Mark your calendars! (But which date?) - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Philippians 1:9-11,

"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in
knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern
what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus
Christ—to the glory and praise of God."

Among the requests in Paul's prayer for his readers is that they be
"pure and blameless for the day of Christ." This part of his prayer
points to the calender of events we look ahead to in God's workings.
There is a day we look forward to, a day Paul refers to as "the day of
Christ" that grows closer as our calendars tick off the days, one by
one. There are only so many days remaining in this life as we know it
before we come to this day marked on God's calendar. The Lord is
coming back to planet Earth, just as certainly as he visited here over
two thousand years ago. His visit will be markedly different, however.
The writer of Hebrews tells us, "Just as people are destined to die
once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once
to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not
to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him."
Hebrews 9:27-28.

I am certain most all of us believers look forward with very excited
anticipation as we await the Lord's calendar of events. We may not
know the dates, but we do know of some things that are marked on that
calendar. We know the Lord is coming back for us, with his salvation
in hand. We know our current bodies are going to undergo a
transformation. A little later in this letter Paul says, "Our
citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring
everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that
they will be like his glorious body." Philippians 3:20-21.

A pointed and much beloved text on the Lord's return for us comes from
1 Thessalonians 4:14-17, "We believe that Jesus died and rose again,
and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen
asleep in him. According to the Lord's word, we tell you that we who
are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will
certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord
himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the
voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead
in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are
left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever." Whether we
are dead by that time or are still alive and remaining, it will be an
amazing event, exciting beyond anything that could possibly be
imagined!

Something I never forget is the atmosphere, what kind of an experience
it will be for us all. In Jude 24-25 we read, "To him who is able to
keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious
presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior
be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord,
before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen."

Without fault (whew!!!) and with great joy!!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

- Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Philippians 2:1-5,

"If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any
comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any
tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being
like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do
nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility
consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not
only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your
attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus..."

Here is a wonderful formula that Paul engages from time to time. As he
exhorts us to live our lives worthy of the Lord, lives that please him
and further his agenda in the world today, he prefaces with a reminder
of what we have already received from the Lord. In essence he is
saying, "Is it too much to ask this of you given what it is the Lord
has so freely given you already?"

Here Paul asks his readers to be "like-minded, having the same love,
being one in spirit and purpose." He asks us to be not selfish and
conceited but be humble to the point of considering "others better
than yourselves." Look to the interests of others and adopt the
humility of Jesus Christ himself.

It must be noted that nothing in what Paul asks is impossible for the
believer. In fact, contrary to contemporary Christianity, where it is
thought that only the Pope himself, or Billy Graham can attain to such
a spiritually mature matters, it is what he expects from all
believers! You and me! We tell ourselves all kinds of lies, provide
ourselves with all kinds of excuses, but the reality is that we all,
everyone who has embraced Jesus Christ in faith, are indwelt with the
Holy Spirit who empowers us to live godly lives. "His divine power has
given us everything we need for life and godliness through our
knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through
these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that
through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the
corruption in the world caused by evil desires." 2 Peter 1:3-4.

Since we have everything we need to live out what Paul asks of us in
Philippians 2:1-5, the only issue remaining is the motivation to make
our choice to do so. Here Paul does not fail to provide. He reminds us
of the encouragement we have in being united with the Lord, he reminds
us of his love we have experienced, he points us to the fellowship we
have with the Holy Spirit, the tenderness and compassion found in him.
How can we experience these very things and not have an urgent desire
to reciprocate in some way by making these choices in our lives that
will please the Lord?

I recall Paul utilizing this same technique in his approach to us in
Romans 12:1-2a. There he says, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in
view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy
and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not
conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by
the renewing of your mind." You get the picture.

While we fiddle and piddle around with all our shortcomings, as we
wring our hands over our smoking, or drinking or women or not showing
up to church every Sunday or not contributing to the collection plate,
as we continue to focus on ourselves and our shortcomings with our
eyes off the Lord, we often find ourselves simply chasing our tails
with our struggles. We never arrive at a point where we become
effective and productive for the Lord.

If we are to mature in the Lord, we need to get our eyes off ourselves
and on to the Lord and what he has done for us. In passages such as
Colossians 3:1-4 we find what it is we need to be doing, "Since, then,
you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above,
where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on
things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is
now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears,
then you also will appear with him in glory." We need to be setting
our hearts on things above, we need to set our minds on things above.
We need to get our eyes off ourselves and onto the Lord.

This is exactly what Paul does here. After reminding us of all the
wonderful things the Lord has done for us and then asking us to live
our lives in a manner pleasing to him, he launches into one of the
most profound visions provided us of the Lord, enabling us to set our
hearts and minds on him.

"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father."

Breathtaking, isn't it?!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Can I become a saint? - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Philippians 1:1-2,

"Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all God's holy people
in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."

Paul wrote his letter to the Philippian church, addressing "God's holy
people" (or, "saints"). Who were these holy people? How did they get
that way? What special "rights and privileges thereunto" accompanied
their status as "God's holy people"?

While the three questions I ask send us right into the hotbed of
sectarian and theological division and argument, the Scriptures are
astonishingly simple, direct and to the point on the answers. The
Merriam-Webster on line dictionary rightly lists "sainted" as a
synonym of "holy". Both are translated from the Greek word, "hagiois":
"saints" or "holy ones".

In Hebrews 2:10-13 we read, "In bringing many sons and daughters to
glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything
exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation [Jesus Christ]
perfect through what he suffered. Both the one who makes people holy
and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not
ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. He says, 'I will declare
your name to my brothers and sisters; in the assembly I will sing your
praises.' And again, 'I will put my trust in him.' And again he says,
'Here am I, and the children God has given me.'" Note that saints are
not such because of anything they have done, it is Jesus Christ who
makes them saints, makes them holy. They are his brothers and sisters
because they put their "trust in him". As his brothers and sisters,
they have become co-heirs with Jesus Christ, "Now if we are children,
then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.." Romans
8:17a.

