Jesus is Lord! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in 1 Samuel 5:1-3,

"After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezerto Ashdod. Then they carried the ark into Dagon's temple and set it beside Dagon. When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord!"

Folks took something of the Lord and placed it where they thought best: right beside the other objects of worship in their lives.

While I suspect  there may be little exegetical reason to compare what godless idolaters do in a passage like this with marginal Christians (or those who fashion themselves as Christians even though they are not true followers of the Lord), nonetheless, I cannot escape a thought that requires such an exercise.

I don't know how many times I have felt that someone who was presenting themselves as Christian, whether in a church setting or otherwise, approached their assumed relationship with the Lord in a similar manner as these Philistines had following their capture of the ark of God. They take the Lord and place him (figuratively) in their lives as the spiritual component of an otherwise healthy lifestyle. The Lord goes into their lives in a space provided him alongside of the other pursuits in their lives... kind of like taking the ark of God and placing him in the local temple alongside an idol.

There is the healthy diet being adhered to, a regular schedule at the YMCA to stay fit, the reading of several books a month to stay intellectually stimulated and broadened, keeping up with the news, etc, etc and now- a church service on Sunday mornings to round out the lifestyle. I hope you get my drift here.

Just as the Lord did not allow his things to be placed along side of idols, so he is unwilling to be placed as a "piece" of anyone's life, alongside other pieces. We are told that a condition of being saved is to confess "Jesus as Lord", Romans 10:9. If his role is "Lord" in our lives, then he doesn't get placed along side anything. He takes that place in our lives over everything else.

Everything we choose to embrace in our lives has its place. Nothing but the Lord should be placed in his rightful place in our lives as Lord and he should never occupy any less place in our lives.

Remember: Jesus is 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

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Contempt for the things of God - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in 1 Samuel 4:22,

"The Glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured."

When the wife of Phinehas, the son of the high priest Eli, gave birth, it happened when her husband was killed and the ark was captured by the Philistines. Just as she was dying herself, she named the boy "Ichabod" which means "no glory."

While she was certainly right that Israel had lost the glory of God, I'm not sure her explanation as to why was accurate. To be sure, the ark of God had been captured by the Philistines. However, God was angry with Israel and particularly with the house of Eli.

Here is God's accusation of Eli and his family, "Why do you scorn my sacrifice and offering that I prescribed for my dwelling? Why do you honor your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choice parts of every offering made by my people Israel?... The time is coming when I will cut short your strength and the strength of your priestly house, so that no one in it will reach old age, and you will see distress in my dwelling. Although good will be done to Israel, no one in your family line will ever reach old age. Every one of you that I do not cut off from serving at my altar I will spare only to destroy your sight and sap your strength, and all your descendants will die in the prime of life." 1 Samuel 2:31-33.

The people of Israel and particularly the religious leaders treated the things of God with contempt.

There may be a message in here for us 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

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Me? Used by 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 1 Samuel 3:7,

"Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him..."

When the Lord first called Samuel, Samuel had to be schooled by the priest, Eli, to recognize it was in fact the Lord who was calling him.

I am reminded that those who have served the Lord in one capacity or another were normal people like you and me and had to be instructed in the things of the Lord, whether through another, as Eli with Samuel, or the Lord himself, as with Isaiah for instance. It took three years with the Lord himself and the arrival of the Holy Spirit to get the apostles up to speed.

Always exceptions it seems, though. I don't know what to think of John the Baptist. Here was a man who was functioning as a prophet even before he was born! "When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby [John the Baptist in his mother's womb at the end of the second trimester] leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit... 'As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.'" Luke 1:41, 44. (As an aside, you don't have to go any further than this passage to recognize the practice of abortion is murder.)

Outside of John the Baptist and a few others, the folks that served the Lord in specific and unusual ways in the Scriptures did not arrive at their occupation by "earning it" or developing those "spiritual disciplines" who transformed themselves into what we might think as spiritual elites. No, they were just like you and me, tapped by God and prepared by him for service, either through the agency of others God used, or directly by God himself.

Did any of them know their lives would take such a turn? I suspect not. There seems to be little, if any, indication they were. Just look at Moses. The man thought the Lord had made a mistake by choosing him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt to the holy land.

