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Daily Bible thoughts 1021: Friday 27th November 2015: Psalm 119:73-80: The faithful wounds of a Friend.

Psalm 119:73-80: The faithful wounds of a Friend.(please click here for todays passage)

‘’In affliction the psalmist himself reaped benefit.., but now we find that he is concerned so to live in affliction that the benefit can touch others also. The same human agents of affliction reappear (78, cf.69) but he prays to bear with their hostility in such a way that those who fear you may experience joy through his steadfastness of hope (74) and gather to him in fellowship (79).’’ J.A. Motyer: ‘New Bible Commentary’, pp.568/569.

‘’…in faithfulness you have afflicted me.’’ (75b).

Previously we have read:

‘’Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word.’’ (67); and

‘’It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.’’ (71).

He recognised God’s faithfulness behind His troubles. He came into a deeper relationship with his Bible because of them. So in today’s passage we see him:

  • Pinning his hopes in God’s Word (74b);
  • Claiming God’s promises (76);
  • Delighting in the Word (77);
  • Meditating on the Scriptures (78);
  • Seeking to live the Word (80);
  • Praying for more understanding (73b).

His suffering caused him to cling more tightly to his Bible, and to the God who wrote it. See how his heart’s desire was that in his sufferings he would be a blessing to others (74, 79). Today he is to us!

Prayer: Help me to live in such a way, Lord, that in my troubles I may bless others.

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 988: Tuesday 13th October 2015: Jeremiah 18:5-12: The hinge of repentance.

Jeremiah 18:5-12: The hinge of repentance.(please click here for todays Bible passage)

‘ ‘’…can I not do with you as this potter does?’’ declares the LORD.’ (6).

  • God is in charge. Don’t fight Him or resist Him. Yield to Him. Be soft and malleable in His Hands. Go with Him as He forms and shapes you. Be quick to repent when He shows you the things that are wrong in your life.
  • God looks for change. Repentance is the ‘hinge’ upon which so much turns. The people of Judah deserved God’s judgment for their sins. They had been repeatedly warned to turn from evil and back to the Lord. He did not want to inflict this punishment on them, so again He called them to repent; to change their minds (the literal meaning of ‘repent’) about the way they were living. (Repentance is a change of mind leading to a change of behaviour.) The statement in (7, 8) should have encouraged them to ‘turn’ when the call came in (11). But they would not (12). Their heels were well and truly dug in; their attitudes were entrenched. So the people were going to be ‘’marred’’ (4). However, they would still be in the hands of the ‘Potter’ as they were re-shaped in judgement, including deportation to a foreign land (13-17).

 

  • God gives freedom to choose. ‘’The Lord is absolutely sovereign, but He does not act in a mindless or mechanical manner. Both His threats and His promises are conditional; they are carried out in accordance with our response. If we respond rightly; He cancels the threat; if we respond wrongly, He cancels the promise. Thus, within His overall sovereignty, God has granted human beings a certain degree of freedom to choose the right response or the wrong one.’’ Tom Hale: ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary’, p.1102. ‘’Note carefully the cardinal rule of prophecy which is enunciated here, that both the promises and threats of God are not absolute but conditional. Judah often presumed on the divine promises, viewing them from the point of view of privilege and not of responsibility, in spite of prophetic warnings of the disaster that would overtake such an attitude.’’ E. Cundall.

 

‘’ ‘…Turn back from your doomed way of life. Straighten out your lives.’ ‘’But they’ll just say, ‘Why should we? What’s the point? We’ll live just the way we’ve always lived, doom or no doom.’’’ The Message. Many people still respond in this way today, as the gospel message calls them (and us) to repent of sin and trust in Jesus (Mark 1:4, 14, 15). The call to repentance has never been popular, but repentance is the hinge upon which so much turns.

‘ ‘’…can I not do with you as this potter does?’’ declares the LORD.’ (6).