Jesus Christ makes us holy before his Father, imbuing us with his own
righteousness. It came at the cost of his horrific death on that cross
by paying the penalty for our sins. As such we are "saints", "God's
holy people". We come to be that way simply by embracing him in faith.
God has chosen that all who will embrace him in faith will become his
children. As saints, we are the heirs of eternal life with all that
comes with being co-heirs with Jesus Christ.

Amazing... isn't it?!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Decision making and the will of God - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Philippians 1:9-11,

"This is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in
knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern
what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus
Christ—to the glory and praise of God."

To be able to discern what is best is truly important and vital. Love
abounds "more and more in knowledge and depth of insight" according to
Paul here. Love is bound inexorably to knowing the things of God. To
have depth of insight into true spiritual things requires love. John
says, "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."
1 John 4:8. John also went on to say, "Whoever lives in love lives in
God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so
that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we
are like Jesus." 1 John 4:16b-17.

Over the years one of the more frequent challenges I have seen
expressed in prayer meetings and church services is that God might
reveal his will in some decision that needs to be made. I can't begin
to count the occasions I have found myself with such concerns. And, I
think I may have seen more creativity in this endeavor than any other
within the church.

I have seen the "Bible roulette" approach employed, where someone
spins through the pages of their Bible, sticks a finger in somewhere
as the pages flip by to stab a verse. Whatever the verse says would
somehow be contorted to reveal the answer to God's will in the
question of the moment. "... all of you share in God's grace with me."
Philippians 1:7b, say, would be confirmation that we should
financially support the missionary in question. The folks may not
giving when the offering plate passes by and the balance sheet isn't
adding up at the end of the month, but no mind, "were going to take a
step of faith, that God will provide!"

Possibly a little less creative, but certainly just as entertaining,
is the "open door" approach. In an inability to make a wise choice and
looking to God for a "sign", folks look for that "open door", often
times a series of open doors. "It must be God's will! After all, look
at the doors that have opened!" Shear circumstance masquerades as a
divine sign. I think I have seen this utilized at times when
comfort/assurance is sought or given when the "fun" alternative or the
less painful alternative has already really been decided upon behind
closed doors. This provides the divine authority to reject what might
take more effort or is less attractive from a less than godly
perspective. I suspect we have all seen this kind of thing.

How about the more assertive approach of "putting out a fleece"? Just
as Gideon put out a fleece and asked God for the dew only on it in the
morning and vice versa, we stipulate if "such and such happens" we
will take that as a sign that God wants us to move ahead in a certain
direction, etc. Never mind that God already told Gideon what to do, so
he already knew God's will, and that his request of God was merely to
bolster his faith and nothing more, it is a method I have seen
employed on a number of occasions. "If it rains this week we will know
it is God's will we spend the money and pave the church parking lot."

In addition to the above, I'm sure you have seen some other
fascinating methods employed as well. One thought that dawned on me
sometime in the past is that there are times and circumstances God has
no interest in making a choice for us. Having endowed us with our own
free will, he watches what it is we decide to do. I realize this
concept leaves many feeling uncomfortable with their theology
challenged. Something they may consider is that the chair I chose to
sit in last night in the restaurant where we ate was a choice God may
have had little interest in making on my behalf. The chair against the
wall? Or the chair in the aisle? Which one is God's will? If I find I
need to seek God's will whether I use the blue pen or the black pen
today at work may indicate there are more serious things I need to be
seeking God for than the color of ink. Here is an example few today
would agree with Paul on: marriage. "If anyone is worried that he
might not be acting honorably toward the virgin he is engaged to, and
if his passions are too strong and he feels he ought to marry, he
should do as he wants. He is not sinning. They should get married. But
the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, who is under no
compulsion but has control over his own will, and who has made up his
mind not to marry the virgin—this man also does the right thing."

"He should do as he wants"? I am certain prayer and seeking God's
wisdom is vital in a decision such as marriage, but Paul seems to
indicate it is a decision left to us. Ask God for wisdom, what to look
for in a spouse, wisely assess the circumstances, but use the ability
to choose the Lord has given us. I have seen a number of decisions
"the Lord has made" based on the methodologies empolyed above that
have not gone well. Guess who gets blamed for it?

What I read in God's word relative to decision making is found in
Romans 12:2, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to
test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect
will." And passages such as Philippians 1:9-10, "...this is my prayer:
that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of
insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be
pure and blameless..." If we participate in the work the Holy Spirit
seeks to do in our lives, by having our minds transformed and having
our love abound with knowledge and depth of insight, we might do much
better when it comes to decision making. It certainly has to be better
than Bible roulette, open doors and fleeces.

The beauty of God's word is he has revealed himself in its pages. It
is here we find what pleases the Lord, how to develop wisdom to make
good choices, and most of all - to know him better and to draw closer
to him. Clearly the wisest decision he points us to is found in John
1:12, "To all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name,
he gave the right to become children of God".

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Paul's memories - Ruminating in the Word of God.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Philippians 1:3,

"I thank my God every time I remember you."

One of my favorite accounts of the early church is when Paul visited
the Macedonian city Philippi for the first time. On his second
missionary journey he arrived at Philippi with Silas, Timothy and
Luke. This fascinating account is provided to us by Luke in Acts
16:12-40. The account includes wonderful descriptions of conversions
as a result of the gospel message that Paul brought, the supernatural
represented by a girl who foretold the future by a spirit that
possessed her and Paul's casting out of that spirit, a city wide
uproar resulting in Paul's and Silas' beating and imprisonment, and
the miraculous when Paul and his companions were freed by an
earthquake. The tale of the Philippian jailer and his family embracing
Jesus Christ in faith as a response to the gospel Paul preached,
resulting in their salvation, is certainly a classic account of the
kind of evangelism Paul engaged in. Surely these are among the
remembrances Paul refers to as he thanks God for these Philippian
believers.

