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 heart and mind in Exodus 7:1-2,
"See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will
be your prophet. You are to say everything I command you, and your
brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his
country."
What is a prophet? How does prophecy work?
Over the years I have heard all kinds of notions as to what a prophet
is(was), and not a few claiming to be a "prophet." People who
allegedly can foresee the future, predict events, have "special
insight" into things, etc. I have heard the preaching of Scripture, as
in a pastor delivering a sermon on Sunday morning, as "prophecy", or
the use of Scripture in evangelism.
While there may be some slight parallels in the above to true
prophecy, none of it is really the case. God takes Moses and Aaron and
uses them in a way that illustrates true prophetic activity. In their
assignment from God to confront Pharaoh to let the Israelites go,
Moses is depicted as God who has a message for Pharaoh, Aaron is to be
Moses "prophet" by being Moses' mouthpiece with a message for Pharaoh.
Here is what real prophetic activity is. God has a message, and has a
spokesman, an intermediary, deliver it to the intended audience.
Almost as simple as God on the phone with a message for someone, and
has the person who picked up the phone (someone else) deliver it for
him.
Simply predicting the future is not the same as the concept of
Biblical prophecy. The reason it is thought so, is that often God
would foretell (not simply "predict") an event to authenticate what he
had to say in some prophetic message. There is a big difference
between predicting something and foretelling something. One speaks of
possibility, the other is a simple announcement of what will take
place. The message that is authenticated is the prophetic message as
much as the authenticating foretelling of something.
Someone preaching the Scriptures is not Biblical prophecy. The reason
it might be thought so is that both deliver a message from God.
However, prophecy is an immediate communication directly from God to
an intended audience, involving an intermediary in real time. Not
simply someone restating or preaching what God has said in the past.
To think so confuses a very important activity of God in human
affairs.
Peter speaks of a certain kind of prophecy - the kind that led to the
written word of God, the Scriptures, what we have in our Bibles.
Perhaps here it is most important we have a clear understanding of
what real prophecy actually is. "Above all, you must understand that
no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own
interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the
human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were
carried along by the Holy Spirit." 2 Peter 1:20-21. Here we see the
importance of being clear on what real prophecy is.
Today we have far too many telling others, "I have a word from the
Lord for you... God asked me to tell you this..." Unless it is an
audible communication directly from God and we are saying it is on a
par with the Scriptures, and could be added to them, then what we have
are people entirely confusing others with the things of God. Good
intentions not withstanding, woe to those who say they have a "word
from the Lord" when what they really have is an impression or some
kind of inspired thought. "Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke
you and prove you a liar." Proverbs 30:6.
Just a few thoughts about prophecy as inspired by God's use of Moses
and Aaron to illustrate how real prophecy works. How fascinating God
has chosen to communicate with us through his prophets!
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send
me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are
receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just
respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Monday, September 29, 2014
The development of faith, Moses style - 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 heart and mind in Exodus 6:1,
"Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country.'"
This statement of the Lord to Moses was his response to Moses' complaint, "Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all." Exodus 5:22-23.
Moses complaint to the Lord was that the Lord had sent Moses to Pharaoh to ask him to let the Israelites leave for a three day festival to the Lord in the wilderness. However, Pharaoh's response was to make the Israelites lives more difficult. Moses complaint was that the Lord didn't make Pharaoh do it.
Moses might have recalled what the Lord told him earlier in Exodus 4:21, "I will harden his [Pharaoh's] heart so that he will not let the people go." It was the Lord's plan from the outset that Pharaoh would not initially let the Israelites leave, until only later, following a series of plagues from the Lord, Pharaoh would send them away. Whether Moses forgot this or not, there is something to learn here: the Lord's ways are not always our ways. The Lord is doing something in his own way, and Moses was interested in a more streamlined approach. The difference being, Moses is only thinking of one thing but the Lord is planning on much more.
The Lord's ways are not necessarily our ways. The Lord says his thoughts and his ways are different than ours in Isaiah 55:8. In the following verse the Lord says, "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."
"Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country.'"
This statement of the Lord to Moses was his response to Moses' complaint, "Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all." Exodus 5:22-23.
Moses complaint to the Lord was that the Lord had sent Moses to Pharaoh to ask him to let the Israelites leave for a three day festival to the Lord in the wilderness. However, Pharaoh's response was to make the Israelites lives more difficult. Moses complaint was that the Lord didn't make Pharaoh do it.
Moses might have recalled what the Lord told him earlier in Exodus 4:21, "I will harden his [Pharaoh's] heart so that he will not let the people go." It was the Lord's plan from the outset that Pharaoh would not initially let the Israelites leave, until only later, following a series of plagues from the Lord, Pharaoh would send them away. Whether Moses forgot this or not, there is something to learn here: the Lord's ways are not always our ways. The Lord is doing something in his own way, and Moses was interested in a more streamlined approach. The difference being, Moses is only thinking of one thing but the Lord is planning on much more.
The Lord's ways are not necessarily our ways. The Lord says his thoughts and his ways are different than ours in Isaiah 55:8. In the following verse the Lord says, "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."
How can anyone keep up with that? How can anyone fathom from start to finish what it is the Lord is doing? Moses will find that the Lord is entirely faithful in what he says he will do as the story continues.
Moses' lesson in learning to take what the Lord says on faith - even when things may look otherwise - is my lesson as well. I may think things should be this way or that. I may think the Lord should do whatever it is this way or that way. However, as Moses learned, the Lord has his own ways in how he goes about things, and it just may not be what I may expect. As Moses had to grow in his faith in the Lord and learn to count on what he says, no matter how things look, so must I.
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
Friday, September 26, 2014
Faith in facing our challenges from 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 heart and mind in Exodus 5:6-8,
"That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers and overseers in charge of the people (the Israelites): 'You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw. But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don't reduce the quota.'"
Here is the outcome of Moses' first attempt at doing what God commanded him. Moses and his brother, Aaron, approached Pharaoh and asked that the Israelites be allowed to hold a festival to the Lord in the wilderness for three days. It did not go well for Israel, as Pharaoh refused and lashed out at them. However, this is what God told Moses to do. Now the conditions for the Israelites have worsened.
I wonder what kinds of thoughts went through Moses' mind at the time. Did he think, "I'm doing what God asked of me.... maybe I misunderstood?" Or, "God told me to do my part, but since Pharaoh isn't doing his, maybe God should have influenced Pharaoh to a greater degree to make it happen (as in, 'I'm doing my part, why isn't God doing his)'?" Or, even worse, "Maybe this God-thing isn't working out... I have it all wrong."
Did Moses question God's ability to ensure his plans worked out? That he had the power to make things happen? Or, did Moses questioned whether God really meant what he had told Moses to do?
You recall that when God gave his instructions to Moses, he told Moses he was going to harden Pharaoh's heart. God was going to ensure there would be resistance from Pharaoh, so I'm sure we can assume we know what the answers to these potential questions of Moses would be. Moses was a man of faith.
However, I'm not sure the same could be said, at this point, for the Israelites as a nation. Moses would have to face the Israelites, following Pharaoh's further demands, with the conviction of his own faith in God, a faith not necessarily shared by the nation of Israel as a whole. It won't be long before they are freed from Egypt, only to refuse to enter into the land God promised them due to their fear of the current residents. They lacked faith that God had the power to do what he promised.
Faith is always the underlying component, the important element of the accounts we read of in Scripture. In reflecting on Abraham's activities in Scripture, Paul said, "He [Abraham] did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why 'it was credited to him as righteousness.'" Romans 4:20-22 (quoting Genesis 15:6).
How about me? Do I ever question God? Do I ever question what he has asked me to do? Am I facing those things God has asked of me, challenged me with, reflecting the kind of faith Abraham and Moses had when they faced even more difficult challenges?
Something for me to think about today.
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
"That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers and overseers in charge of the people (the Israelites): 'You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw. But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don't reduce the quota.'"
Here is the outcome of Moses' first attempt at doing what God commanded him. Moses and his brother, Aaron, approached Pharaoh and asked that the Israelites be allowed to hold a festival to the Lord in the wilderness for three days. It did not go well for Israel, as Pharaoh refused and lashed out at them. However, this is what God told Moses to do. Now the conditions for the Israelites have worsened.
I wonder what kinds of thoughts went through Moses' mind at the time. Did he think, "I'm doing what God asked of me.... maybe I misunderstood?" Or, "God told me to do my part, but since Pharaoh isn't doing his, maybe God should have influenced Pharaoh to a greater degree to make it happen (as in, 'I'm doing my part, why isn't God doing his)'?" Or, even worse, "Maybe this God-thing isn't working out... I have it all wrong."
