say that it also is linked to idolatry. The media reflects the popular culture, and to some degree helps to shape it. It is full of illicit sex. When do you see a normal, faithful marriage between a man and a woman represented on a T.V. drama? Hardly ever! The sexual sin we see everywhere, on the television, at the movies, in the papers and magazines etc. is linked to the idolatry of self. People want to be their own gods, establish their own boundaries, and basically say what goes. They may call it freedom, but they will pay a terrible price both here and hereafter if they do not repent and trust in Christ. Sin brings us to our own because.

Prayer: Lord God, I acknowledge that your way is right and best. Help me to always remain true to this conviction, and banish the tempter by your grace.

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Daily Bible thoughts 575: Tuesday 18th March 2014:

 Micah 1:1- 2

Micah was one of the members of a quartet of writing prophets who burst onto the world scene during the eighth century B.C. (The others were Isaiah, Hosea and Amos.) He prophesied concerning both Judah (the two tribes in the south, with their capital in Jerusalem), and Israel (the ten tribes in the north, having their capital at Samaria). At one point, the prophet Jeremiah’s life was saved by a quotation from Micah (Jer.26:18; Mic.3:12). Who can doubt that God’s Word is powerful? Here are certain other things we can say about The word of the LORD…

  • It comes ‘to’ (and through) real people (1a): It comes to real people with real names (such as Micah) who come from real places on the map; geographical sites (like Moresheth). E.M. Bounds commented that people are always looking for better machinery, but ‘God’s methods are men.’ Are you willing to be a ‘mouthpiece’ for God’s communication to people?
  • It comes to historical eras (1b): …during…reigns… God’s Word breaks into human history. It is unstoppable. The history of the Bible tells us that there are many kings/rulers who put the ear plugs in. They do not want to hear. But God’s Word comes whether it finds the welcome mat outside the palace gates or it doesn’t! The ultimate expression of God’s Word coming into history was when The Word became flesh and lived for a while among us. (John 1:14a).
  • It has ‘to do’ with life in the real world (1c): It had to do with what was going on in Samaria and Jerusalem. The Message. God’s Word has ‘to do’ with everyday life on the streets of this world, and, as we shall see, it often is at odds with it; at variance with what is ‘going on’. It confronts it. It comes with force and there is a clash. It raises up a clear standard and states that certain things are plain wrong. The Word of God comes to us where we are. It does not hold itself aloof from dirty, nitty-gritty life lived at street level. It has ‘to do’ with what is being done there. There is a version of the Bible that is called, ‘The Word on the street.’ How appropriate that is!
  • The Word of God will sometimes be ‘against’ (2): God wants to be ‘for’ people. That’s what the cross says. But before God can be ‘for’ any of us, we have to face up to what He is against. He is against all sin, and He calls us to repent of it and trust in Jesus that we may be saved. God will not spare us on this point, precisely because He wants the best for us. He wants us to realise how badly ‘out of plumb’ we are, and He calls us to be reconciled through the cross.

  Prayer: Let your Word be wrapped in my flesh today, and enable me to take it to the streets.

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Daily Bible thoughts 574: Monday 17th March 2014

Psalm 104:19-30

Last evening, as the sun was going down, I looked up and saw a silvery half-moon set against a deep blue sky. Its beauty took my breath away. I was filled again with a sense of awe and wonder. Early this morning I went out for a run. There was a chill in the air, and cars and gardens and roofs and dustbins were iced with frost. The sky was painted in pastel colours. The birds were exercising their vocal chords I passed one or two fellow-joggers, and walkers (and dog-walkers!!) But mostly the route was deserted. There was a peace, a calm and very little traffic noise. It felt good to be alive, and I celebrated afresh the thought that ‘this is my Father’s world.’ Although it is a fallen world, tainted with sin, every part of it seems to proclaim Him. The further away you get from man-made things, the more you can see God in nature.