While it is easy to recognize the supernatural, the miraculous, the
wonderful workings of God in the acceptance of the gospel by many as
provided in Luke's account, I am reminded that there was much that
could have discouraged Paul as well. Certainly he must have felt
exasperated by the wacky servant-girl who dogged him wherever he went
with her shouting. Luke tells us Paul was so "annoyed" he cast the
spirit out of her that made her living as a fortune-teller possible. I
wonder what Paul felt as he was dragged before the authorities in
Philippi and accused of creating an uproar and advocating the
"unlawful", when all he had done was to relieve a girl from a spirit
that dominated her? Certainly the flogging both Paul and Silas
received unjustly, as well as their jailing could have become a
discouragement for them.

However, as I read the account in Acts 16, I don't see Paul
discouraged or downcast. He comes across as a man living "on the edge"
for the Lord, doing great things to further the gospel enterprise. He
challenges the people of Philippi, goes out looking for those he could
evangelize, as he does Lydia and the others with her, demonstrating he
is on the offense. We find Paul and Silas, jailed for the night,
singing hymns to God and praying in the middle of the night, and
staying to evangelize the jailer and his family when they could have
run. When the magistrates freed Paul and Silas in the morning, they
demanded the magistrates come and do it themselves, as I think, for
one last opportunity to share the gospel message before they left
town.

What I see in Paul is an indomitable spirit: the Spirit of the Lord at
work in and through his life. As Paul reflects on his memories of
these folks, he does so in thanksgiving. Clearly, his thanksgiving is
rooted in the participation of these believers in his ministry, but I
suspect his thanksgiving reaches beyond what these wonderful believers
contributed, that it was all good, manifesting the implacable Holy
Spirit's involvement in the events that took place in Paul's ministry
in Philippi.

Read Acts 16. It will bring you a breath of fresh air!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

How can you be so confident???- Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Philippians 1:4-6,

"In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of
your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being
confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it
on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

Paul had a confidence for the Philippian believers, that the "good
work" begun by the Lord in their hearts would be carried through to
completion till the day of the Lord.

What was the basis for Paul's confidence in this? Certainly he was
proud of this group of believers who had shared in the work he did. He
reminded these believers that when he left Macedonia to continue his
mission of evangelizing, they were the only ones who contributed to
his support, 4:15, and when he was in Thessalonica they had sent him
aid repeatedly, 4:16. As we see in 1:5, he thanked God for their
partnership with him in his gospel ministry.

Paul also reflects on the consistent obedience of this group of
believers, 2:12, but I don't think his confidence lay in the believers
themselves. Despite the wonderful hearts of these believers and their
participation and contribution to Paul's ministry, Paul's confidence
was grounded in something he mentions to another group of believers,
the folks in Corinth.

In what we have as Paul's first letter to the church in Corinth he
says, "Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly
wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will keep you strong
to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus
Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus
Christ our Lord, is faithful." 1 Corinthians 1:7-9. Here Paul
recognizes it is God himself who keeps believers strong to the end, a
work born of his faithfulness.

The question of whether someone can lose their salvation misses the
point of to whom believers belong and the Lord's ability to care for
his own. Those who have embraced the Lord in faith belong to God and
God himself resides within them through his Holy Spirit. The Spirit
brings about changes in the hearts of believers that manifest his
presence there, "You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature
but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone
does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ."
Romans 8:9. It is this work of the Holy Spirit that keeps us strong,
bringing to completion what he has started in our lives when we first
embraced him in faith.

I think all believers from time to time question their standing with
God. It happens when we take our eyes off him and focus on ourselves.
In doing so we violate the admonition: "When they measure themselves
by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not
wise." 2 Corinthians 10:12b. The truth is that no true believer can
say that knowing Jesus Christ has had no impact on their lives. Each
of us are indwelt with God's Spirit and he brings change within. It is
God's faithfulness in his activity in our lives that provided Paul
confidence that believers will be brought to the appointed completion
God has for each one of us.

We may not all be at the same point in our walk with the Lord... it
might even be that I make you look pretty good. Although we may not
see the wonderful work God did in the believers in Philippi or Corinth
at this point in our lives, we can all certainly share in Paul's
confidence that it is the Lord who is faithful and he will continue
his wonderful work within us.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!



Trevor Fisk

trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Fellowship then and now - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Philippians 1:3-6,

"I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all
of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the
gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he
who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the
day of Christ Jesus."

Paul spoke of his feelings for his brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Their partnership with him in the gospel brought him joy. In this
thank-you letter to the church in Philippi, he acknowledged their
fellowship with him. Paul speaks of what they shared together in God's
grace, 1:7; he acknowledged their prayers for him, 1:19; his remaining
in this life for their "progress and joy in the faith", 1:25; his
presence with them bringing them overflowing joy in Christ Jesus,
1:26; his gladness and rejoicing with the Philippians and theirs with
him, even in the midst of danger, 2:17-18. He talked of his
anticipation of being cheered when receiving of news of them (in his
imprisonment he was separated from them), 2:19 and he spoke of genuine
interest in their welfare represented in Timothy's concern for them,
2:20. Paul told them of his love and longing for them and reckoned
them to be his "joy and crown", 4:1. Paul "rejoiced greatly" in the
Philippian's concern for him, 4:10 and recognized their sharing in his
troubles, how good it was, 4:14. Paul recognized how generous and
giving the Philippians had been toward Paul in their sending him aid
again and again, 4:15-17. His desire was not so much his needs being
met, but that their giving to him would be "credited" to their account
in the court of the Lord, 4:17. Paul's desire and certainty was that
"God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in
Christ Jesus, 4:19.

Such was not always the case for Paul. When we first meet Paul in the
Scriptures we read he participated in the stoning of Stephen, the
first martyr of the church. He persecuted the church in its infancy.
In Acts 9:1-2 we read, "Meanwhile, Saul [Paul] was still breathing out
murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high
priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so
that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or
women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem." Paul confessed,
"I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man..." 1
Timothy 1:13.

What a change the Lord brought about in Paul's heart! It is
astonishing to me to see what it is the Lord can do in the heart of
even the most hardened person!