Did Moses question God's ability to ensure his plans worked out? That he had the power to make things happen? Or, did Moses questioned whether God really meant what he had told Moses to do?
You recall that when God gave his instructions to Moses, he told Moses he was going to harden Pharaoh's heart. God was going to ensure there would be resistance from Pharaoh, so I'm sure we can assume we know what the answers to these potential questions of Moses would be. Moses was a man of faith.
However, I'm not sure the same could be said, at this point, for the Israelites as a nation. Moses would have to face the Israelites, following Pharaoh's further demands, with the conviction of his own faith in God, a faith not necessarily shared by the nation of Israel as a whole. It won't be long before they are freed from Egypt, only to refuse to enter into the land God promised them due to their fear of the current residents. They lacked faith that God had the power to do what he promised.
Faith is always the underlying component, the important element of the accounts we read of in Scripture. In reflecting on Abraham's activities in Scripture, Paul said, "He [Abraham] did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why 'it was credited to him as righteousness.'" Romans 4:20-22 (quoting Genesis 15:6).
How about me? Do I ever question God? Do I ever question what he has asked me to do? Am I facing those things God has asked of me, challenged me with, reflecting the kind of faith Abraham and Moses had when they faced even more difficult challenges?
Something for me to think about today.
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
Thursday, September 25, 2014
The incredible nature of God to do many things at once - 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 heart and mind in Exodus 4:21,
"When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go."
Now here is a seemingly odd thing. The Lord provides Moses the ability to be persuasive with Pharaoh, through the miraculous, to give the Israelites their freedom and let them leave Egypt. Most of us are familiar with the accounts of Moses' staff and the supernatural plagues the Lord brought upon Egypt.
The Lord wanted Moses to be his spokesperson to Pharaoh to bring about the Jews exodus from Egypt. However, the Lord is going to "harden" Pharaoh's heart such that he won't let them go. It sounds as if the Lord is working against his own agenda!
What many of us have come to learn is that the Lord will often accomplish several, possibly many, of his purposes in a single act. In the account of Israel defeating Jericho to take possession of it (as part of the land the Lord had promised them), following their forty years of wandering in the wilderness, they were told by Rahab, the woman who hid Israel's spies, "I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone's courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below." Joshua 2:9-11.
While Pharaoh's hardened heart and refusal to allow Israel to leave Egypt, even after the many plagues, is not specifically cited by Rahab in the Joshua passage, the overwhelmingly sensational nature of the account of the plagues and refusal by Pharaoh to let the Jews go certainly provided the whole of the account "legs", such that the acts of the Lord surrounding the exodus from Egypt insured an astonishing account that would reach far geographically (and specifically to the current residents of the promised land), as well as persist, even beyond the Jews forty years of wandering. This helped prepare the stage for Israel's conquest of the peoples inhabiting Palestine.
Paul provides an observation of this in Romans 9:17, "For Scripture says to Pharaoh: 'I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.'" I am always fascinated when I read how the Lord accomplishes many things at once. Through Moses' interaction with Pharaoh, Israel would be freed, and in the same instance, preparation was made for the destruction of the peoples of Palestine as their "hearts melted in fear and everyone's courage failed..."
"When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go."
Now here is a seemingly odd thing. The Lord provides Moses the ability to be persuasive with Pharaoh, through the miraculous, to give the Israelites their freedom and let them leave Egypt. Most of us are familiar with the accounts of Moses' staff and the supernatural plagues the Lord brought upon Egypt.
The Lord wanted Moses to be his spokesperson to Pharaoh to bring about the Jews exodus from Egypt. However, the Lord is going to "harden" Pharaoh's heart such that he won't let them go. It sounds as if the Lord is working against his own agenda!
What many of us have come to learn is that the Lord will often accomplish several, possibly many, of his purposes in a single act. In the account of Israel defeating Jericho to take possession of it (as part of the land the Lord had promised them), following their forty years of wandering in the wilderness, they were told by Rahab, the woman who hid Israel's spies, "I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone's courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below." Joshua 2:9-11.
While Pharaoh's hardened heart and refusal to allow Israel to leave Egypt, even after the many plagues, is not specifically cited by Rahab in the Joshua passage, the overwhelmingly sensational nature of the account of the plagues and refusal by Pharaoh to let the Jews go certainly provided the whole of the account "legs", such that the acts of the Lord surrounding the exodus from Egypt insured an astonishing account that would reach far geographically (and specifically to the current residents of the promised land), as well as persist, even beyond the Jews forty years of wandering. This helped prepare the stage for Israel's conquest of the peoples inhabiting Palestine.
Paul provides an observation of this in Romans 9:17, "For Scripture says to Pharaoh: 'I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.'" I am always fascinated when I read how the Lord accomplishes many things at once. Through Moses' interaction with Pharaoh, Israel would be freed, and in the same instance, preparation was made for the destruction of the peoples of Palestine as their "hearts melted in fear and everyone's courage failed..."
What must have Moses initially thought when the Lord told Moses to demand Pharaoh let the Jews go, and yet inform Moses that he would harden Pharaoh's heart such that he wouldn't let them go? Did Moses know of the Lord's intention that the account of the plagues and subsequent miracles spread, that it would bring about further purposes of the Lord?
Might the Lord be doing some things today that we struggle in understanding, yet bring about further purposes of the Lord we are yet unaware of?
Certainly something to think about!
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
God didn't take a poll - 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 heart and mind in Exodus 3:7-8,
"The Lord said, 'I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land,a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.'"
The Lord appears to Moses and tells him he is going to use him to bring his people out of their enslavement in Egypt to Palestine, a land occupied by others: Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.
I wonder what the Egyptians thought about this? I don't notice that the Lord checked in with them to see what they may have felt about losing their slave labor. And, how about all those peoples in Palestine? What do you suppose they thought about the notion they were going to be displaced, removed from their homeland?
No, I don't read that the Lord inquired of any of these people. I also don't read that the Lord took a poll of the Israelites either. Certainly they were crying out to the Lord in the midst of their suffering (a position he will repeatedly place them in) at the hands of the Egyptians, however we will find later that after they were freed from Egypt, many of them wanted to go right back.
A couple of things come to my mind. First, the Lord is the God of all nations. He is not just the God of the Jews or the God of the Christians, he is the God of all creation. All nations, all peoples that have ever, or ever will inhabit planet earth are subject to their Creator - and their Creator is the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob. He is the God of Moses and the God of the nation of Israel.
Secondly, God does whatever he wants to do. He has an agenda and actively pursues it without clearing his plans with us first. His actions, the activities he pursues, he does them according to his desires, and he does them to pursue an agenda that is purposeful. What we find in Exodus and following, is that God is preparing the world for his Son, to provide us with a sacrifice of atonement, satisfying his own sense of justice, that God might build a kingdom, a family of all who will embrace him in faith, just as Abraham did.
The events in Exodus are breath-taking accounts of the Lord on the move as he engages the world with his agenda. Nothing will stop his plans and what he intends to accomplish. Who is God to rob Egypt of her slave labor? Who is God to displace and destroy peoples long established in their homeland? He is our Creator who pursues what he does... and mankind, rightfully must yield to his maker.
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
"The Lord said, 'I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land,a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.'"
The Lord appears to Moses and tells him he is going to use him to bring his people out of their enslavement in Egypt to Palestine, a land occupied by others: Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.
I wonder what the Egyptians thought about this? I don't notice that the Lord checked in with them to see what they may have felt about losing their slave labor. And, how about all those peoples in Palestine? What do you suppose they thought about the notion they were going to be displaced, removed from their homeland?
No, I don't read that the Lord inquired of any of these people. I also don't read that the Lord took a poll of the Israelites either. Certainly they were crying out to the Lord in the midst of their suffering (a position he will repeatedly place them in) at the hands of the Egyptians, however we will find later that after they were freed from Egypt, many of them wanted to go right back.
A couple of things come to my mind. First, the Lord is the God of all nations. He is not just the God of the Jews or the God of the Christians, he is the God of all creation. All nations, all peoples that have ever, or ever will inhabit planet earth are subject to their Creator - and their Creator is the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob. He is the God of Moses and the God of the nation of Israel.