  • God is in charge. Don’t fight Him or resist Him. Yield to Him. Be soft and malleable in His Hands. Go with Him as He forms and shapes you. Be quick to repent when He shows you the things that are wrong in your life.
  • God looks for change. Repentance is the ‘hinge’ upon which so much turns. The people of Judah deserved God’s judgment for their sins. They had been repeatedly warned to turn from evil and back to the Lord. He did not want to inflict this punishment on them, so again He called them to repent; to change their minds (the literal meaning of ‘repent’) about the way they were living. (Repentance is a change of mind leading to a change of behaviour.) The statement in (7, 8) should have encouraged them to ‘turn’ when the call came in (11). But they would not (12). Their heels were well and truly dug in; their attitudes were entrenched. So the people were going to be ‘’marred’’ (4). However, they would still be in the hands of the ‘Potter’ as they were re-shaped in judgement, including deportation to a foreign land (13-17).

 

  • God gives freedom to choose. ‘’The Lord is absolutely sovereign, but He does not act in a mindless or mechanical manner. Both His threats and His promises are conditional; they are carried out in accordance with our response. If we respond rightly; He cancels the threat; if we respond wrongly, He cancels the promise. Thus, within His overall sovereignty, God has granted human beings a certain degree of freedom to choose the right response or the wrong one.’’ Tom Hale: ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary’, p.1102. ‘’Note carefully the cardinal rule of prophecy which is enunciated here, that both the promises and threats of God are not absolute but conditional. Judah often presumed on the divine promises, viewing them from the point of view of privilege and not of responsibility, in spite of prophetic warnings of the disaster that would overtake such an attitude.’’ E. Cundall.

 

‘’ ‘…Turn back from your doomed way of life. Straighten out your lives.’ ‘’But they’ll just say, ‘Why should we? What’s the point? We’ll live just the way we’ve always lived, doom or no doom.’’’ The Message. Many people still respond in this way today, as the gospel message calls them (and us) to repent of sin and trust in Jesus (Mark 1:4, 14, 15). The call to repentance has never been popular, but repentance is the hinge upon which so much turns.

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Daily Bible thoughts 968: Tuesday 15th September 2015: Jeremiah 16: 19-21: Living on smoke.

 Jeremiah 16: 19-21: Living on smoke.(please click here for todays passage)

‘’The godless nations will come from earth’s four corners, saying, ‘’Our ancestors lived on lies, useless illusions, all smoke.’’ Can mortals manufacture gods? Their factories turn out no-gods’’ The Message.

This lovely prayer of Jeremiah’s (19-21) comes at the end of another rather dismal chapter, and it should encourage us. Someone described prayer as ‘’the flight of the lonely man to the only God.’’ This particular prayer is ‘’a burst of faith and prophetic joy…’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘The Wiersbe Bible Commentary (OT), p.1228.

Jeremiah’s Strength (19a): We have seen that Jeremiah had a difficult calling. He lived a lonely life. He was single and childless and had very few friends. He had a message to give that made him deeply unpopular with the majority. He was persecuted for his beliefs. He was ‘’like a speckled bird, set on by all the birds of the flock.’’ F.B. Meyer: ‘Great verses through the Bible’, p.300. So how did he manage to go on? God was his strength. Let that thought put fresh nerve into you today. If Jeremiah could persevere with God’s help, then you certainly can!

Jeremiah’s refuge (19a): Jeremiah was repeatedly attacked, verbally and even physically. But God was real to him. Jeremiah entrusted himself to God. He was conscious of being enveloped within the impregnable walls of God’s love (Romans 8:39). The Lord was his ‘’fortress’’ and ‘’refuge’’; his place of safety. In the midst of your pain and hardship God wants you to know this reality.

Jeremiah’s confidence (19b, 20): Although he was ostracised and largely rejected in his own day, Jeremiah was enabled to see that a day would come when the Gentile nations would flock into God’s Kingdom. We are living in these prophetically foreseen days right now. The church is growing and spreading all over the world (see Isaiah 2:1-4; Micah 4: 1, 2; see Habakkuk 2:14). Many people are seeing the idolatrous mirages they have trusted in for what they are. They are recognising that they have been living on ‘’lies’’, ‘’illusions’’ and ‘’smoke’’. God is able to do this. He breaks the stronghold of idolatry over minds and hearts. As Jeremiah prayed, God spoke (21). What God said was that He would do the very thing that Jeremiah saw that He would do. God’s Word informs and strengthens and shapes our prayers. God is able to change people; He is even capable of influencing  whole nations. You may be in a dark place, as Jeremiah was, but God can light up your life with an awareness of something significant He is yet to do. His bright ‘torch light’ can penetrate your ‘fog’.