What catches my eye this morning, though, is the love, care, joy,
concern that believers had for one another as represented in Paul's
communication with the church in Philippi. This is what biblical
fellowship looks like. Far from the "fellowship dinner" these day at
church followed by the business meeting where the new color of the
nursery is argued over, these folks had their eye on something else,
someone else. Someone who expressed an incomprehensible love by paying
for their sins to make a way into eternal life, a place in the Lord's
family at the Lord's table! These folks had their eye on someone who
changed them from the inside out, making the kind of fellowship
evident in Paul's letter to the church in Philippi possible.

It is my belief Paul's prayer was answered: "And this is my prayer:
that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of
insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be
pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of
righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise
of God."

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

The imperative of love - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Philippians 1:9-11,

"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in
knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern
what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ,
filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus
Christ—to the glory and praise of God."

Paul was a man of prayer. He spoke of praying for the folks in the
church in Rome, Romans 1:9-10, for the folks in the church in Ephesus,
Ephesians 3:14-19, for the folks in the church in Colosse, as well as
many other places. Here he speaks of praying for the believers in
Philippi.

As in Ephesians 3:14-19, Paul prays for love in the hearts and minds
of the Philippian believers. It was his desire to see the love of
believers "abound more and more". It appears Paul felt there was no
end to the opportunity for growth in love in the hearts of believers,
that there was no arrival or destination point of enough love. No
matter how mature a believer might become, there is always room for
more love.

I note that Paul says love abounds in increasing knowledge and depth
of insight: a seamless integration of love tied to the other. If we
don't find greater capacity for love, greater expressions of love in
our acquisition of knowledge and depth of insight, then we are missing
the appointed outcome these should bring. We often hear of those who
have "head knowledge" indicating that somehow the acquisition of
knowledge of the things of God has somehow escaped the heart,
represented in love not evidenced - a misdirected dynamic.

The more we grow in knowledge and depth of insight, the more we should
grow in love and vice versa. It is only from the increasing interplay
of the two that the outcomes of discernment and the fruit of
righteousness find their rightful places in our lives.

Is this dynamic important? To the degree we find the glory of God and
the praise of God important! This is how it is accomplished, "to the
glory and praise of God."

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

What God can do following disaster - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Judges 21:23b,

"Then they [the remnant of Benjamin] returned to their inheritance and
rebuilt the towns and settled in them."

Following the debacle that resulted from their own depravity that
brought the tribe of Benjamin to the brink of annihilation, and
following some hair-brained scheming and action on the part of the
rest of Israel, Benjamin "returned to their inheritance and rebuilt
the towns and settled in them." These towns had to be rebuilt as the
other Israelites had razed them.

The tribe of Benjamin survived and would later provide Israel with her
first king, Saul. However, my favorite Benjamite was the apostle Paul.
As I consider the vast impact in the world the Lord has made through
Paul's ministry as the apostle to the Gentiles, I am reminded of how
God can take that which appears at its end and do stunning things.
Inspired and equipped by the Holy Spirit, Paul, "a blasphemer and a
persecutor and a violent man", his own words, 1 Timothy 1:14, was used
mightily by the Lord to establish an aggressive evangelistic thrust
into the Gentile world, a thrust that is still felt today. Again,
inspired by the Holy Spirit, Paul wrote thirteen of our New Testament
books providing the world with apostolic insight and direction that
has shaped western civilization over the past two millenniums. Paul,
from the tribe of Benjamin, a tribe that was devastated.

The apostle Peter recognized Paul's writings as those from a shelf in
the library of works known to be inspired by God himself. Only
forty-some authors have been used by God for this purpose and Paul is
prominent among this exclusive group. Of Paul's writings Peter says,
"Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our
dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He
writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these
matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand,
which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other
Scriptures, to their own destruction." 2 Peter 3:15-16. Of Paul's
writings and "the other Scriptures" Peter says, "Above all, you must
understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's
own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of
man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy
Spirit." 2 Peter 1:20-21.

As those 600 Benjamite men scattered into the desert while the rest of
the men, women and children of the tribe slaughtered, Benjamin looked
to be barren, dead and done. Just look what God can do with that! In
speaking of Abraham's faith, Paul observed Abraham's faith was in
"...the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not
as though they were." Romans 4:17b.

You and I might be in the midst of disaster - what might he do through
you and me in the aftermath?

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Women created in God's image? Or just cattle? - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Judges 21:23,

"While the girls were dancing, each man caught one and carried her off
to be his wife. Then they returned to their inheritance and rebuilt
the towns and settled in them."

Here is what I consider to be the thinking and actions of a people in
the pit of moral depravity, where "everyone did as he saw fit". In the
minds of the leaders of Israel, it was not okay to break an oath to
the Lord they had made to not give their daughters in marriage to any
man in Benjamin. Having slaughtered the tribe and now feeling remorse
over having nearly lost it from the nation they now thought it okay to
kidnap innocent and unsuspecting girls from Shiloh to provide wives
for the remaining men of Benjamin.

I wonder just what these unsuspecting girls, who went to celebrate the
Lord, felt about it? Did anyone consider how "okay" it was to them?
How okay can it be to abduct and remove a girl from her home, from her
family and force her to marry the assailant from another place? As I
read the account, and as I read how the Levite's concubine was treated
in Judges 19 and how the old man offered up his virgin daughter to the
predators outside, it appears women where treated as cattle. I'm
astonished how little concern the Levite had, who had gone all the way
to his concubine's father's house to retriever her, when he got up the
next morning, saw her lying at the threshold and thinking she was
alive, telling her to get up and get a move on it. While she was being
raped all night and ultimately murdered, it reads as if the Levite and
the old man were fast asleep while knowing the atrocity taking place
outside... the account provides no indication these two attempted to
help this woman in the least.