Secondly, God does whatever he wants to do. He has an agenda and actively pursues it without clearing his plans with us first. His actions, the activities he pursues, he does them according to his desires, and he does them to pursue an agenda that is purposeful. What we find in Exodus and following, is that God is preparing the world for his Son, to provide us with a sacrifice of atonement, satisfying his own sense of justice, that God might build a kingdom, a family of all who will embrace him in faith, just as Abraham did.
The events in Exodus are breath-taking accounts of the Lord on the move as he engages the world with his agenda. Nothing will stop his plans and what he intends to accomplish. Who is God to rob Egypt of her slave labor? Who is God to displace and destroy peoples long established in their homeland? He is our Creator who pursues what he does... and mankind, rightfully must yield to his maker.
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Activity from heaven - 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 heart and mind in Exodus 2:7,
"Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?"
This question was asked of Pharaoh's daughter by Moses' sister. The account, although well known by many of us from an early age in Sunday School, really is quite remarkable.
Exodus provides an account of a man, Moses, of whom the Lord raised up for his purposes. Throughout the Scriptures we see certain people hand picked by God for specific purposes, such as John the Baptist. At times from birth (and, in the case of John the Baptist, even before birth) the Lord prepares these certain ones for these purposes.
As I am sure you recall the story, it begins with the Hebrew baby boys being put to death at this time out of fear of the Hebrews by the Egyptians. Pharaoh had commanded all baby boys to be put to death in order to cut down their numbers. This baby, Moses, being set aside by the Lord for his purposes, was spared. The unique aspects of this story really are fascinating.
Moses' mother placed him in a basket in the water along the bank of the Nile River. We have to assume she knew Pharaoh's daughter frequented the spot and had Moses' sister watch from a distance to see what might happen. As the story goes, Pharaoh's daughter felt sorry for him upon finding him floating in the basket. Moses' sister approached Pharaoh's daughter to ask if she would like her to find a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby... and, of course, back to his mother Moses went till he was weaned.
Exodus continues the story of Moses, Israel and Egypt. It becomes a fascinating account of God stepping into the affairs of mankind to accomplish what will become another chapter in the ultimate event of God providing redemption for all mankind. Moses, as the giver of God's law to Israel played a very important role.
"Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?"
This question was asked of Pharaoh's daughter by Moses' sister. The account, although well known by many of us from an early age in Sunday School, really is quite remarkable.
Exodus provides an account of a man, Moses, of whom the Lord raised up for his purposes. Throughout the Scriptures we see certain people hand picked by God for specific purposes, such as John the Baptist. At times from birth (and, in the case of John the Baptist, even before birth) the Lord prepares these certain ones for these purposes.
As I am sure you recall the story, it begins with the Hebrew baby boys being put to death at this time out of fear of the Hebrews by the Egyptians. Pharaoh had commanded all baby boys to be put to death in order to cut down their numbers. This baby, Moses, being set aside by the Lord for his purposes, was spared. The unique aspects of this story really are fascinating.
Moses' mother placed him in a basket in the water along the bank of the Nile River. We have to assume she knew Pharaoh's daughter frequented the spot and had Moses' sister watch from a distance to see what might happen. As the story goes, Pharaoh's daughter felt sorry for him upon finding him floating in the basket. Moses' sister approached Pharaoh's daughter to ask if she would like her to find a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby... and, of course, back to his mother Moses went till he was weaned.
Exodus continues the story of Moses, Israel and Egypt. It becomes a fascinating account of God stepping into the affairs of mankind to accomplish what will become another chapter in the ultimate event of God providing redemption for all mankind. Moses, as the giver of God's law to Israel played a very important role.
What captures my mind this morning are the accounts of God's activities in the world. It is amazing for me to read of these and think of the proximity of heaven and just how close God, in his activities, is so close to us. Right here, all around us exists a spiritual realm, that although we may not be able to perceive it, is nevertheless here. And it just doesn't exist in a stationary posture, but is full of robust activity. We know this from the accounts we have in Scripture.
Exciting, 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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
Monday, September 22, 2014
The fear of the Lord and the choices we make - 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 heart and mind in Exodus 1:17,
"The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live."
What Pharaoh, "the king of Egypt" told the Hebrew midwives to do was to kill any new-born Hebrew baby boys. As the Israelites were living in the land of Egypt, they had become "exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers", verse 7, such that the Egyptians "came to dread the Israelites", verse 13.
In response, Pharaoh wanted to pare down the numbers of the Jews and ordered the midwives to begin killing the males when they were born. However, the midwives disobeyed Pharaoh because they "feared God."
The fear of the Lord can only be arrived at in our hearts and minds by recognizing not only that God exists, but also embracing everything he reveals to us about himself. In just a short time following the midwives' disobedience to Pharoah, God will reveal himself through Moses to these Israelites (as spoken by the Lord himself), "The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation." Not a God to trifle with, and given a choice, these midwives opted to obey their God rather than Pharaoh and suffer what they might for doing so.
I recall Jesus' teaching, "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him." Luke 12:4-5.
"The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live."
What Pharaoh, "the king of Egypt" told the Hebrew midwives to do was to kill any new-born Hebrew baby boys. As the Israelites were living in the land of Egypt, they had become "exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers", verse 7, such that the Egyptians "came to dread the Israelites", verse 13.
In response, Pharaoh wanted to pare down the numbers of the Jews and ordered the midwives to begin killing the males when they were born. However, the midwives disobeyed Pharaoh because they "feared God."
The fear of the Lord can only be arrived at in our hearts and minds by recognizing not only that God exists, but also embracing everything he reveals to us about himself. In just a short time following the midwives' disobedience to Pharoah, God will reveal himself through Moses to these Israelites (as spoken by the Lord himself), "The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation." Not a God to trifle with, and given a choice, these midwives opted to obey their God rather than Pharaoh and suffer what they might for doing so.
I recall Jesus' teaching, "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him." Luke 12:4-5.
Our faithfulness to God will be determined by our fear, reverence and awe, as well as our love of him. Our faithfulness, as manifested by these Hebrew midwives, is a yardstick, a measuring rod, of what is in our hearts relative to what we have embraced about God. It is the very things we think, do, and say, that proclaims to the world around us, to ourselves, and God himself, as to the place the Lord takes in our hearts.
Do you want to know where your heart is, relative to God? Just look at what you thought, said and did last week, and you will know all you need to. God certainly knows.
Kind of sobering, 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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
Friday, September 19, 2014
More than just good guys versus bad guys - 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 heart and mind in Nahum 3:15,
"There the fire will consume you; the sword will cut you down— they will devour you like a swarm of locusts. Multiply like grasshoppers, multiply like locusts!"
"There the fire will consume you; the sword will cut you down— they will devour you like a swarm of locusts. Multiply like grasshoppers, multiply like locusts!"
Nineveh is to be destroyed. The "they" in the "they will devour you", are the coming Babylonians. God is going to use the Babylonians to destroy Nineveh.
A few thoughts capture my thinking.
God has already used the Assyrians, of which Nineveh was the capital, to destroy ten of his own tribes of Israel in 722 BC. God brought these merciless and greatly feared Assyrians against his own people and now he is going to destroy them.
We know the Assyrians were merciless and greatly feared from the historical accounts passed down to us. The Assyrians would ravage a city, impale all its residents on poles, plant the poles in the ground and leave them as calling cards for all to see. From there it got worse. These were godless people who pursued their idolatry and refined the concept of terror. Yet, God brought these people against his own.
The Israelites had made themselves an object of God's judgment through their own rebellion against him, through their rejection of him, his word, and the prophets he sent them. They pursued the idols of the surrounding nations with their Baal worship, Asherah poles, fertility rites, child sacrifice, etc.
When I was a boy, back in the days of black-and-white TV, I recall watching the Lone Ranger. He had a white hat and rode a white horse. The bad guys all wore black hats and rode black horses. In a thirty minute episode the Lone Ranger always vanquished the guys in the black hats. It was always a clearly defined moral story of good against evil with the white hat always ending up on top, no matter how bad it got.
As I read the Scriptural accounts of the events in Israel's history, and her neighbors, such as Assyria and Babylonia, I find there are different stories than what I witnessed watching the Lone Ranger, not that morality is absent, but that here there is much more going on than just the Good Guys versus the Bad Guys. I read of God being not just instrumental, but even the cause of what might be considered black hat hostilities against black hat, black hat hostilities against his own people, God causing war, and even genocide.
Why is God using horribly wicked and sinful people for his purposes? Why would he bring "bad guys" against his chosen people? Why doesn't the Bible just portray the simple Lone Ranger theme of good guy against bad guy with God always insuring the victorious outcome of the good guy, as so many assume it does?