Prayer: ‘’Let God speak, and I will listen.’’

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Daily Bible thoughts 967: Monday 14th September 2015: Jeremiah 16: Some further thoughts.

Jeremiah 16: Some further thoughts.(please click here for todays notes)

Here are some further observations on this chapter:

  • Verse 5 contains a warning for the church today. Think about the letters to the seven churches in the book of ‘Revelation’. ‘Lights’ can go out. ‘Candles’ can be extinguished. God can withdraw His blessing. Someone made the point that the local church is never more than a generation away from extinction. We can’t just live how we please and think that all will be well. God, in His patience, may well give us time to repent, but the time will not be infinite. A day will come when it is too late to change.
  • See once again that a note of hope is embedded within a message of severe judgment (14, 15). Jeremiah was enabled to see that there was going to be a second and greater ‘exodus’. In future days people would see the deliverance from Babylonian as the supreme example of God’s power in Israel’s history – even more than ‘the great escape’ from Egypt. (There is a repeated theme in this book that God will not destroy his people ‘’completely’’ : 4:27; 5:10, 18; 30:11; 46:28; see Psalm 94:14; Romans 11:1-5). When Jeremiah wrote, God’s revelation was not complete. Jesus, God’s final Word to mankind had not yet come. We now know that the supreme demonstration of God’s delivering power in human history was displayed at the cross where Jesus died for our sins.
  • Nothing is hidden from God (16-18; see 17:10). We are well and truly ‘bugged’. Jesus has ‘X-Ray vision (Revelation 1:14b).
  • Essentially, what God does in judgment is to give people what they have chosen (13). They would be where there hearts were – with their gods in the land of their gods. “When you tell this to the people and they ask, ‘Why is God talking this way, threatening us with all these calamities? We’re not criminals, after all. What have we done to our God to be treated like this?’ tell them this: ‘It’s because your ancestors left me, walked off and never looked back. They took up with the no-gods, worshiped and doted on them, and ignored me and wouldn’t do a thing I told them. And you’re even worse! Take a good look in the mirror—each of you doing whatever you want, whenever you want, refusing to pay attention to me. And for this I’m getting rid of you, throwing you out in the cold, into a far and strange country. You can worship your precious no-gods there to your heart’s content. Rest assured, I won’t bother you anymore.’ ’’ The Message.

Beware of what you set your heart on, for it will surely be yours!

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Daily Bible thoughts 966: Friday 11th September 2015: Jeremiah 16: The cost of ministry.

 Jeremiah 16: The cost of ministry.(please click here for todays passage)

In his remarkable book, ‘Intercessor’, Rees Howells says something along these lines: ‘’The Holy Ghost was stricter with me than any schoolmaster.’’ This Welsh man had a remarkable ministry in prayer, but there was a lot of self-denial and self-sacrifice behind the scenes. God will sometimes deny a person certain legitimate things for His own good reasons. He has a particular purpose for each life. We are not to compare ourselves with others, but faithfully do what the Lord asks of us (John 21: 20-23).

There is a price to be paid for an effective ministry. Indeed, there is a price to pay for a high profile ministry. Although, humanly speaking, he was largely unsuccessful in his day, and unpopular, Jeremiah has become one of the most famous names in history. But there was a price tag attached to what he said and did.

It must have been hard for a man ‘’of Jeremiah’s affectionate and sympathetic nature’’ to obey the commands in (2, 5 and 8). But this was part of his message. It gave him a platform to speak (10ff).

‘’When people asked Jeremiah about his strange behaviour, he would have opportunity to declare the Word of God.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe.

His life was his message, in a way. (In a slightly different way, it should be the case for us as well – that the godly way we live backs up what we say, and causes people to ask questions.)

‘’Jeremiah has already used a sign to reinforce his message (13:1-11); now his whole life becomes a sign (1-4). Being unmarried was unusual in ancient Israel, and so his singleness and childlessness stand out as noteworthy. In fact, they are intended by the Lord as a sign that all normal life in Judah will cease…Jeremiah is also forbidden to participate in normal funeral ceremonies, as a sign that death will be so widespread in Judah that such mourning ceremonies will become impossible (5-7). Gordon McConville: ‘New Bible Commentary’, p.686.