The nation got this way by rejecting the Lord. Having turned their
backs on him they pursued their own ideas of "religion", embraced
sexual immorality, embraced homosexuality, embraced the killing of
their own children (child sacrifice had become the thing to do for
Israel). "Everyone did as he thought fit." Just like people today.
Nothing ever changes. As I read about the sad tale of Israel's
depravity, I recognize it is not just Israel. It is all mankind.
Anywhere God is rejected a spiral of depravity drags a people down to
the point where human life, which is sacred because we are brought to
life by his creative acts and because we are created in his image, is
devalued. This is certainly the case in the outlook of the men of
Israel toward their women. "Each man caught one and carried her off"
sounds a lot more like cattle thieves than kidnappers. Their view was
ungodly and reflected the debased nature they had sunk to.

What I am struck by this morning is the stark difference it makes when
God is present in a society. We are told God is love and those who
know God reflect that love, 1 John 4. Fear of the Lord instructs us
that all people are made in the image of God and are to be treated as
sacred. How different interpersonal relationships become when God is
embraced! This difference reflected in a society where God is embraced
is due to God himself. His pristine nature, his love, his justice, the
splendor of his many perfections and his radiant glory have tremendous
impact and is able to lift the most corrupt and depraved people into a
noble people who reflect who God is and what he is like.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Kidnapping with honor??? - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Judges 21:20-22,

"Go and hide in the vineyards and watch. When the girls of Shiloh come
out to join in the dancing, then rush from the vineyards and each of
you [the remnant of Benjamin] seize a wife from the girls of Shiloh
and go to the land of Benjamin. When their fathers or brothers
complain to us, we will say to them, 'Do us a kindness by helping
them, because we did not get wives for them during the war, and you
are innocent, since you did not give your daughters to them.'"

When the other eleven tribes of Israel attacked the tribe of Benjamin
for the rape and murder of a Levite's concubine and Benjamin's
protection of the culprits, they slaughtered all of the men, women and
children of Benjamin, except for 600 men that fled into the desert.

Did the Lord want all the men, women and children of Benjamin
slaughtered? When the eleven tribes approached the Lord on attacking
Benjamin, he gave them the go-ahead. In Judges 21:15 we are told,
"...the Lord had made a gap in the tribes of Israel." Benjamin was
protecting predatory rapists and murderers. The text doesn't tell us
how far the Lord wanted the eleven tribes to go in their pursuit of
justice with Benjamin. It does tell us what happened though. The tribe
was nearly wiped out in total. As the eleven tribes began to mourn the
loss of a whole tribe from the nation (that they themselves had
brought about), they came up with a convoluted way to provide the 600
man remnant with wives so they could make a come back as a tribe.
After supplying 400 virgins from the town of Jabesh Gilead, a town who
failed to show up for the fight against Benjamin originally, they
still needed more wives for the remaining men of Benjamin.

Since they had made an oath to not give their daughters to any
Benjamite as they prepared for war against them, they had a dilemma in
providing wives to the Benjamites for the survival of the tribe. Their
solution was to manufacture a group kidnapping. When the virgins from
Shiloh came out to dance at an "annual festival of the Lord" the
remaining Benjamites were to hide in the vineyards, rush out when the
girls came out and take them.

The Israelites banked on the fathers and brothers of these kidnapped
girls to go along with it after the fact. And, since the men of Shiloh
had no idea their daughters would be kidnapped, they would be assured
they were free of guilt in not breaking the oath in giving daughters
to the Benjamites.

I don't know about you, but I wonder how these Israelites thought they
were free from the guilt of breaking the oath to the Lord, even though
the men of Shiloh were not? I also wonder why they cared about
attempting to re-establish Benjamin as a tribe since they were the
ones who slaughtered them all in the first place? The text does say
the people grieved "because the Lord had made a gap in the tribes of
Israel." It is difficult for me to determine whether the Lord wanted
them to go that far. The text also doesn't provide perspective on it,
but why was it necessary to slaughter the whole town of Jabesh Gilead,
save the 400 virgins? The text doesn't say.

One thing the text is clear about is the utter depravity Israel had
sunk to in their rejection of God. As a nation, they represent what
sin brings to any people. All of these actions stem from a series of
events spawned by the depraved hearts of individuals.

The Lord had revealed himself to Israel. He had redeemed them from
slavery in Egypt and sought their faith and trust in him. He provided
them the law, a very important tool to demonstrate how depraved their
hearts were and how dependent upon him they were for a right standing
before him. He provided them leaders, he provided them prophets, he
provided them the Scriptures, he provided them many manifestations of
his holiness, his character and nature, his love and his provision.
The Lord had provided Israel with everything they needed to keep
themselves from spiraling into a vortex of depravity resulting in the
kinds of events that we read about in Judges 17-21.

I am reminded the Lord has done the same for me and more. In addition
to all he had provided Israel, he has provided me the Holy Spirit as a
constant companion of encouragement and direction. He has provided me
with wonderful brothers and sisters, likewise filled with his Spirit,
as an encouragement, filled with various gifts to minister to us all.
He has provided his Son as an atonement for my sin as an historical
fact that I can look back to and measure his incomprehensible love for
me. He has also provided additional Scriptures that provide for me
everything I need that I might be "equipped for every good work." 2
Timothy 3:17.

The message could not be any clearer: follow the Lord and avoid the
horrific things of the type we find in Judges, or reject the Lord and
live it all for ourselves.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Of fools and half wits - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Judges 20:48,

"The men of Israel went back to Benjamin and put all the towns to the
sword, including the animals and everything else they found. All the
towns they came across they set on fire."

The other tribes of Israel turned on the tribe of Benjamin and
destroyed it almost completely. I read in the census of Benjamin just
prior to their crossing the Jordan, they had 45,600 men that were
twenty years old or older, Numbers 26:41. In the aftermath of the
murder of a Levite's concubine by homosexuals in Gibeah, one of the
towns of Benjamin, Israel slaughtered all the men, women, children,
animals of Benjamin - everyone save 600 men who fled into the desert.

It started off with the rape and murder of a Levite's concubine in
Gibeah. When the tribe of Gibeah refused to hand over the culprits to
the whole nation for justice, and decided to defend them, they wound
up being slaughtered as a tribe. Certainly a poor and foolish decision
on their part. Only 600 were left.