It is apparent to me that the Bible is much more than a collection of moral good guy versus bad guy stories. It reveals to us that our God has an agenda that transcends nations and that he carries out his purposes through them. God created the nations for his own purposes and uses them to achieve his ends, Acts 17:26-28. What is clear is that the Lord is building his kingdom, his family and what takes place on the international stage plays a very large part of that agenda.
Something to consider.
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
Thursday, September 18, 2014
A cautionary tale, and where is the church? - 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 heart and mind in Nahum 3:8,
"Are you better than Thebes, situated on the Nile, with water around her?"
Thebes was the capital of upper Egypt and history tells us it was overtaken in 670 BC by the Assyrian king Esarhaddon, and sacked in 665 or 664 BC by his son, the next Assyrian king, Ashurbanipal.
In any event, Thebes was a wealthy, fortified and connected capital. Through Nahum's vision, Nineveh was asked if they really felt they might fare any better than Thebes at their own hand? A sobering and chilling challenge to any notion an Assyrian might have regarding the invincibility of Nineveh. The message to Nineveh was "Yet she [Thebes] was taken captive and went into exile. Her infants were dashed to pieces at every street corner. Lots were cast for her nobles, and all her great men were put in chains. You [Nineveh] too will become drunk; you will go into hiding and seek refuge from the enemy." Nahum 3:10-11.
How many nations, how many kingdoms, how many political movements, have felt, feel today, that they exist beyond the reach of God's judgment? The story of Nineveh is a cautionary one and designed to bring a sense of sobriety to any group of people that drift from God.
We live in a day when God, his desires, his interests, his plans, his agenda, are never thought of, never discussed (certainly on the front pages and in the news broadcasts) when the activities of nations are discussed. Is that OK for any nation?
While I certainly recognize that the media and pop-culture do not recognize God and the things he may be doing behind the scenes in current events - so I don't expect to see anything there - I am dumbfounded at the church's seeming ignorance and inability to see what it is God is doing on the world stage today. Where is the church? How is it acting, communicating, responding to the events of the day, relative to what we know of him and how he has acted in the past as we find him in the Old Testament prophets?
Am I overly cynical in thinking the church is sitting over there, in its own corner, hold hands, singing Kumbayah, carefully pursuing the prosperity of its members, the healthfulness of its members in self-absorbed fashion? Am I overly critical of the church as I think of a people who have been provided all the tools, the Scriptures, the indwelling Holy Spirit, never equipping itself in knowing the entire counsel of God represented in all sixty-six books of our Bibles, never seeing God on the move on the world stage, never somehow beholding the immense and grand glory of God expressed on the world stage today, and what he may be doing in the big events of life, as it dithers about the moral failures of its own members? Am I being judgmental as I see the church as a group of people who have become absorbed in its self-appointment as theological policemen making sure we all keep our noses clean in their image, their fashion?
"Are you better than Thebes, situated on the Nile, with water around her?"
Thebes was the capital of upper Egypt and history tells us it was overtaken in 670 BC by the Assyrian king Esarhaddon, and sacked in 665 or 664 BC by his son, the next Assyrian king, Ashurbanipal.
In any event, Thebes was a wealthy, fortified and connected capital. Through Nahum's vision, Nineveh was asked if they really felt they might fare any better than Thebes at their own hand? A sobering and chilling challenge to any notion an Assyrian might have regarding the invincibility of Nineveh. The message to Nineveh was "Yet she [Thebes] was taken captive and went into exile. Her infants were dashed to pieces at every street corner. Lots were cast for her nobles, and all her great men were put in chains. You [Nineveh] too will become drunk; you will go into hiding and seek refuge from the enemy." Nahum 3:10-11.
How many nations, how many kingdoms, how many political movements, have felt, feel today, that they exist beyond the reach of God's judgment? The story of Nineveh is a cautionary one and designed to bring a sense of sobriety to any group of people that drift from God.
We live in a day when God, his desires, his interests, his plans, his agenda, are never thought of, never discussed (certainly on the front pages and in the news broadcasts) when the activities of nations are discussed. Is that OK for any nation?
While I certainly recognize that the media and pop-culture do not recognize God and the things he may be doing behind the scenes in current events - so I don't expect to see anything there - I am dumbfounded at the church's seeming ignorance and inability to see what it is God is doing on the world stage today. Where is the church? How is it acting, communicating, responding to the events of the day, relative to what we know of him and how he has acted in the past as we find him in the Old Testament prophets?
Am I overly cynical in thinking the church is sitting over there, in its own corner, hold hands, singing Kumbayah, carefully pursuing the prosperity of its members, the healthfulness of its members in self-absorbed fashion? Am I overly critical of the church as I think of a people who have been provided all the tools, the Scriptures, the indwelling Holy Spirit, never equipping itself in knowing the entire counsel of God represented in all sixty-six books of our Bibles, never seeing God on the move on the world stage, never somehow beholding the immense and grand glory of God expressed on the world stage today, and what he may be doing in the big events of life, as it dithers about the moral failures of its own members? Am I being judgmental as I see the church as a group of people who have become absorbed in its self-appointment as theological policemen making sure we all keep our noses clean in their image, their fashion?
Yep, I'm certainly cynical, over-critical and judgmental. And, shame on me! What good does it do to stand on the side and be critical? While I wouldn't characterize my attitude towards the Lord's church in this way, I do slip into this mindset from time to time. So, I am reminded this morning, in my own weakness, that I need to be ever more vigilant in encouraging us all to see God for how he has expressed himself in the pages of Scripture. Possibly you can do the same for me.
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
The Lord behind the headlines and news stories - 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 heart and mind in Nahum 3:18-19,
"King of Assyria, your shepherds slumber; your nobles lie down to rest. Your people are scattered on the mountains with no one to gather them. Nothing can heal you; your wound is fatal. All who hear the news about you clap their hands at your fall, for who has not felt your endless cruelty?"
"King of Assyria, your shepherds slumber; your nobles lie down to rest. Your people are scattered on the mountains with no one to gather them. Nothing can heal you; your wound is fatal. All who hear the news about you clap their hands at your fall, for who has not felt your endless cruelty?"
Nahum's vision ends with a frightful message for Assyria. Nineveh will be devastated with no one to help. Nothing can heal them, their "wound is fatal." The peoples of the earth will applaud Nineveh's destruction because all had felt her "endless cruelty."
This is a horrible end for a horrible people. Earlier, Jonah had preached God's message to Nineveh and that generation repented of its ways. God suspended his destruction of them at that time. However, this generation in Nineveh had become so corrupt, the Lord sent his judgment against them through the Babylonians, the same nation that will attack and destroy Judah in another few years.
During the time of Israel's prophets, the Lord is documented in his involvement in the affairs of the day. We are told of a number of nations the Lord raised up and the Lord brought down. We are told of his judgments and his actions against kings, cities and nations.
As I read of the Lord's involvement, I find the Lord to be very aware and very involved in the events of Nahum's day. It causes me to wonder about our own day. How is the Lord involved in today's world? What part did he play in the events in Egypt over the past few years? How about Libya, America, and what took place in Benghazi? How about Syria and Iran? How about the activities of groups like Hezbollah, the Taliban, Al qaeda and Isis? What about other parts of the world, Russia and Ukraine? China, North and South Korea? Is there any compelling reason to think the Lord is not just as engaged, just as involved, just as determinative in our day as he was then?
I hold to a strong conviction that the Lord is just as involved and engaged in the world today as he was during a time he chose to document what he was doing. Just because he may not be documenting what he is doing today (as he was in Nahum's day), does not mean he has changed in any way, or that his activities have changed. To think differently would require the burden of proof to be shouldered by those who may think otherwise. The Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever. This does not mean he does the same things forever, but the tensions on the world stage today are not dissimilar to what we saw taking place in Nahum's day.
This thought prompts me to see what may be taking place behind the scenes. What might I see of what the Lord may be doing behind the headlines and news stories of the day? This all causes me to think of the exciting times we live in today.
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
Monday, September 15, 2014
God has the power to do what he promises - 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 heart and mind in Nahum 2:5,
"Nineveh summons her picked troops..."
Nineveh had her choice hand-picked troops to defend her. The vision Nahum was given prophesied that the city would call out it's very best to protect her as the enemy advanced. How many were the "picked troops"? 2,000? 20,000? 200,000?
It made no difference whatsoever how large or how well equipped the defenders of the city might have been. The Lord told Nineveh, "I am against you", verse 2:13. And, in verse 2:7 we read, "It is decreed that Nineveh be exiled and carried away."
