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Daily Bible thoughts 581: Wednesday 26th March 2014:

Micah 3
This is a frightful picture (1-4) of the political and religious leaders in Israel and Judah cannibalising their people, metaphorically speaking. They were devouring them instead of defending them. Again and again in history we have seen the kind of leadership which is cruel to people and not kind; where those in power care only for themselves and not for those entrusted to them. The people of these kingdoms could not find justice where they should have been able to locate it. Isn’t justice in your job description? But you skin my people alive. You rip the meat off their bones. You break up the bones, chop the meat, and throw it in a pot for cannibal stew. The Message. The leaders doing these terrible things, however, will not get away with it. Sin that is unconfessed and unrepented will be a barrier to prayer (4). The time’s coming, though, when these same leaders will cry out for help to GOD, but he won’t listen. The Message. There will come a day, Micah says, when these leaders will find themselves ‘devoured’ by the Assyrians and they will give God a call for emergency help. But they will find a ‘dead’ tone on the line. There will be no response. Those who show no mercy cannot expect to receive it. (Verses 9 -11a expand on the theme of the leaders ‘skinning the people alive’. There you will find a list of some of the evil things they were doing. It makes disturbing reading)

There is also a devastating word for the false prophets (5-7; see 1 Tim. 6:9, 10); those who sell their messages for profit. They tell people what they want to hear if the price is right, and serve up what they don’t want if they don’t stump up the right amount of cash (or food!) Judicial blindness will come upon them from God: Here is GOD’s Message to the prophets, the preachers who lie to my people: ”For as long as they’re well paid and well fed, the prophets preach, ‘Isn’t life wonderful! Peace to all!’ But if you don’t pay up and jump on their bandwagon, their ‘God bless you’ turns into ‘God damn you.’ Therefore, you’re going blind. You’ll see nothing. You’ll live in deep shadows and know nothing. The sun has set on the prophets. They’ve had their day; from now on it’s night. Visionaries will be confused, experts will be all mixed up. They’ll hide behind their reputations and make lame excuses to cover up their God-ignorance.” The Message.

Micah, by contrast, was a true prophet of God, having insight into the real nature of things (8ff). He both saw and spoke clearly. He was anointed by the Spirit of God to spell out what was wrong and announce where it would lead. He had both insight and foresight from God. The leaders were behaving how Micah describes in (1-3, 9-11a) All the while posturing and pretending dependence on GOD: ”We’ve got GOD on our side. He’ll protect us from disaster.” Because of people like you, Zion will be turned back into farmland, Jerusalem end up as a pile of rubble, and instead of the Temple on the mountain, a few scraggly scrub pines. The Message. Micah saw through their empty words; the futility of their false confidence. By the power of the Spirit He courageously spoke out the truth to unwilling listeners. Nothing needs more of the Spirit of God than the preaching which declares to men their sins. No one is so thoroughly hated as the candid friend. Just because conscience attests the truth of our utterances, the soul of the sinner resents our plain speaking. You may condemn sin generally as much as you like; but when your hand comes near the broken bone, or the diseased flesh, then there is at once a violent outcry…We need might to withstand the opposition we shall inevitably meet. F.B.Meyer: Great verses through the Bible, p.352.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, please fill me with your Holy Spirit so that I may boldly speak your Word of truth to all.

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 580: Tuesday 25th March 2014:

Micah 2:12, 13
Not only must we have a Biblical ministry in the church (a point emphasised yesterday), but it must also be a balanced ministry. We often find in the prophets that following strong and even severe words about judgment, you get others bringing comfort, encouragement and hope. These two verses look to a time in the distant future when God’s people will return to the land from exile. However, the word remnant reminds us that judgment is a terrible reality. Of those taken into captivity, only some (those who remained faithful to God) would return.

  • Following scattering there will be gathering (12; see also Isaiah 10:20-23): You can feel the tenderness and loving desire in these words. God wants His people back home. The Shepherd of Israel longs for the sheep to be in the safety of the fold. There is a certainty about what is going to happen. Look how the word surely is repeated. Beyond the dark night of judgment the sun will rise and a new day will dawn. This prophecy began to be fulfilled in a preliminary way when the exiles returned from Babylon, beginning in 538 B.C. However, the promise in verse 12 would only be completely accomplished in the Messianic age. (Consider, for example, John 10. It is being brought to pass through the coming of Jesus, and all that it means will gradually unfold.).
  •  Following reduction there will be expansion and growth (12b): …the place will throng with people. (a milling throng of homebound people! The Message. )
  • Following their King there will be breakthrough (13): ”…Then I, GOD, will burst all confinements and lead them out into the open. They’ll follow their King. I will be out in front leading them.” The Message. The key to breakthrough in every situation is to look to the Lord as your head; keep your eyes on Him and follow Him. He goes before (x2). He is the One who breaks open the way so that you can break through the gate. He is the One who will lead you out of captivity and bondage and into true freedom. But you have to let Him go before you. Your King will be your Shepherd. The mind of the prophet conceives of the people as captives in a foreign city, surrounded by lofty walls and frowning gates. Like impassable barriers, these lie between them and liberty. There seems no hope of their being able to break forth; but all suddenly a Breaker appears, who, summoning them to follow, breaks through the opposition of armed men and of mighty bulwarks. With resistless might, He breaks his way through; and they that follow Him are described as having broken forth, and passed on to the gate, and gone out thereat. First the Lord, then their king, and then hosts of men. No finer description could be imagined of the resurrection, which we celebrate as the first day of every week recurs…”The Breaker is gone up” before his redeemed ones. See! They too are breaking forth, and passing on through the gate – their King passing on before them. This is also true of every new era of time and novelty of circumstance. Circumstances, like prison walls, may confine us; but our Breaker is always preceding us, breaking down opposition and strong ramparts of apparently impassable difficulty…Keep close beside Him, as the armour-bearer behind Jonathon. Let there be no perceptible interspace. The iron gate of the city will open of its own accord, through which you shall pass into perfect liberty. F.B. Meyer: Great Verses through the Bible, p.351.