Jeremiah was also told that this was no time for feasting (8).

So, he was a lonely man: unmarried, childless, and with few friends. Someone pointed out that what Jeremiah was called to was tantamount to self-imposed excommunication. Perhaps these things were the kind of increased difficulty envisaged in (12:5).

‘’Jeremiah’s apparently anti-social conduct was to be a witness to the devastation that was about to descend upon Judah, when all normal activities of a community would cease.’’ A.E. Cundall.

How unpopular are you prepared to be for the cause of God in this world? As we will go on to see, although Jeremiah trod a lonely path, he was not alone. He had a ‘’refuge’’ (19). So do you and me. He will be our ‘’strength’’ to carry on.

Prayer: I am grateful Lord that when you ask something of us, you also help us to do that thing. Otherwise we would never have the courage or fortitude or ability to get on with the job.

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Daily Bible thoughts 965: Thursday 10th September 2015: Psalm 119: 25-32: Watch where you run (Part 2).

 Psalm 119: 25-32: Watch where you run (Part 2).(please click her for todays notes)

Some years ago we had a guest preacher visit our church and in one message he declared, ‘I want to be Bible man!’ I’ve never forgotten those words. That was the determination of the psalmist also. In yesterday’s reading, we considered how this passage shows the renewing power of God’s Word (25), the strengthening power of God’s Word (28) and the keeping power of God’s Word (29). But to experience all of this, there has to be a definite commitment, on our part, to the Bible.

We must:

Choose it (30a): There is a definite choice to be made in order to become ‘Bible man’ or ‘Bible woman’. We must choose to have God’s Word at the very core of our lives; we won’t drift into such a commitment. But it’s one a believer can make because of God’s work in his ‘’heart’’, setting him ‘’free’’ for the life of obedience (32b).

Set our hearts on it (30b; see also Colossians 3:1): Within this there is a recognition that we must look to the Divine Author of Scripture for understanding (26b, 27). ‘’There is a heavenly wisdom, which can only be acquired from the lips of the Greatest of Teachers, at whose feet Mary sat.’’ F.B.Meyer.

Hold fast to it (31a): Meditation (27b) helps us to do just this. ‘’I grasp and cling to whatever you tell me…’’ Meditation helps you to ‘keep’ whatever it is that you are learning in your reading of the Bible. Yesterday we thought a little about George Muller and the place God’s Word had in his life. He saw it as his first duty each morning to ensure that his soul was supremely happy in God. For him, that meant starting the day meditating on the Scriptures, and then he turned those meditations into prayers.

Run in it (32a): Yesterday morning I left my home around 6 a.m. and ran along a clearly marked path by the River Wharfe in Boston Spa. That’s an image I have in my mind as I read (32a) – something of the joy and freedom, as well as the effort and discipline of running. But the run takes place on a path I have not made. I get the sense, in this psalm, of someone who delights to be out on these well-travelled paths. It’s not drudgery to him.

As ever, Alec Motyer has some insightful comments on the passage before us: ‘’Humiliation (25), weariness (28), temptation (29), potential disappointments (31) are all part of life. Things ‘get us down’ (25, ‘My soul cleaves to the dust’), life becomes too much (28, ‘My soul is sleepless with depression’). But more than anything else, the time of trouble is to be a time of prayer. These eight verses contain seven prayers…The time of trouble is also a time of special commitment, to fix the mind on his wonderful word (27), to choose and set the heart on his truth (30), to meet trouble with obedience (31, ‘I cleave to your statutes’), to make the effort, (‘I will run’). But the time of trouble is also a time of rest, for God will always be true to his word (25b, 28b, 29b better ‘in accordance with your law’). ‘New Bible Commentary’, p.567.

Prayer: ‘’My sad life’s dilapidated, a falling-down barn; build me up again by your Word.’’ The Message (Verse 28).

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Daily Bible thoughts 960: Thursday 3rd September 2015: Jeremiah 15: 15-21: The loneliness of the long distance leader.