Once the Lord decided to destroy the city, nothing could stand in the way.
It is fascinating to me to read in the Scriptures all the various ways the Lord teaches us that nothing can stand in his way and, in the same vein, he is all anyone needs to bring success or victory. Our God is omnipotent: all powerful. Our faith is measured by our trust in his power. As Paul says, "He [Abraham] did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why 'it was credited to him as righteousness.'" Romans 4:20-22.
"Nineveh summons her picked troops..."
Nineveh had her choice hand-picked troops to defend her. The vision Nahum was given prophesied that the city would call out it's very best to protect her as the enemy advanced. How many were the "picked troops"? 2,000? 20,000? 200,000?
It made no difference whatsoever how large or how well equipped the defenders of the city might have been. The Lord told Nineveh, "I am against you", verse 2:13. And, in verse 2:7 we read, "It is decreed that Nineveh be exiled and carried away."
Once the Lord decided to destroy the city, nothing could stand in the way.
It is fascinating to me to read in the Scriptures all the various ways the Lord teaches us that nothing can stand in his way and, in the same vein, he is all anyone needs to bring success or victory. Our God is omnipotent: all powerful. Our faith is measured by our trust in his power. As Paul says, "He [Abraham] did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why 'it was credited to him as righteousness.'" Romans 4:20-22.
Here are a couple of examples:
Recall Israel's refusal to take possession of the promised land when God brought Israel out of Egypt? In Numbers 13:31 the ten unbelieving spies told Israel, "We can't attack those people [the current residents of the promised land]; they are stronger than we are." The nation was persuaded they were not strong enough to do what God told them to do (despite the Lord's help) and so they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years as a result of their lack of faith in God. Afterward, with Joshua, they did enter the promise land and seized it. When they expressed their lack of faith in God to provide them victory, they numbered 603,550, Numbers 1:46 In Numbers 26:51 we read of the second census, 601,730. It was with this number, 40 years later, they took the land. The size of the army didn't matter. God was with them.
Remember the story of Gideon? Israel's enemies were like swarms of locusts, innumerable. God sent Gideon to expel the enemy saying to him, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive." Judges 6:16. To prove he was all Israel needed to overcome their enemies, the Lord pared down the number of Israel's fighting men to just 300, Judges 7:7, and gave them trumpets and empty jars with torches inside, 7:16. With the Lord on their side, Israel won the victory.
Throughout the Scriptures the Lord tells us he is all we need. He is sufficient. With the Lord on our side we lack nothing we need. Likewise, those in opposition to God find that nothing can stop the Lord.
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
Recall Israel's refusal to take possession of the promised land when God brought Israel out of Egypt? In Numbers 13:31 the ten unbelieving spies told Israel, "We can't attack those people [the current residents of the promised land]; they are stronger than we are." The nation was persuaded they were not strong enough to do what God told them to do (despite the Lord's help) and so they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years as a result of their lack of faith in God. Afterward, with Joshua, they did enter the promise land and seized it. When they expressed their lack of faith in God to provide them victory, they numbered 603,550, Numbers 1:46 In Numbers 26:51 we read of the second census, 601,730. It was with this number, 40 years later, they took the land. The size of the army didn't matter. God was with them.
Remember the story of Gideon? Israel's enemies were like swarms of locusts, innumerable. God sent Gideon to expel the enemy saying to him, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive." Judges 6:16. To prove he was all Israel needed to overcome their enemies, the Lord pared down the number of Israel's fighting men to just 300, Judges 7:7, and gave them trumpets and empty jars with torches inside, 7:16. With the Lord on their side, Israel won the victory.
Throughout the Scriptures the Lord tells us he is all we need. He is sufficient. With the Lord on our side we lack nothing we need. Likewise, those in opposition to God find that nothing can stop the Lord.
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
Friday, September 12, 2014
He who rules the nations - 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 heart and mind in Nahum 2:7a,
"It is decreed that Nineveh be exiled and carried away."
All the nations of the world belong to the Lord and he does with them what he pleases. "... for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations." Psalm 22:28. See also Psalm 47:7-8, "For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise. God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne." Asaph calls out to God, asking him to vent his wrath on those nations who do not acknowledge him, Psalm 79:6.
God is not just the God of those nations that acknowledge him. He is not just the God of Israel and he is not just the God of America, He is the God of all the nations of the earth. He decides who rules, "Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves." Romans 13:1-2. God also determines which nations will exist, where they will exist and when they will exist, "From one man he [God] made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us." Acts 17:26-27.
God decides the fate of all nations. Not just that, but he lets us know that he interacts with the nations in "real time" allowing them to have a part to play in how God might determine their fortunes, "If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it." Jeremiah 18:7-10.
"It is decreed that Nineveh be exiled and carried away."
All the nations of the world belong to the Lord and he does with them what he pleases. "... for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations." Psalm 22:28. See also Psalm 47:7-8, "For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise. God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne." Asaph calls out to God, asking him to vent his wrath on those nations who do not acknowledge him, Psalm 79:6.
God is not just the God of those nations that acknowledge him. He is not just the God of Israel and he is not just the God of America, He is the God of all the nations of the earth. He decides who rules, "Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves." Romans 13:1-2. God also determines which nations will exist, where they will exist and when they will exist, "From one man he [God] made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us." Acts 17:26-27.
God decides the fate of all nations. Not just that, but he lets us know that he interacts with the nations in "real time" allowing them to have a part to play in how God might determine their fortunes, "If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it." Jeremiah 18:7-10.
As God determined what he would do with Assyria, and its capital, Nineveh, so he does with all nations. Muslim nations, Buddhist nations, apostate nations, communist nations, atheist nations, Christian nations. God is over all these nations and determines the outcomes of each.
The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is a big God. He is transcendent, ruling over the entire earth, and does what he wants. If we learn anything from Nahum, this must be part of 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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
Thursday, September 11, 2014
God cannot be stopped - 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 heart and mind in Nahum 2:1,
"An attacker advances against you, Nineveh. Guard the fortress, watch the road, brace yourselves, marshal all your strength!"
In the vision the Lord gave to Nahum, the message of the Lord's coming destruction of Nineveh includes what might be considered a taunt here. In any event, this is exactly what the Assyrians will do as they see the Babylonians coming against them - they will do their best to protect themselves.
Assyria had established herself as an overwhelming power and invincible against her enemies. However, now the Lord comes against them through the Babylonians at the capital of Nineveh and they will discover they are completely helpless. A few verses later we read, "Nineveh summons her picked troops, yet they stumble on their way. They dash to the city wall; the protective shield is put in place. The river gates are thrown open and the palace collapses. It is decreed that Nineveh be exiled and carried away." 2:5-7a. When God moves, nothing can stop him.
I am reminded of a proverb here, "There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord." Proverbs 21:30. When the Lord determines his course of action, nothing can stop him. This vision of the Lord's coming judgment against Nineveh causes me to think of Job's confession, "I know that you [the Lord] can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted." Job 42:2.
As it was then, it is still true today. God cannot be stopped. His agenda in this age is to build his kingdom, his family. It is advancing and nothing can stop it. In a day where we witness the "cultural rot" that appears to be consuming our country, as we face dangers from both within and without our nation, the Lord's agenda continues to move. Nothing can stop him. I have no clue as to what our country faces, but I know that what is coming our way will be that which furthers the building of God's family.
I feel we live in a time where we may see tremendous upheaval in the world, both for America and for Israel. It is my perspective that America was established by God for his own purposes as the culmination of western civilization through the heritage of our Judeo-Christian heritage. Paul tells us that nations are established by God for his own purposes, "From one man he [God] made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us." As I say, God is building his kingdom and all the nations have their part to play.
"An attacker advances against you, Nineveh. Guard the fortress, watch the road, brace yourselves, marshal all your strength!"
In the vision the Lord gave to Nahum, the message of the Lord's coming destruction of Nineveh includes what might be considered a taunt here. In any event, this is exactly what the Assyrians will do as they see the Babylonians coming against them - they will do their best to protect themselves.
Assyria had established herself as an overwhelming power and invincible against her enemies. However, now the Lord comes against them through the Babylonians at the capital of Nineveh and they will discover they are completely helpless. A few verses later we read, "Nineveh summons her picked troops, yet they stumble on their way. They dash to the city wall; the protective shield is put in place. The river gates are thrown open and the palace collapses. It is decreed that Nineveh be exiled and carried away." 2:5-7a. When God moves, nothing can stop him.