We are continuing to look at this wonderful Psalm which speaks eloquently of the creator God. See:

  • The orderliness of the world (19-23): There is evidence of design in nature. It has been said that if the earth were a fraction nearer the sun we’d fry; if it were just a little further away we’d freeze. …alternating night and day enables the life of beasts and mankind to co-exist…Creation is a subtly adapted system for the maintenance and enjoyment of life – and this by the direct action of the Creator… J.A. Motyer: New Bible Commentary, p.554.
  • The abundance of God’s ‘creations’ within creation (24 – 26): My wife, Jill, and I watched a stunning nature programme on TV the other night, about Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, and the life forms that live in and around and on it. We saw creatures we didn’t even know existed! We had never seen or heard of them before. What a head-spinning number of creatures God has made. Even if you don’t believe in Him, you surely have to admit that there is a mind-boggling diversity and variety in the natural world. If you believe it all came from nothing, I admire your faith!
  • God’s generous provision for all life on earth (27-30): He is not only creator but also sustainer of all He has made. The creation veritably seethes with activity from the smallest marine entity to the unspeakably terrifying sea-monster, Leviathan itself (Jb.41:1ff.)and the constant bustling of mankind. But (whether they know it or not) all depend on the Creator to provide, exist only by what he gives, are subject to  his sovereign determination of the hour of their death, and life on earth only continues because he wills to renew it. J.A. Motyer: New Bible Commentary,p.554

What a wildly wonderful world, GOD! You made it all, with Wisdom at your side, you made earth overflow with your wonderful creations. Oh, look – the deep, wide sea, brimming with fish past counting, sardines and sharks and salmon. Ships plow those waters, and Leviathan, your pet dragon, romps in them. All the creatures look expectantly to you to give them their meals on time. You come, and they gather around; you open your hand and they eat from it. If you turned your back, they’d die in a minute – Take back your Spirit and they die, revert to original mud; Send out your Spirit and they spring to life – the whole countryside in bloom and blossom. The Message.

Prayer: O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the works thy Hand has made; I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, your power throughout the universe displayed. Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to thee, How great thou art…

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Daily Bible thoughts 573: Friday 14th March 2014:

 2 Corinthians 3:12 – 18

Christianity is not an ‘undercover’ operation (12, 13). We are not in hiding; we don’t wear a disguise. We don’t slink around at the edges of society trying to avoid detection. Unlike Moses, we have nothing to hide. Everything is out in the open with us. The Message. I like the comment made by John White that Christian witness is about honesty, plain and simple. We are who we are: followers of Christ, and we are not trying to pretend otherwise. We want the glory of the gospel to be reflected in our lives, and we know that this is an ever-increasing glory (18) and not one that is fading away (13). We are going to let our light shine before men and not hide it under a bucket.

However bright the light of Christ may shine out of a Christian life, it will not be seen (not truly seen) or understood by people who are not Christians, until their eyes are supernaturally opened to it (14 – 16). Paul here continues with the veil theme, and he says regarding his fellow Jews that they are unable to see the truth when the Old Testament is read. They are spiritually blind. But whenever a person turns to the Lord, they have an eye-opening experience (16). They can say that once they were blind, but now they can see. (Look how this theme runs on into 4:1-6). We can take heart that someone who we know and love, and who is unable to see the truth about Jesus today (perhaps a friend or neighbour or colleague or relative) may ‘see the light’ tomorrow. Whenever anyone does it is a miracle. Christian conversion is about turning people from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God.

Once we get to know the Lord Jesus, and we’re in a ‘face to face’ relationship with Him (reflect can be translated behold), we are changed increasingly to be like Him (17, 18). The Holy Spirit’s work in sanctification causes each Christian to shine ever more brightly with the glory of Christ. The literal idea in (18) is that we are ‘transfigured’. The Greek word employed by Paul is one from which we derive our word ‘metamorphosis.’ This big, complicated sounding word describes the amazing process by which a caterpillar is changed into a butterfly. When someone becomes a Christian they commence a similar process. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him. The Message.

Each day, you can have your own personal transfiguration as you worship the Lord and yield to the Spirit. Warren W. Wiersbe: With the Word, p.758.

There is a paradox seen in (17, 18). It speaks of the ‘Lordship of the Spirit’, you might say. But where the Holy Spirit is in control of a life there is freedom (or liberty ). There was a lot of talk about ‘liberty’ in the Pentecostal church circles I moved in when I was a teenager. Often, what these dear people seemed to be referring to was a certain liveliness in the preacher (that might make him particularly fluent, and loud!!) or in the congregation (with similar results!). Some years later I discovered that the freedom of the Spirit, according to the New Testament, is a  freedom to become more like Jesus. This will happen when we are under the rule of the Holy Spirit. So when we are most led by Him we will be most truly free.