Which brings my thoughts to you and me. No matter what you do or where you are, how do you possibly know how God might specifically use you in his agenda? We don't want to find ourselves to be one of the mockers who say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." 2 Peter 34.

The things of God may become very active and impacting at any moment... and the Lord just may use any of us in important ways in the midst of carrying out his agenda.

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 greatest Christmas message! - 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 1 Samuel 2:6,

"The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up."

I am reminded that it was the Lord who visited judgment on mankind in the garden of Eden. Where God's intention was that mankind live forever in a paradise he created specifically for them, they turned their backs on their Creator and rebelled against him. He had given them both a free will and a fair warning. If they sinned, they would die. Death came to mankind when, following the temptation by Satan, they sinned.

However, as Hannah acknowledges in one of the most beautiful and insightful of prayers in the Scriptures, God indeed brings death but he also makes alive!

God has provided a way for mankind to be restored to him in everlasting life lived within the pleasures found at his right hand, Psalm 16. In that psalm David exclaims his excitement in the truth of Hannah's prayer: God not only brings death but he also makes alive. In Psalm 16:9-11, "Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand."

Following our physical deaths in this life, God has promised all who embrace him in faith the resurrection to eternal life. "Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God." John 1:12.

God has accomplished this by sending his Son, Jesus Christ, to pay for the sins of all mankind when he died on that cross. That payment gets credited to our account with God when (and if) we place our faith and trust in him. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."

I can't think of a better Christmas message, can you?

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

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A failure to bless? - 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 1 Samuel 1:3-8,

"Year after year this man [Elkanah, the father of Samuel] went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord. Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb. Because the Lord had closed Hannah's womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. Her husband Elkanah would say to her, 'Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don't you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don't I mean more to you than ten sons?'"

Here is a man who had two wives, and from this account he certainly loved the one, Hannah, who was barren. In the context of this culture, this was a disgrace for her and it effected her deeply. Given her rival's, (Elkanah's other wife, Peninnah's) abuse, it was certainly a big issue in Elkanah's home.

However, Elkanah was a man who worshiped the Lord faithfully. Since he he loved Hannah deeply and was certainly concerned for her, why did the Lord withhold a child from this couple, especially given both Elkanah's and Hannah's devotion to the Lord?

From the account we are provided, they both worshiped the Lord in heartfelt ways. We are told specifically that the Lord was responsible for Hannah's barrenness - why was the Lord not blessing this marriage with children?

Today it is often peddled about that if we devote ourselves to the Lord, if we engage in all the spiritual disciplines a follower of Jesus Christ should engage in, if we have faith, if we send in our faith-pledge to the TV evangelist, God will bless us in all the ways we want. Bills all paid off, kids all healthy, a nice big three bedroom ranch with two luxury cars in the garage... you get the point. Yet this account of Hannah and Elkanah doesn't seem to square at all with a lot of the things people say today, and I certainly don't read anything in the new covenant that explains the disparity.

There is a lot that is passed around, from the pulpit, in home "Bible studies", and among believers that really doesn't square at all with the Scriptures. Hannah was not blessed with a child because the Lord was preparing her to give up the child he would eventually provide her to be reared at the place of worship by the priest, Eli. His name would be Samuel and he would become Israel's last judge, a great prophet and Israel's king-maker.

God will simply not be reduced by our assumptions about him and his ways. We really need to become acquainted with the Scriptures to insure we are sufficiently and authoritatively schooled in the things of God.

Before you let anyone tell you that you are not being blessed by God (in some way that we may define it for ourselves) because you are not devoted to God enough, or that there is probably some sin in your life (as the friends of Job accused him of), or you simply lack the faith, you may want to make sure God is not doing something you are not expecting in and through you. After all, it is clear Hannah had no idea the Lord was afoot in her life, and must have felt God was distant from her, when all along, he was doing something astonishing in and through her. Just not in a way she was expecting...

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 cost of worship - 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 2 Samuel 24:24-25a,

"But the king [David] replied to Araunah, 'No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.' So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels of silver for them. David built an altar to the Lord there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings."

David had committed the sin of faithlessness. In Romans 14:23 we read, "everything that does not come from faith is sin."