I am reminded of a proverb here, "There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord." Proverbs 21:30. When the Lord determines his course of action, nothing can stop him. This vision of the Lord's coming judgment against Nineveh causes me to think of Job's confession, "I know that you [the Lord] can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted." Job 42:2.
As it was then, it is still true today. God cannot be stopped. His agenda in this age is to build his kingdom, his family. It is advancing and nothing can stop it. In a day where we witness the "cultural rot" that appears to be consuming our country, as we face dangers from both within and without our nation, the Lord's agenda continues to move. Nothing can stop him. I have no clue as to what our country faces, but I know that what is coming our way will be that which furthers the building of God's family.
I feel we live in a time where we may see tremendous upheaval in the world, both for America and for Israel. It is my perspective that America was established by God for his own purposes as the culmination of western civilization through the heritage of our Judeo-Christian heritage. Paul tells us that nations are established by God for his own purposes, "From one man he [God] made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us." As I say, God is building his kingdom and all the nations have their part to play.
While events may appear to be discouraging and disheartening for us from time to time, those of us, those who are of faith in Jesus Christ, need to take great encouragement and celebrate whatever it is that comes our way. After all, these are the very things God is using to build his kingdom. And, most excitingly, these events point to the culmination of the age... and we know how it all turns out!
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Inventing 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 heart and mind in Nahum 1:2, 8b,
"The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The Lord takes vengeance on his foes and vents his wrath against his enemies... he will pursue his foes into the realm of darkness."
Here is quite a statement about the Lord. From Nahum's vision, the Lord declares his wrath and his destruction of his foes. But I thought God was our God of love...? How do we reconcile this?
Some have come up with the incoherent notion that God was an angry God in the Old Testament and a loving God in the New. Kind of like how our president has evolved on the issue of same-sex marriage, he has seen the light and now, instead of remaining angry as he was in the Old, he is now loving in the New. The problem with this, of course, is that God expresses his love throughout the Old and his wrath in the New, just as he does the other way around. Here is an example from the Old: "The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin." Exodus 34:6-7. And, from the New, "'He [Jesus Christ] will rule them with an iron scepter.' He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: king of kings and lord of lords." Revelation 19:15.
The reality of both God's righteous anger and his love is not for us to reconcile, to "figure out", to rationalize or to make sense of. These two primary qualities of our God are communicated to us that we may know of him. We call our Bibles "revelation" because within the pages of Scripture God reveals himself. He did not provide us the Scriptures because we could have figured all this out on our own - he has revealed to us the things he has precisely because we can't figure them out on our own and we need to be told, we need to be informed.
I recall a then new movement within the evangelical world about ten years ago or so, "the emerging church". I remember reading one of its chief proponents, saying that it was the height of arrogance to think we could read the Scriptures and then claim to know important things about God. His point was that God is so transcendent, we need to recognize we are really not equipped to comprehend him. While I could appreciate the comment about God's transcendence, and that our comprehension of God would always be limited, I had to marvel at his hypocrisy. On the one hand, he was telling us we can't know things of God, yet he knows God is so transcendent we can't know him. I guess he thought he was the one exception. My other thought at the time was that the very purpose of Scripture was to address that very issue. Because in our limited state we struggle in our knowledge of God, God reveals what he wants us to know of himself. If God says he "so loves the world", then I know it. If he says "It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God", then I know it.
In any event, I was just reading this morning that this same man lost his pastoral position a few years ago. It followed his reasoning that a God of love would never consign anyone to a miserable hell on judgment day. Therefore, there must be a universal salvation for all mankind. Note, I used the word "reasoning". He "invented" his own god. He displaced the rightful place of the Scriptures in his life with his own reasoning.
This is the problem when we abandon the Scriptures. When we fail to avail ourselves of the truths they provide, all we are left with is our own reasoning. When we look to our reasoning we substitute what God has revealed for something much less reliable. This is why it behooves us all to embrace what the Scriptures have to say, not what we think they should say, not what we reason they should say. Just as we embrace Jesus Christ in faith, so we need to embrace his word. And, of course, neglecting the Scriptures is sure way to be led by our own deceitful hearts. I know I can't trust mine...
Our God is both a God of love and a God of justice and judgment. I don't need to reason it out... I just need to accept that God is who and what he claims to be.
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
"The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The Lord takes vengeance on his foes and vents his wrath against his enemies... he will pursue his foes into the realm of darkness."
Here is quite a statement about the Lord. From Nahum's vision, the Lord declares his wrath and his destruction of his foes. But I thought God was our God of love...? How do we reconcile this?
Some have come up with the incoherent notion that God was an angry God in the Old Testament and a loving God in the New. Kind of like how our president has evolved on the issue of same-sex marriage, he has seen the light and now, instead of remaining angry as he was in the Old, he is now loving in the New. The problem with this, of course, is that God expresses his love throughout the Old and his wrath in the New, just as he does the other way around. Here is an example from the Old: "The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin." Exodus 34:6-7. And, from the New, "'He [Jesus Christ] will rule them with an iron scepter.' He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: king of kings and lord of lords." Revelation 19:15.
The reality of both God's righteous anger and his love is not for us to reconcile, to "figure out", to rationalize or to make sense of. These two primary qualities of our God are communicated to us that we may know of him. We call our Bibles "revelation" because within the pages of Scripture God reveals himself. He did not provide us the Scriptures because we could have figured all this out on our own - he has revealed to us the things he has precisely because we can't figure them out on our own and we need to be told, we need to be informed.
I recall a then new movement within the evangelical world about ten years ago or so, "the emerging church". I remember reading one of its chief proponents, saying that it was the height of arrogance to think we could read the Scriptures and then claim to know important things about God. His point was that God is so transcendent, we need to recognize we are really not equipped to comprehend him. While I could appreciate the comment about God's transcendence, and that our comprehension of God would always be limited, I had to marvel at his hypocrisy. On the one hand, he was telling us we can't know things of God, yet he knows God is so transcendent we can't know him. I guess he thought he was the one exception. My other thought at the time was that the very purpose of Scripture was to address that very issue. Because in our limited state we struggle in our knowledge of God, God reveals what he wants us to know of himself. If God says he "so loves the world", then I know it. If he says "It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God", then I know it.
In any event, I was just reading this morning that this same man lost his pastoral position a few years ago. It followed his reasoning that a God of love would never consign anyone to a miserable hell on judgment day. Therefore, there must be a universal salvation for all mankind. Note, I used the word "reasoning". He "invented" his own god. He displaced the rightful place of the Scriptures in his life with his own reasoning.
This is the problem when we abandon the Scriptures. When we fail to avail ourselves of the truths they provide, all we are left with is our own reasoning. When we look to our reasoning we substitute what God has revealed for something much less reliable. This is why it behooves us all to embrace what the Scriptures have to say, not what we think they should say, not what we reason they should say. Just as we embrace Jesus Christ in faith, so we need to embrace his word. And, of course, neglecting the Scriptures is sure way to be led by our own deceitful hearts. I know I can't trust mine...
Our God is both a God of love and a God of justice and judgment. I don't need to reason it out... I just need to accept that God is who and what he claims to be.
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
The Lord is slow to anger - 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 heart and mind in Nahum 1:3,
"The Lord is slow to anger but great in power; the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished."
It is my perspective that the Lord's slowness to anger relates to another aspect of our Creator's heart - his incomprehensible love. John tells us God is love twice in 1 John 4, verses 8 and 16. If the Lord inflicted his judgment upon us the very instant we ever first sinned, none of us would have an opportunity to turn to God, throw ourselves at the feet of his mercy and find his forgiveness and salvation. God's love finds a way through his forbearance and patience.
Paul points to this in Romans 2:4, where he asks an insightful question, "Do you show contempt for the riches of his [God's] kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?" Peter tells us why the Lord is slow to anger, "He [the Lord] is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9.
In another place Paul tells us, "God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus." Here we see that the patience of God's justice is predicated upon the payment Jesus Christ would make on the cross. All who embrace Jesus Christ in faith are able to do so by virtue of the forbearance and patience of God as he withholds his justice, providing each of us opportunity.
However, the Lord's love and patience has its threshold. The opportunity for repentance, for turning to God, to reach out to him in an embrace of faith has a shelf life. Certainly, upon our own physical deaths, no opportunity to enter God's family remains. Likewise, the day is coming when God's family is deemed full and the doors of heaven are closed, bringing an end to this age.
"The Lord is slow to anger but great in power; the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished."