 Jeremiah 15: 15-21: The loneliness of the long distance leader.(click here for todays passage)

Jeremiah’s suffering (15): God fully understood this and Jeremiah knew that He did. Jeremiah was a good man; a faithful man who was persecuted for his faith.

Jeremiah’s delight (16; see Ezekiel 2:8 – 3:4): Jeremiah knew something of the loneliness of ministry. In fact, he experienced more isolation and rejection than most. He received discouraging responses to his preaching during the ‘marathon’ years of his ministry. But he did find strength and joy and encouragement in God’s Word. Eugene Peterson wrote a volume entitled, ‘Eat this Book’. How’s your appetite?

Jeremiah’s loneliness (17): He didn’t marry and he had few friends. He could not join in with the party when he knew that the roof was about to cave in and the whole house come crashing down. He saw more clearly than most of his contemporaries, and he paid dearly for seeing so clearly and for having the courage to speak out what he saw on the horizon. He trod a lonely path. The party- goers saw him as a party-pooper and he was hated.

Jeremiah’s sin (18): I feel sorry for Jeremiah, and so do you. But all that he went through was not an excuse for sin. It is one thing to be honest with God, but it is quite another to say things that are untrue (18b). Jesus taught His disciples to pray these words: ‘’And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ (Matthew 6:13). I understand that it can read: ‘’And do not put us to the test…’’ The truth is that a time of testing can be an occasion for temptation, so we need to be vigilant in it that we do not fall into sin. ‘’Jeremiah here lapses into acute self-pity and launches a bitter attack on God that reaches perilously close to blasphemy.’’ A.E. Cundall.

But God did not write Jeremiah off as a failure. He dealt gently with him as he did with Elijah (1 Kings 19:3-18; see also the story of Peter’s restoration in John 21). ‘’Remember how Peter sinned; but within 50 days he was speaking as the mouth of the Holy Ghost to thousands.’’ F.B. Meyer.

God’s kindness and gentleness (19): We who preach repentance to others will need to repent ourselves at times. We will need to drink the same medicine we prescribe. Jeremiah was a good and faithful man. But he was also sinful. At this time of great pressure his sin nature shone through. He needed to understand that sin could clog up the channel of his ministry, and he needed cleaning out. He particularly needed to repent of the ‘’worthless words’’ he had spoken in (18b; see Isaiah 6:5).

God’s commission (19b): We could say that Jeremiah was recommissioned at this point. (Hear echoes of his initial call in 1:8, 18).If Jeremiah did repent he would God’s ‘’spokesman’’. But although the people might come to him to hear him, he was not to ‘’turn to them’’. He wasn’t to become like them; to be enticed into their ways or squeezed into their mould.’ A faithful preacher of God’s Word will not only carry an authoritative message; he or she will have a distinctive lifestyle. They will be different. That difference also preaches! So if we spend time in the company of unbelievers (and I think the example of Jesus says we should) we should be careful not to take on their moral hues (17). Jesus was with them yet distinct from them, and that’s our challenge.

God’s promise (20, 21; see verse 11 and 1:8; 18): Hold on to what He’s said to you.

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Daily Bible thoughts 957: Monday 31st August 2015: Jeremiah 14:13-22: Only the truth sets free.

 Jeremiah 14:13-22: Only the truth sets free.(please click here for todays passage)

‘’…only the real word of God will stand the test of time and experience.’’ A.E. Cundall.

False preaching (13-16): Jeremiah protested to God that the people had been misled by false prophets. The Lord agreed with him that they had been, and he assured him that these counterfeit preachers would be punished by experiencing the very judgments they said would not happen. Those who say there is no Hell will end up there themselves if they do not repent of their sins and trust in Christ. Tragically, the people in the pulpit who preach error take many of the people in the pews down with them. (For bodies to be left unburied in the streets would be considered a terrible disgrace by Jewish people: verse 16). The people in the pews, by the way, should have known better, because they had been given clear tests to apply to know whether a prophet was true or false. ‘’The sermons they’ve been handing out are sheer illusion, tissues of lies, whistlings in the dark.’’ The Message. No genuine prophet would encourage people into idolatry. The people could check the preaching with the Word of God (Isaiah 8:19, 20).