It really is an astonishing account. Sin by a few wicked homosexual
men in Gibeah ultimately resulted in the deaths of probably 250,000
boys and girls, men and women. All their towns destroyed by fire, even
the animals all put to death. All these other folks who knew nothing
of what happened on that fateful night in Gibeah when these men
gathered at an old man's door to have their way with a man traveling
through with his concubine and his servant.

What happened in Gibeah, in Benjamin? These homosexuals felt entitled
to rape a man, rape a woman to the point she died. How did it all
start? One thing is certain, they had turned their backs on God. They
had rejected what the Lord had commanded and took upon themselves
whatever they felt entitled to. Drifting from God brought them right
into homosexuality and an aggressive predatory disposition.

When these men started turning up with the perverted desires of
homosexuality (having rejected God and his law) did they demand
acceptance in Gibeah, in the tribe of Benjamin? When the first ones
came forward to demand a change in the cultural acceptance of
homosexuality, how did they approach the rest of the folks? Apparently
Benjamin acquiesced to this newly "evolving" position from the one
they held when Joshua was still among them. If so, that acquiescence
eventually turned into a felt need to protect these predatory perverts
as they refused to hand them over to the other tribes of Israel for
justice. They must have felt it was their moral duty to protect this
"alternative lifestyle." I wonder if Benjamin's desire to protect
these murderous perverts was based in a misguided moral imperative to
protect the inclusion of all "sexual orientations" in the society of
the day.

What these Benjamites learned the hard way was that perversion always
spirals downward, and the drift into homosexuality led to the
acceptance of murder and other violations of innocents. There is
possibly a lesson here for the fools and half-wits of our society, a
cautionary lesson, that abandoning God in favor of what he finds as an
abomination will ultimately bring consequences for all kinds of
people, including those not even involved with the atrocities that
perversion inevitably brings. Just ask the folks of Benjamin of that
day what they now think of their "broad-minded" outlook.

One thing is certain, when sin is embraced in a society, all people
suffer, including everyone sitting in their pews on Sunday morning...
everybody.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Will that ant move that rubber tree plant? - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Judges 20:18-28,

"The Israelites went up to Bethel and inquired of God. They said, 'Who
of us shall go first to fight against the Benjamites?' The Lord
replied, 'Judah shall go first.'... The Benjamites came out of Gibeah
and cut down twenty-two thousand Israelites on the battlefield that
day... The Israelites went up and wept before the Lord until evening,
and they inquired of the Lord. They said, 'Shall we go up again to
battle against the Benjamites, our brothers?' The Lord answered, 'Go
up against them.'... This time, when the Benjamites came out from
Gibeah to oppose them, they cut down another eighteen thousand
Israelites, all of them armed with swords... Then the Israelites, all
the people, went up to Bethel, and there they sat weeping before the
Lord. They fasted that day until evening and presented burnt offerings
and fellowship offerings to the Lord... They asked, 'Shall we go up
again to battle with Benjamin our brother, or not?' The Lord
responded, 'Go, for tomorrow I will give them into your hands.'"

When the depravity of the tribe of Benjamin in Gibeah was reported to
the nation of Israel as a whole, they gathered against Benjamin to
"give them what they deserve for all this vileness done in Israel." At
first they asked the tribe of Benjamin to hand over the men of Gibeah
who had raped and murdered a Levite's concubine. When Benjamin refused
they assembled together to fight against the entire tribe.

Three times the Israelites sought out the Lord prior to attacking the
Benjamites. They failed on the first two attempts and suffered losses.
Finally the nation achieved the victory on the third campaign. Why did
the tribes of Israel fail on the first two attempts? They got God's
direction on all three occasions. Why did the first two fail?

This is a question that goes unanswered in the text and it appears to
me there could be several answers to it. Possibly the Lord wanted to
show Israel that in spite of the other tribes superior strength to
Benjamin, a four hundred thousand to twenty six thousand troop
difference, it wouldn't be their own strength that would eventually
bring victory. The tribes lost forty thousand troops in the first two
incursions. More than all Benjamin was able to field. Possibly a
lesson such as what Gideon would later learn. Maybe the Lord was
testing their faith in him. The Lord gave them direction to go on all
three campaigns, but held back the victory for only the last. How many
times would Israel come back to the Lord to seek his direction? The
whole national decline in depravity was a result of Israel not seeking
the Lord's direction, possibly this was a practical lesson for them.

I'm sure there are many possibilities as to why the tribes experienced
defeat twice before achieving the victory over Benjamin. What catches
my eye today is that just because something fails the first time or
two, even after looking to the Lord for direction does not necessarily
mean its over. Victory may come at the next attempt, on the next
occasion. We are told the Lord tests our faith, he may also be doing
other things we will never be aware of. In any event, from this
account I learn that just because I face failure, it is no indication
that it isn't the Lord's will, that it is not what the Lord wants from
me.

Just something to think about when the occasion should rise...

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Where there is no revelation, it all goes to hell in a handbag - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Judges 19:30,

"Everyone who saw it said, 'Such a thing has never been seen or done,
not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt. Think about it!
Consider it! Tell us what to do!'"

This was the reaction among the Jews when the "master" of a raped and
murdered concubine cut her up in twelve pieces and sent them "into all
the areas of Israel."

This sordid account in Judges 19 is sickening. It seems as though
every character in the narrative represents the depravity the nation
had sunk to just following the passing of Joshua, with the possible
exception of the Levite's servant, his father-in-law and his two
donkeys. It is difficult not to face the account with disgust, nausea
and just simple sadness.

What catches my eye is that the Israelites claimed to know their
history, "Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day
the Israelites came up out of Egypt." They knew all about the bad
stuff. Did they know about the accounts of Moses, about the tabernacle
worship, about the law given Moses from God, about God's revelation of
himself? I think they did, they rejected it and determined for
themselves to embrace the idol worship and the ways of the wicked
inhabitants of the land they were given from God.