David had sent the commanders of his army to take a head count to see how strong their military might was. In this single act of David's suspension of faith in the Lord, he expressed a temporary perception that all of the victories Israel had accomplished were due to their own military strength and not God's intervention on Israel's behalf. Joab protested, "May the Lord your God multiply the troops a hundred times over, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king want to do such a thing? Verse 3.

David was resolute, a counting of the troops was performed and the Lord judged the nation for David's lapse of faith. Although David became "conscience-stricken" over what he had done, verse 10, "the Lord sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the end of the time designated, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died." Verse 15. When the angel the Lord had sent to destroy the nation got to Jerusalem, the Lord stopped him and sent the prophet Gad to tell David to build an alter on the threshing floor of Araunah, "the Jebusite." The plague was stopped and David sacrificed to the Lord, expressing his worship.

We read in David's worship of the Lord through the sacrifice on the threshing floor of Araunah, (re-establishing the acknowledgment of the Lord as Israel's savior), that David would not sacrifice anything of anyone else's. He would only worship the Lord with something that cost him personally.

Here is something to be learned about our worship of God, if it doesn't cost us something personally, it will not express our heart for the Lord nearly as much as if it had cost us something. Consider the Lord's observation in Luke 21:1-4, "As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. 'Truly I tell you,' he said, 'this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.'"

The greater the cost to us, the greater the expression of love. The greater the cost to us, the greater the expression of worship. It is so simple, and so true. The question is, does the Lord get our best, our first, our most valuable? Whether it is time, energy, effort, money, "stuff", does the Lord get the best from us or simply what is left over?

As we look at what our worship of the Lord last week cost us personally, what does it express about the level of love, adoration and worship we claim to have for the Lord?

Convicting, 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

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Our God communicates! - 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 2 Samuel 3:3a,

"The God of Israel spoke..."

A simple statement that tells us a lot about our Creator.

That God spoke demonstrates his decision to communicate with his creation. He has something to say to us. He is not silent and he communicates with us.

We understand that since God communicates with us, he has his own intentions for us. There will necessarily be something of vital importance to us within what he has to say to us.

God has not only spoken through David, but also over forty others. What he has had to say to us reveals his desire we know about him, what he is like, "'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,' declares the Lord." Jeremiah 9:24.

Not only does God want us to know about him, he wants us to know his intentions, which all point to his Son, Jesus Christ, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." John 3:16-18

God also communicates to us that in addition to our potential for becoming objects of the intent of his love (through faith), he wants us to know we come into this world as objects of his wrath and judgment, "The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them." John 3:35-36.

How astonishing is all this! Our Creator communicates, and by virtue of who he is, whatever it is he has to say is something we vitally need to know! Time to knock the dust off that Bible and apprise ourselves of what it is our God has to say!

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 my rock - 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 2 Samuel 22:2-3,

"The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior— from violent people you save me."

"Horn" in this passage refers to strength. The Lord is the strength of David's salvation.

We live in a world of turmoil. Uncertainty, concern for loved ones (concern for ourselves!), concern for the future can trouble anyone keeping up with the news of the day. Liberal or conservative, progressive or libertarian, catholic or protestant, black or white, etc., we all live a troublesome existence as we view the events of the day.

The reality is that life in this age has always been this way. What we want for ourselves is peace and affluence. What the Lord wants for us is to embrace him in faith and become a part of his family. From God's perspective, life of peace, prosperity, a sense of well-being, happiness and fulfillment will all come in the resurrection. We have a taste for the resurrection today and seek to have it in this life, but... it can only become ours in the next life for those who embrace Jesus Christ in faith.

To help us find him, God brings troubles, worries and a disquieted existence into our lives, as he did David, to draw us to himself. to motivate us to reach out to him. "The creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God." Romans 8:20-21.

The Lord brought difficulties David's way and David found his relief in the Lord. A man of deep faith, David had his problems with sin as we all do, as revealed in his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband. While we may never be involved in murder or adultery, we all need to draw close to the Lord, first for our salvation, and then to sustain us till we reach his kingdom in the resurrection when we finally leave our sinful nature behind.

Till we enter his family in the next age the Lord brings those concerns, those threats, those frustrations our way to draw us to himself. The goal in this life is that we arrive where David did in confessing the Lord as our rock, as our fortress, as our deliverer. He wants us to find our refuge 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

We all may have to pay the price - 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 2 Samuel 21:14b,

"After that, God answered prayer in behalf of the land."