Genuine feelings (17, 18): ‘’None should preach destruction who cannot weep for those under its threat.’’ In these verses God’s heart is expressed through the mouth of Jeremiah. He doesn’t have physical ‘’eyes’’ that ‘’overflow with tears’’, but throughout the Bible His feelings and actions are described in human terms, because these are the only ones we understand. The Lord wept for Judah as a father might weep for his ‘’virgin daughter’’ who had been violated, beaten and left to die. There is deep heartbreak here. God was not indifferent to their suffering, even though He was the One who had to inflict it.

True praying (19-22): Here are some timeless elements of authentic prayer:

  • It is honest (19): It faces up to disappointments and difficult and unanswered questions (19);
  • It confesses sin (20). Jeremiah stood in a grand Biblical tradition of spiritual leaders who showed solidarity with their own people, confessing their sins as if they were their own;
  • It seeks the honour of God’s Name (21a);
  • It appeals to God’s Word (21b; see Leviticus 26:44, 45);
  • It recognises that God is our only hope (22).

Prayer: We pray for all who preach that they may first hear from you Lord, and bring your messages. Protect us from all error. Help us to be discerning.

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Daily Bible thoughts 956: Friday 28th August 2015: Jeremiah 14:1-12: When fasting will not do.

 Jeremiah 14:1-12: When fasting will not do.(please click here for todays notes)

Chapters fourteen and fifteen consist of a kind of conversation between Jeremiah and God. Prayer is not a monologue but a dialogue; there are two ends to the telephone line. Are you listening as well as talking?

Jeremiah was driven to prayer by a time of drought (1-6). These verses paint a desperate picture and must be linked to the nation’s breaking of the covenant (Deuteronomy 28:12, 14; Leviticus 26:19, 20). It wasn’t just a natural disaster. In the rainy seasons that normally occurred, the ‘’cisterns’’ (3) would fill up with water as a result of flash flooding. But at this terrible time there was no water. (I couldn’t help but think that some people experience the spiritual equivalent of verse 3 when they attend certain churches!) The ‘’doe’’ is a creature renowned for her care for her young (5) and the ‘’wild donkeys’’ were among the hardiest of animals (6). These, then, were desperate times indeed.

In (7-9) Jeremiah presents the pleas of the people before God:

-Their confession of sin and backsliding (7);

– Their desire for God to do something for the sake of His Name (7; see also 21);

– Their sense that although God was with them, His presence was not being manifested; they were aware of His presence among them, but also conscious of His inactivity. He felt like a ‘’stranger’’ to them; like a ‘’traveller’’ who had moved on (8); like someone who should have been able to help, but couldn’t (9). ‘’Why are you acting like a tourist, taking in the sights, here today and gone tomorrow? Why do you just stand there and stare, like someone who doesn’t know what to do in a crisis? But GOD, you are, in fact, here, here with us! You know who we are – you named us! Don’t leave us in the lurch.’’ The Message. ( ‘’…a large number of inconsistencies and insincerities may make God powerless to help you, or to work mightily through you to the salvation of others…The Lord Jesus could do infinitely more in us, and through us, if we did not hinder. Be sure that the Kingdom of God is within, but you must let it possess you.’’ F.B. Meyer. )

– Their request that God should not forsake them.

God’s answer in (10-12) shows that the people’s confession was but words. Although it sounded sincere enough, God saw right through it. There was no genuine repentance in evidence (10; see 3:10; 15:6, 7; Isaiah 59:1,2). They mourned for their land but not for their sins; they were sorry for their plight but not for their evil. So God told Jeremiah not to pray for them anymore (7:16; 11:14). They had past the point of no return. Not even fasting could help now: ‘’When they skip their meals in order to pray, I won’t listen to a thing they say.’’ The Message. True confession involves forsaking sin (Proverbs 28:13). It is more than just repetitively saying ‘Sorry’ to God. Note the ‘’this people’’ in (10, 11) and compare with the covenantal ‘’my people’’ (9:7).

(The trio of disasters mentioned in verse 12b is intended to cover the full range of human misery. The curses for breaking the covenant, found in Deuteronomy 28:15-68, are basically variations on these themes.)

Prayer: Lord God, may nothing in me prevent the outflowing of your power.

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