Prayer: Lord you know how badly I need a breakthrough. Help me to look to you with complete trust for what only you can bring about.

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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 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 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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Daily Bible thoughts 524: Monday 6th January 2014:

 2 Chronicles 29: 20 – 36

At the re-establishing of the services in the temple (35) there was a lavish offering of sacrifices. I am reminded of someone saying that Old Testament worship resembled ‘an abattoir’. This shedding of the blood of animals on a large scale may seem barbaric to us. But God established this system as a way for people to be forgiven and reconciled to Himself. Innocent victims were offered in the place of guilty people, and the animal’s lives were sacrificed for those who had sinned. Taking the Bible’s teaching as a whole, it is clear that all this was preparatory for the coming of Jesus. After His death on the cross there is no more need for sacrifice. He has offered His own perfect life as the final sacrifice. Through faith in Jesus we are restored to God. Every animal sacrifice was an imperfect offering of an imperfect life. It was a temporary measure and could only ‘cover over’ sin. Hence many sacrifices were made throughout the Old Testament era, and they had to be brought repeatedly. But Jesus came to remove sin altogether by His ultimate sacrifice.

Note three things here about this offering of sacrifices:

  • It was accompanied by music and singing (25-31). (It is a beautiful picture, by the way, to see the king kneeling down and worshipping alongside everyone else. What a great leader he was! We need more like him in political/national life: leaders not ashamed to bow before Almighty God, to publicly confess their need of Him and willingly obey Him.) There was joyful, thankful worship. When we know we are forgiven and our consciences are cleaned, this is a cause for deep happiness. Even in the days before Jesus came; at a time when He could only be dimly anticipated, corporate worship was supposed to be over flowingly delightful (25, 26). It was what God wanted. A man who worked for a time at the Garden tomb in Jerusalem told a story. One day he was pointing out to visitors the skull-like rocky cliff which may have been the site of Golgotha, where Jesus died. He also indicated the vicinity where Jesus may have been buried before rising from the dead. A young hippie was in the crowd that day. He was roaming the world looking for meaning. He suddenly said something like this, ‘If what you say is true, this place should be filled with singing every day of the year!’ He got it. All that Jesus is and has done is cause for the most profound joy.
  • All this great musical outpouring came in obedience to God (25, 26). Through their Scriptures; through the proclamation of God’s Word by the prophets they saw what God required of them, and they were quick to obey. ‘Whatever He says to you do it.’ It is not too early to prepare yourself from now on for next Sunday (or for the next occasion when you will gather with other Christians to hear God’s Word taught). Pray for the preacher. Pray for yourself that you will hear and understand and be swift to obey.
  • The people gave God all the glory for what had happened (36). I am reminded of the story of a Vicar walking down the road one day. He came across one of his parishioners tending his garden. ‘Ah, the Lord can do wonderful things with a garden,’ said the man of the cloth. ‘Yes Vicar,’ came the reply, ‘but you should have seen it when the Lord had it to Himself!!’ I wrote a note in my Bible when I read the thirty sixth verse a little while ago: ‘Clearly, all the emphasis thus far (in the chapter) has been on them and their work. They had put so much effort in but knew where the glory should go.’ We discover in our reading of the Bible that God works in, with, on and through people. We are His instruments and we are fully involved. It’s what a friend calls the 200% principle: 100% of God and 100% of me.

Prayer: Help me to labour with all your energy that so powerfully works in me (Colossians 1:29).

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DailBible thoughts 785: Tuesday 6th January 2015: Proverbs 23:19-28

Here are three more sayings of the wise men, from that collection of 30 proverbs that begins at chapter 22:17.

The first is a warning against excessive living, particularly with regard to food and drink (19-21). There are practical reasons for self-restraint. If you go down the route of over-indulgence it will take your money and sap your strength and health. Again, we marvel at the down to earth wisdom of the Bible. If only the world heeded it! This could have saved a lot of people a lot of problems over the Christmas season. ‘’Don’t drink too much wine and get drunk; don’t eat too much food and get fat. Drunks and gluttons will end up on skid row, in a stupor and dressed in rags.’’ The Message. Live like that for too long and you may well end up featuring in a documentary about obesity or binge-drinking! Perhaps both!!

The second proverb concerns honouring father and mother throughout life, and bringing joy and delight to them (22-24). Live in a way that will make your parents proud, if at all possible. The writer envisages doing this by obeying the ‘’truth’’ (23) taught by parents. For him, this will mean the truth that is in God’s Word, or in agreement with it. This is an important word to us all. Whatever God our Father has shown us we should cling to tightly, and live it. ‘’Buy truth – don’t sell it for love or money.’’ The Message. ‘’Do not sell the truth at any price…It costs something to live by the truth, but it costs even more to abandon the truth.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.429. (See also Proverbs 4:7)

The third is about the danger of falling into sexual immorality and adultery, and the destructiveness of such behaviour (26-28). This is a repeated theme in ‘Proverbs’. The ‘fruit’ may look delicious on the tree, but once eaten it is found to be poisonous.

How many lives and marriages could be saved by this Bible passage alone!

Prayer: Lord, let your Word spread through all the earth, and cause men to hear and heed its wise truth. Thank you Lord that ‘a fence at the top of the cliff is better than ‘an ambulance at the bottom.’ Thank you for your ‘fences’ – lovingly put in place to protect us; not to ruin our fun!

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