They rejected God's revelation of himself and displaced it with the
mainstream culture of the day, what it taught, what it's expectations
were, what it claimed was "moral" and "good" and "just" and "fair".
The Israelites exchanged what God found to be an abomination for the
"evolving" perspectives and diversity of opinion the culture and
society felt need be embraced.

Just like our day!

Here is what Proverbs says happens in this context, "Where there is no
revelation [the Bible], the people cast off restraint; but blessed is
he who keeps the law."

Had the Israelites rejected the mainstream culture of the day and what
it taught, if they had kept to the Scriptures, if they had remained
faithful to their God, the depravity evidenced in Israel during these
days would never have taken place. Hopefully the church today will
reflect a different outlook, keep its nose in the Bible and reject the
passing fancies of the pop culture of our day.

While many churches are filled to the walls with
"low-information-church-goers", embracing homosexuality, same sex
marriage, abortion and all the world deems important, I nevertheless
remain very optimistic and positive about the true church. The true
church is filled with God's Spirit, the true church has a hunger and
thirst for righteousness, the true church has a passion for the Lord
who loves them so much and has blessed them with the riches of his
grace. The true church seeks her Savior, what he has to say in the
Scriptures, and desires to partner with him, hand-in-hand, to
accomplish the building of his kingdom.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Emulating Jesus Christ: Love - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Judges 19:11-12,

"When they were near Jebus [Jerusalem] and the day was almost gone,
the servant said to his master, 'Come, let's stop at this city of the
Jebusites and spend the night.' His master replied, 'No. We won't go
into an alien city, whose people are not Israelites.'"

The master in this account was a Levite who had an unfaithful
concubine that deserted him and went to her father's house, where he
went to retrieve her after four months. The apparent joy of this
father is evident to me with the way he regaled the Levite when he
arrived, extending his stay almost a week. I can't help but think this
conveys how excited this concubine's father was that the Levite came
to take her away, out of his home. I could be wrong about that... just
musing here.

The father lived in Bethlehem and on the trip back to the Levite's
home in a "remote area in the hill country of Ephraim" is where this
suggestion by the Levite's servant took place.

This Levite rejected the suggestion of the servant. He was not going
to spend the night in the non-Israelite city of Jerusalem. (This
episode took place prior to Israel taking Jerusalem and was inhabited
by the Jebusites.) Far better to take their chances of getting to a
Jewish town, a town with "God's people" than spend the night in a town
of non-Jews!

After arriving in the Benjamite town of Gibeah, what did they find
there? A town filled with inhospitable people who refused to take them
in for the night, save one old man. This town of Benjamin was filled
with "wicked men", predatory homosexuals that demanded the old man
send the Levite out so they could have their way with them. Apparently
these men missed the memo that homosexuality is a perfectly legitimate
and normal lifestyle that doesn't harm anyone... In any event, these
wonderful specimens of humanity raped the Levite's concubine all
night, murdering her.

The story does not place the Levite and the old man in much better
light either. They offered up the concubine and the old man's virgin
daughter all too willingly in an effort to save their own skins.

As I think of the servant's suggestion that they spend the night in
non-Jewish Jerusalem, possibly the Levite should have listened to him.
Instead, he opted for the comfort and safety of his own people, "God's
people."

Do you ever wonder why it is that the people of the world at times
seem more inviting, more comforting, more "safe" to be around than
those who claim to be God's people? I don't know about you, but it
seems the biggest challenges I have faced in my life have been with
those who would represent themselves as "God's people". In every case,
and it seems there have been many, there has always been a common
theme - a lack of love.

Just because some think of themselves as God's people, it doesn't
necessarily make it so. The one determining factor of whether or not a
people really are God's is love, "This is how we know who the children
of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not
do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not
love his brother." 1 John 3:10. It is just that simple.

I have been around those who are truly God's people and there is no
better place to be. One of the many wonderful blessings God provides
us are sisters and brothers who emulate the qualities of Jesus Christ
himself. These are the ones who truly love. These are the ones who are
a joy and blessing to be around. Better than the people of this world
and better than those who claim to be God's yet lack the
authenticating love that evidences such, the true people of God - the
ones who truly love are wonderful.

Why are they so wonderful? Filled with God's Holy Spirit, they begin
to manifest God's very nature, exposing the beauty of God with their
own lives. They don't make themselves wonderful, God makes them
wonderful. I am reminded of Paul's comment, "For those God foreknew he
also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he
might be the firstborn among many brothers." Romans 8:29. God himself
conforms us to the beauty of Jesus' own character and nature. No
wonder God's people are such a joy to be around!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

I am confounded by the love of God - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Judges 18:24,

"You took the gods I made, and my priest, and went away. What else do
I have? How can you ask, 'What's the matter with you?'"

Here is Micah's complaint after the six hundred fighting men of Dan
relieved him of his idols and his hired "priest". Micah and his men
confronted the Danites over bogus idols Micah himself had made and the
Danites thieved.

The whole of it is just a sad scene. The Danites felt it important to
have some kind of access to the divine as they pursued their goal of
attacking the helpless people of Laish. Apparently they felt it just
fine if that access was gained through felony grand theft. That is bad
enough, but the scene of Micah decrying the theft of his stuff is
pretty sad when it is considered that he made these "gods" himself, as
if they might hold any significant religious value. I'm sure there was
value in the silver and whatever else was used in the making of these
idols, but to think one can make up his own "gods" and that these
"gods" hold any significance in the outcomes of things certainly
demonstrates a deplorable low Micah and his fellow countrymen had sunk
to.

These were God's people! People who had been given genuine access to
God through a priesthood God himself had established! God had provided
them all the access to himself the Israelites needed. What was it
about God's provision that it was not good enough for these folks?
What was it about the tabernacle worship, the Aaronic priesthood, the
law, the special access this nation had to the Creator of the universe
that inspired so little in these people that they felt they needed to
"roll their own" when it came to access to the divine?