The Lord reveals things about himself through Nahum's vision. We are told that he is slow to anger. However, he is also great in power and won't leave the guilty unpunished.
Paul points to this in Romans 2:4, where he asks an insightful question, "Do you show contempt for the riches of his [God's] kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?" Peter tells us why the Lord is slow to anger, "He [the Lord] is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9.
In another place Paul tells us, "God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus." Here we see that the patience of God's justice is predicated upon the payment Jesus Christ would make on the cross. All who embrace Jesus Christ in faith are able to do so by virtue of the forbearance and patience of God as he withholds his justice, providing each of us opportunity.
However, the Lord's love and patience has its threshold. The opportunity for repentance, for turning to God, to reach out to him in an embrace of faith has a shelf life. Certainly, upon our own physical deaths, no opportunity to enter God's family remains. Likewise, the day is coming when God's family is deemed full and the doors of heaven are closed, bringing an end to this age.
Where would I be without the patience and forbearance of God? His wonderful mercy and love for me kept him from crushing me, providing me the opportunity to reach out to him, to his offer of forgiveness to us all. Today I thank the Lord, that he is slow to anger... just as Nahum tells 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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
Monday, September 8, 2014
Nahum's fulfilled prophecy - 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 heart and mind in Nahum 2:5,
"Nineveh summons her picked troops,
yet they stumble on their way.
They dash to the city wall;
the protective shield is put in place.
The river gates are thrown open
and the palace collapses.
It is decreed that Nineveh
be exiled and carried away."
Nineveh, founded by Nimrod, Genesis 10:8-12, was the capital of
Assyria. This was the city Jonah was sent to 150 years earlier, when
they repented as a response to the message of the Lord Jonah took to
them. It was the Assyrian army that destroyed the northern ten tribes
of Israel in 722 BC. and now they faced God's wrath themselves. The
city was destroyed by the Babylonians in 612 BC.
It is interesting to note Nahum's comment about the river's floodgates
in 2:6 (see also 1:8). From historical records, we know the Khosr
River, which ran through the city, flooded during the siege, causing
the floodgates to break down as well as destroying a part of the wall
protecting the city making it vulnerable to those who destroyed it. It
is prophecy fulfilled.
It is also interesting to note that it was fashionable, prior to the
mid-nineteenth century, for critics of the Bible to proclaim there
never was a city of Nineveh, further proving the notion the Bible was
unreliable. However, as always happens, the critics wind up with egg
on their faces when archaeology catches up with the Bible, which
happened after 1850.
What was prophesied about Nineveh came to pass just as the Lord
proclaimed it would through his prophet Nahum. So much of the Old
Testament is fascinating because of the very nature of prophetic
fulfillment. God, who exists beyond the dimensions of time and space
knows what is going to happen and, sometimes, when it suits his needs,
tells us about it ahead of time. This was the case with Nahum's
vision.
As I read of the various prophecies of the Old Testament, and their
eventual fulfillment, it always reminds me of those prophecies from
Scripture that are yet to be fulfilled. Those of us who are of faith
are aware of some coming events, and await those with great
anticipation.
Among these things are the eventual turn of Israel back to her God
when she finally embraces her Savior, Jesus Christ; the final filling
of God's kingdom -his family; the second coming of Jesus Christ to
planet earth; the end of this age; the resurrection of both the
eternally dead and those who will be ushered into eternal life;
judgment day when all have to give an account of themselves to God;
the judgment of those who are not of faith; and the "eternal
pleasures" at the right hand of God for the faithful (Psalm 16:11.)
and more.
The wise read the Scriptures and avail themselves of its truths.
Having been inspired by God, the Bible is his word to us, containing
those things he wants us to know. It is within its pages we learn of
where we came from, who we are, where we are going and why we are
here. We learn of God, what he is like, what his agenda is, and what
he is doing. Nothing comes close to the Bible as it stands alone as
God's reliable and truthful message to each one of us.
Hardly something we want gathering dust on our coffee tables...
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send
me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are
receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just
respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my heart and mind in Nahum 2:5,
"Nineveh summons her picked troops,
yet they stumble on their way.
They dash to the city wall;
the protective shield is put in place.
The river gates are thrown open
and the palace collapses.
It is decreed that Nineveh
be exiled and carried away."
Nineveh, founded by Nimrod, Genesis 10:8-12, was the capital of
Assyria. This was the city Jonah was sent to 150 years earlier, when
they repented as a response to the message of the Lord Jonah took to
them. It was the Assyrian army that destroyed the northern ten tribes
of Israel in 722 BC. and now they faced God's wrath themselves. The
city was destroyed by the Babylonians in 612 BC.
It is interesting to note Nahum's comment about the river's floodgates
in 2:6 (see also 1:8). From historical records, we know the Khosr
River, which ran through the city, flooded during the siege, causing
the floodgates to break down as well as destroying a part of the wall
protecting the city making it vulnerable to those who destroyed it. It
is prophecy fulfilled.
It is also interesting to note that it was fashionable, prior to the
mid-nineteenth century, for critics of the Bible to proclaim there
never was a city of Nineveh, further proving the notion the Bible was
unreliable. However, as always happens, the critics wind up with egg
on their faces when archaeology catches up with the Bible, which
happened after 1850.
What was prophesied about Nineveh came to pass just as the Lord
proclaimed it would through his prophet Nahum. So much of the Old
Testament is fascinating because of the very nature of prophetic
fulfillment. God, who exists beyond the dimensions of time and space
knows what is going to happen and, sometimes, when it suits his needs,
tells us about it ahead of time. This was the case with Nahum's
vision.
As I read of the various prophecies of the Old Testament, and their
eventual fulfillment, it always reminds me of those prophecies from
Scripture that are yet to be fulfilled. Those of us who are of faith
are aware of some coming events, and await those with great
anticipation.
Among these things are the eventual turn of Israel back to her God
when she finally embraces her Savior, Jesus Christ; the final filling
of God's kingdom -his family; the second coming of Jesus Christ to
planet earth; the end of this age; the resurrection of both the
eternally dead and those who will be ushered into eternal life;
judgment day when all have to give an account of themselves to God;
the judgment of those who are not of faith; and the "eternal
pleasures" at the right hand of God for the faithful (Psalm 16:11.)
and more.
The wise read the Scriptures and avail themselves of its truths.
Having been inspired by God, the Bible is his word to us, containing
those things he wants us to know. It is within its pages we learn of
where we came from, who we are, where we are going and why we are
here. We learn of God, what he is like, what his agenda is, and what
he is doing. Nothing comes close to the Bible as it stands alone as
God's reliable and truthful message to each one of us.
Hardly something we want gathering dust on our coffee tables...
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send
me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are
receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just
respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
Friday, September 5, 2014
One or the other, nothing in between - 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 heart and mind in Nahum 1:2-3,
"The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The Lord takes vengeance on his foes and vents his wrath against his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger but great in power; the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished."
The Lord vents his wrath against his enemies. To be one of God's enemies is a frightful place to be. We are told, "The earth trembles at his presence, the world and all who live in it. Who can withstand his indignation? Who can endure his fierce anger? His wrath is poured out like fire; the rocks are shattered before him." Nahum 1:5b-6. Or, as the writer of Hebrews simply puts it, "It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Hebrews 10:31.
I suspect most all of us prefer to think on the loving kindness of the Lord, his mercy, his compassion for mankind. It certainly is not unwarranted, "But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared..." Titus 3:4, and "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son..." John 3:16, etc. However, the Lord is not of a single dimension. He is also, as Nahum reminds everyone, jealous, avenging, and wrathful.
The Lord is both loving and kind, as well as wrathful. On judgment day, a day when we all will give an account of ourselves to God, every person will be the recipient of the expression of one or the other of these two aspects of God. No one will experience both and no one will experience neither. It is one or the other.
Nahum identifies two types of people as he reveals his vision of God's judgment of Nineveh. One type he calls "his [the Lord's] enemies", verse 2. The other is identified as "those who trust in him", verse 7. Just exactly who are the enemies of God? As it turns out, everyone! Everyone and everybody, male and female of every demographic. In Romans 5:1-11 Paul points out that as all are sinners, all are God's enemies, verse 10. As such we find ourselves in the horrific position of facing God's wrath on judgment day. However, also in Romans 5, we read that of those who were formally God's enemies, some have "now received reconciliation", verse 11. There Paul tells us that it is through faith, verse 1, in the death of Christ to pay for our sins, that we become no longer his enemies but those who receive his loving care.