Prayer: Lord make my life a mirror to reflect your rays into this dark world.

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Daily Bible thoughts 572: Thursday 13th March 2014:

2 Corinthians 3:7-11

There are three phrases in this passage that, I believe, supply the key to understanding it: …will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?…how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness…how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! (8, 9b, 11). The New Covenant is much more glorious than the Old one. In fact it shines with surpassing glory (10b).

Paul here contrasts the two covenants:

  • The Old Covenant brought death (7) in that people broke that which was engraved in letters on stone. To sin is to die. To be sinful is to be in a state of death.
  • The Old Covenant condemns men (9). People who break God’s law are condemned by their actions. In fact they do not so much break it as they are broken by it.
  • The Old Covenant was glorious (9, 10, and see 7), but it was a fading glory (11): a point brought home by looking at the fading glory on Moses’ face (7b).

So what we have under the new covenant is better (as the writer of Hebrews keeps emphasising.)

  • The New Covenant is the ministry of the Spirit (8). As someone said, He, the third Person of the Trinity, is the executor of the God head. So we can say that whatever the Father has planned, and the Son made possible by His death on the cross, the Spirit makes real in our lives. An executor ensures you get what is yours.
  • The New Covenant brings righteousness (9). As the Spirit applies the God-ordained work of Calvary to our lives, we become right with  God (positionally) and we are enabled to live right before men (practically) by the Spirit’s power. Through His sanctifying work we become more and more righteous in life.
  • The New Covenant is one of surpassing glory (10)
  • The New Covenant lasts (11b). Its blessings are eternal.

Let’s realise, today, the enormous benefits of living in these New Covenant days. If you have put your trust in Christ to save you, and if God’s Spirit, thereby, has come to live in you, you have entered an era, a realm of indescribable glory. You have been brought out of darkness and into God’s marvellous light  (1 Peter 2:9; see also Prov.4:18). Take time today to adore the loving God who has so blessed you.

Prayer: Lord, I cannot fully grasp that I am able to see the light while so many grope around in the darkness, but I know that it is due to your sovereign grace.

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Daily Bible thoughts 571: Wednesday 12th March 2014:

 2 Chronicles 36: 22, 23

Our long journey through Chronicles concludes with these two verses. As we take the final steps towards the finish line I want to make these points:

  • God is the Lord of history. ‘History is His story.’ Someone said that He stands behind all the scenes, and He moves all the scenes He is behind. ‘He’s got the whole world in His hands’ and He can give it, or a part of it, to any ‘Cyrus’ He chooses. As the hymn says, This earth belongs to God, the world, its wealth and all its peoples.
  • God is in charge of political changes. He raises up kings and queens etc and he removes them from office. On the chess board of life, the kings and queens are moved by a grand master to wherever He wants them to be. He is able to ‘checkmate every alien purpose that seeks to thwart His plans. The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases. Prov.21:1
  • God’s Word will come to pass (Jer.29:10). It stands sure. We may have to hold on to it and stand on it through long years of pain, hardship and disappointment; times when it looks like the promises of God have failed. But let us be patient and persevering, saying to ourselves, ‘Let God be true and every demon a liar!’ A time will come when what our Jeremiah’s have sown in tears will spectacularly come to fruition. Just you wait and see. ‘God says it; I believe it; that settles it!!’
  • God, in His mysteriously wonderful sovereignty, is free to use anyone He chooses to bring about His purposes. He may even use people I don’t like or personally approve of! That’s His right and He doesn’t need my permission!
  • Whatever God gives you, recognise that it is God’s gift, and seek to use it accordingly, as a good steward of the divine generosity. It’s a sacred trust and you will be held accountable for doing whatever God appointed you to do.

While we wait for God’s Word to be fulfilled it is easy for us to get stuck in a rut (and the only difference between a groove and a grave is one of depth). We can settle down into a comfort zone. This is what it was like for many of the exiles in Babylon when the urgent summons came to leave and return home. They had settled down in a new land and built flourishing and prosperous lives there. The call to go back home was challenging and costly. What might God be asking you to do this day that is really threatening your alliance with ease?

All who belong to GOD’s people are urged to return – and may your GOD be with you! Move forward! The Message.

 Prayer: I recognise, Lord God that it is a priority to hear what you are saying and obediently move forward at your Word. Don’t let me cling on to any comfort zone, however cosy it feels.

 

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