I'm afraid this kind of drift is not unique to Israel. All mankind has
gone astray and rejects the things of God in favor of those of his own
making. All the world's religions, all the cults and -isms within and
without the church all point to a drift people take from God himself.
Such is the deplorable condition of the human heart.

How is it God loves us, given this disposition to turn from him in
favor of our own devices? It really is an astonishing thought to think
that God so loves us he sent his Son to die that miserable death on
that cross to make a way for us into his family. I accept it, I
embrace it, I celebrate it, but I certainly do not understand it.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

"Who you gonna call?" Reliance upon God - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Judges 18: 9-10,

"Come on, let's attack them! We have seen that the land is very good.
Aren't you going to do something? Don't hesitate to go there and take
it over. When you get there, you will find an unsuspecting people and
a spacious land that God has put into your hands, a land that lacks
nothing whatever."

Here is the report of the five spies from Dan when they returned after
spying on Laish. They had been sent out to find a land to call their
own among the inheritance of the other tribes of Israel. After being
assured the city was defenseless and had no peoples nearby to help
defend them and that the land was prosperous, six hundred Danites were
dispatched to take the city, which they did.

Although I see the five spies present the point to their tribe, "that
God has put into your hands, a land that lacks nothing whatever", I
can't help but notice their pursuit of God was through a carved image,
an ephod, other household gods and a cast idol... all sham religious
accouterments of Micah and the sham Levite of a priest that Micah had
installed in his household.

Perhaps I have become somewhat jaded as I have spent time in the book
of Judges, but I also have to note that these Danites picked a land
where they would not have to rely on God for their prosperity - they
were simply going to take the prosperity produced by the hard work of
others. I also note the Danites picked a land where they would not
need God's help in the conquering of it, as they made sure it was a
helpless place. No need to rely on God, in fact no need for God at
all, other than to provide lip-service to.

Previously in the book, I see that when God does get involved, as in
the account of Gideon (perhaps chronologically later than this account
of the Danites) reliance upon God is a key dimension as others faced
their challenges in the promised land. God wanted the Israelites to
know he was the One who could provide the victory, he was the One who
fulfilled the promises he had made to Abraham, he is the One who the
nation can look to for help in danger, he is the One who can bring
prosperity to the land. Such is not going to be the case with these
Danites. They are missing out entirely on the lessons learned by other
Israellites, lessons often learned with a short shelf-life.

Reliance upon God is a lesson he has for us all. Paul speaks to this
in a wonderful passage in 2 Corinthians 1:8-11, "We do not want you to
be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the
province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability
to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we
felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely
on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from
such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our
hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your
prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious
favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many."

God wants us to rely on him. He wants us anxious for nothing but to
place our faith and complete confidence in him, that when we face
challenges, when we face uncertainty and when we all face the
inevitability of our own passing, he can be relied on to provide for
us and will bring us safely into his wonderful family, without any
cause for concern.

I am reminded that whatever challenges I face, we all face, we need to
rely on our God and be assured that in his great love for us, he will
be there and bring about the very best good for each of us, "And we
know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,
who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew
he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he
predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those
he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response
to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare
his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along
with him, graciously give us all things?"

How wonderful is that?!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

What "good" are we seeking from the Lord? - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Judges 17:13,

"Now I [Micah] know that the Lord will be good to me, since this
Levite has become my priest."

A misguided man, Micah felt his hiring of a Levite to be his personal
priest would bring him "good" from the Lord. Only Aaron's descendants
(Aaron was a Levite himself) were acceptable as priests to serve
before God. This wandering Levite Micah hired was not a priest, else
he would have been referred to as such, rather than as a Levite.

What was the nature of this "good" Micah was seeking from the Lord?

What most of us, those who have embraced the Lord in faith, seek from
the Lord, is a standing of righteousness before him. This is the
burning passion and the great need we all have. If we leave this life
without a righteous standing before the Lord, we face the inevitable
judgment of that lake of burning sulfur we read about in Revelation 20
and 21. If we have a standing of righteous before him we are enabled
to join the Lord's kingdom, his family, to have a place at his table.
We will have an eternity to enjoy the Lord, to live our lives to the
fullest in a manner that reflects the purposefulness and meaning for
our lives our Creator has always intended and designed us for. All
this he gives us, guaranteed in a righteous standing before him
provided us if we embrace Jesus Christ in faith.

It is my personal persuasion that this is not the "good" Micah sought
from the Lord. What we know of Micah is that he was not a savory
individual. He was a thief and a deceiver. The kind of thief that felt
no compunction about stealing from his own mother and hiding her
silver. It was only the perceived threat of a curse upon himself that
he returned what he had stolen from her. I wonder what else he had
been stealing from the neighbors, business associates, etc.?

I think it more likely that what Micah sought from the Lord in hiring
a "priest" was something more along the lines of what kinds of goodies
the Lord might give him in this life. I could be wrong about this
because we really don't know much of Micah's background. What is
provided us does not place him in good light. I can't help but think
that Micah was busy looking for what he could get for himself in the
way of riches and pleasures in this life and attempting to tap the
Lord to acquire it was a natural move on his part.

I think we have all been exposed to those who emulate Micah today and
provide for us a sense of what Micah was all about. Today in the
church, we have those whose primary interests in the Lord appear to be
what the Lord might provide them. Things such as (putting it politely)
"financial security", a nice sounding phrase to mask avarice. Possibly
a congregation full of church-goers that represent "business contacts"
or a new source of dating contacts for the lonely. I'm quite sure you
can add your own observations to the list of those who appear to "seek
the Lord" for what might benefit them in a self-serving way in this
life. These folks are just as misguided as Micah was.

The Lord loves us and sent his Son to die a miserable death to pay for
our sins. He offers us a righteous standing with him through faith
that makes it possible for us to enter into his kingdom, his family,
have a place at his table. I am quite certain he desires to bless us,
not only in the life to come, the resurrection, but this life as well.
However, it is when we displace the Lord for those goodies in our
desires in seeking him, we find ourselves as misguided as Micah.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com