Nahum tells us it is the same expression of faith on our part that brings his care for us, "The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him..." Nahum 1:7. It is the same thing we read of in Genesis 15:6 in regard to Abraham, "Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness." Genesis 15:6. When we embrace the Lord in faith a transaction takes place. We are removed from those who are God's enemies to those who receive his love, kindness, compassion and mercy.
Mankind has invented all kinds of notions about something or some place in between. All these are counter to what we are taught throughout the Scriptures. The concept of reincarnation, where we "work through" our deficiencies, or a place called "Purgatory" where we can earn our way to God's love and acceptance, all these kinds of things are both fanciful and false as well as foreign to the Scriptures. As the writer of Hebrews reminds us, "Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment..." Hebrews 9:27.
What is the outlook for you on judgment day?
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
"The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The Lord takes vengeance on his foes and vents his wrath against his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger but great in power; the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished."
The Lord vents his wrath against his enemies. To be one of God's enemies is a frightful place to be. We are told, "The earth trembles at his presence, the world and all who live in it. Who can withstand his indignation? Who can endure his fierce anger? His wrath is poured out like fire; the rocks are shattered before him." Nahum 1:5b-6. Or, as the writer of Hebrews simply puts it, "It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Hebrews 10:31.
I suspect most all of us prefer to think on the loving kindness of the Lord, his mercy, his compassion for mankind. It certainly is not unwarranted, "But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared..." Titus 3:4, and "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son..." John 3:16, etc. However, the Lord is not of a single dimension. He is also, as Nahum reminds everyone, jealous, avenging, and wrathful.
The Lord is both loving and kind, as well as wrathful. On judgment day, a day when we all will give an account of ourselves to God, every person will be the recipient of the expression of one or the other of these two aspects of God. No one will experience both and no one will experience neither. It is one or the other.
Nahum identifies two types of people as he reveals his vision of God's judgment of Nineveh. One type he calls "his [the Lord's] enemies", verse 2. The other is identified as "those who trust in him", verse 7. Just exactly who are the enemies of God? As it turns out, everyone! Everyone and everybody, male and female of every demographic. In Romans 5:1-11 Paul points out that as all are sinners, all are God's enemies, verse 10. As such we find ourselves in the horrific position of facing God's wrath on judgment day. However, also in Romans 5, we read that of those who were formally God's enemies, some have "now received reconciliation", verse 11. There Paul tells us that it is through faith, verse 1, in the death of Christ to pay for our sins, that we become no longer his enemies but those who receive his loving care.
Nahum tells us it is the same expression of faith on our part that brings his care for us, "The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him..." Nahum 1:7. It is the same thing we read of in Genesis 15:6 in regard to Abraham, "Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness." Genesis 15:6. When we embrace the Lord in faith a transaction takes place. We are removed from those who are God's enemies to those who receive his love, kindness, compassion and mercy.
Mankind has invented all kinds of notions about something or some place in between. All these are counter to what we are taught throughout the Scriptures. The concept of reincarnation, where we "work through" our deficiencies, or a place called "Purgatory" where we can earn our way to God's love and acceptance, all these kinds of things are both fanciful and false as well as foreign to the Scriptures. As the writer of Hebrews reminds us, "Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment..." Hebrews 9:27.
What is the outlook for you on judgment day?
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
Thursday, September 4, 2014
What do you really know about 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 heart and mind in Nahum 1:2a,
"The Lord is a jealous and avenging 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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
"The Lord is a jealous and avenging God..."
In Nahum's vision the Lord addresses both Judah and Nineveh, "Although I have afflicted you, Judah..." 1:12. "The Lord has given a command concerning you, Nineveh..." 1:14. It's message is a prophecy concerning the coming destruction of Nineveh at the hand of the Lord.
In this prophecy there are statements the Lord makes of himself. I find these to be very instructive in helping me understand who the Lord is and what he is like. All too often, too many define God by what they think he is like... I certainly have in the past. However, I find the Scriptures replete with material, such that we can all know the Lord more clearly and understand him better, particularly in the Old Testament prophets.
Here are 13 things I glean about the Lord from just the first seven verses of Nahum's vision:
The Lord is a jealous and avenging God, 1:2.
The Lord takes vengeance, 1:2.
He is filled with wrath as a result of the acts of certain ones (Nineveh in this case), 1:2.
The Lord identifies certain people as his enemies, and vents his wrath against them, 1:2.
The Lord is slow to anger, 1:3.
The Lord is great in power, 1:3.
The Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished, 1:3.
His way is in found in the violent acts of nature, (whirlwind, storm, clouds, etc.), 1:3.
His wrath brings destruction to his creation - even beyond people, (the sea, rivers, mountains, the earth, etc.), 1:4-5.
Nothing can stand before the Lord's indignation and anger, 1:6.
The Lord is good, 1:7.
The Lord is a refuge in times of trouble, 1:7.
The Lord cares for those who trust in him, 1:7.
Here are some things I know for certain about the Lord because he has told us of them. These are just a few from the first chapter of Nahum. Can you find other things about the Lord in Nahum's vision that would help us understand and know him?
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
What will it be? God's kindness or God's justice? - 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 heart and mind in Nahum 1:2-3; 7,
"The Lord is a jealous and avenging God;
the Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath.
The Lord takes vengeance on his foes
and vents his wrath against his enemies.
The Lord is slow to anger but great in power;
the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished.
His way is in the whirlwind and the storm,
and clouds are the dust of his feet.
The Lord is good,
a refuge in times of trouble.
He cares for those who trust in him..."
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
"The Lord is a jealous and avenging God;
the Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath.
The Lord takes vengeance on his foes
and vents his wrath against his enemies.
The Lord is slow to anger but great in power;
the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished.
His way is in the whirlwind and the storm,
and clouds are the dust of his feet.
The Lord is good,
a refuge in times of trouble.
He cares for those who trust in him..."
As the Lord announces his judgment against Nineveh, his two primary qualities are on display. In verses 2-3 he proclaims himself to be jealous and avenging, wrathful. He may be slow to anger, but he gets there, and when he does he is "great in power." He will not leave "the guilty unpunished" as all sin will be paid for at some point. The folks that find themselves in the cross-hairs of the Lord's judgment are "his foes", "his enemies", "the guilty."
Just several verses later in chapter one we read that the Lord is good and that he is to be a trusted refuge in times of trouble, and, importantly, "He cares for those who trust in him." Throughout the Scriptures, beginning particularly in Genesis 15:6, where we are told "Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness" we learn the way to God's magnanimous heart, to become a recipient of his loving kindness, mercy and grace, is to embrace him in faith. "He cares for those who trust in him."
As the Lord says of himself in Jeremiah 9:24, "let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight." Those who embrace the Lord in faith will experience his kindness, those who choose to remain at odds with him will experience his terrifying justice.
Beyond any other possible threat, the greatest refuge needed is a refuge from God's own wrath. Our faith and trust in him secures that. Something to think about today.
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Is it global warming? Or is it rebellion against 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 heart and mind in Micah 7:13,
"The earth will become desolate because of its inhabitants, as the result of their deeds."
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
"The earth will become desolate because of its inhabitants, as the result of their deeds."
The desolation that comes to the earth is at the hand of God. It is his response to the deeds of mankind. What are the deeds that brings God's desolation upon the earth? As we listen to Micah, it is sin - rejection of God and rebellion against him.
As I read of the desolation of the earth, I don't read of carbon footprints here. I don't see anything about man-made global warming. Nothing about polar bears being swept out to sea and baby seals dying at the hand of mankind's developing economies, technologies and productivity. Here is a desolation that has nothing to do with "Big Oil", "Big Pharmacy" or whoever the current bugaboo is of the political left, the progressives (both Democrat and Republican), the socialists and communists, the "global crowd".
No, what we read of here in Micah's prophecy is sin. The sinful acts of mankind. And... they are not of the environmental type. God's desolation of the earth is due to man's rebellion against him, man's morally sinful activities manifesting his rejection of God.
I has always been a fascination to me to watch those who pollute themselves and one another, our communities, our nation through immorality, through the slaughter of innocents by way our abortion practices, by the embrace of homosexuality and other perversions - how they always seem to be attempting to clean other things up , like the environment, like our attitudes and political correctness... you get the picture.
I have to ask, what good does it do to recycle, to have our cars tested for emissions, to mandate crushing EPA rules and regulations when the filth in our lives themselves are bringing God's desolation on earth anyway?
Just a thought this morning...
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!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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