The reference to "that" in the above verse refers to the satisfaction the Gibeonites received after having been decimated by Saul when he was king of Israel. The satisfaction came in the form of seven males from Saul's family be put to death and their bodies hung in dishonor. God caused a famine in the land because of Saul's treatment of the Gibeonites and the famine was not removed till the Gibeonites were satisfied.

By this time Saul had already died. I note that these seven descendants of Saul were not directly responsible for the wrongs done to the Gibeonites, but yet they had to pay the price.

If nothing else at all is learned from this account, this should be: we may all have to suffer due to the sins of others in our nation that require God's intervention.

The next time anyone tries to tell you that your "Christianity" precludes you from weighing in on a matter, as in the practice of abortion by many in our country, or the acceptance of homosexuality, remember this. We may all have to pay for the sins of others within our country. It is to our own best interests to oppose ungodly things in our country. It is not just specific individuals that pay the price when God judges a nation for its wicked behavior. We all pay.

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

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Fickleness versus faithfulness

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 2 Samuel 20:2,

"So all the men of Israel deserted David to follow Sheba son of Bikri."

Dictionary.com defines the term "fickle" as, "likely to change, especially due to caprice, irresolution, or instability; casually changeable... not constant or loyal in affections."

David was ruling from Jerusalem, his son, Absalom ran him out of town and many Israelites then followed Absalom. Absalom was killed and David returned so the folks return to David. Now Sheba rebels against David and Israelites leave David to follow him. Israel was a fickle people.

Unstable, unsteady, inconsistent, vacillating and capricious. These are all words that describe the nation of Israel. Here it is documented in their lack of loyalty and fidelity to David. Elsewhere in the Scriptures, the fickle nature of the Israelites toward the Lord is often documented.

In speaking of the propensity of the Israelites to abandon the Lord and chase after lifeless idols, the Lord says, "'But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers— would you now return to me?' declares the Lord." Jeremiah 3:1. In calling on his people to return to him the Lord says, "Therefore tell the people: This is what the Lord Almighty says: 'Return to me,' declares the Lord Almighty, 'and I will return to you,' says the Lord Almighty." Zechariah 1:3. A similar call of God to his people is seen in Malachi 3:7, "'Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,' says the Lord Almighty."

The fickle nature of Israel toward their God-appointed king points to the fickle nature of the Israelites toward their God. And, it is not just Israel. All mankind is cursed with a sinful nature that predisposes us toward a lack of faithfulness and loyalty to our Creator, inherited from man's fall in the garden of Eden.

One of the wonderful "gifts" the Holy Spirit brings into our lives when we embrace Jesus Christ in faith is faithfulness itself, as the Spirit desires within us what is contrary to that old sinful nature, Galatians 5:17 and 22.

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

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David provides a glimpse of God's mercy - 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 2 Samuel 19:23,

"So the king said to Shimei, 'You shall not die.' And the king promised him on oath."

In Shimei's own words he had done wrong to King David. "May my lord not hold me guilty. Do not remember how your servant did wrong on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem. May the king put it out of his mind. For I your servant know that I have sinned..." Verses 19 and 20. As David fled Jerusalem at the approach of is son, Absalom, we read of Shimei cursing David as he fled. "As he cursed, Shimei said, 'Get out, get out, you murderer, you scoundrel! The Lord has repaid you for all the blood you shed in the household of Saul, in whose place you have reigned. The Lord has given the kingdom into the hands of your son Absalom. You have come to ruin because you are a murderer!'" 16:7-8.

Following Absalom being put to death by David's military, David returned to Jerusalem to take back the throne. En route, Shimei prostrated himself before David and begged for his mercy at having cursed David. In the passage above, we read of David forgiving Shimei and promising him on oath that he would not put him to death.

Shimei did not deserve David's forgiveness. At one of the lowest points in his life, David had to endure the hostility of Shimei.

In some ways I am reminded of an undeserved forgiveness by God for our hostility toward him. We are all born with sinful rebellious hearts and live in an estrangement and, often, a hostility toward God. We have all sinned against God.

Yet, God forgives us just as David forgave Shimei. As Shimei, we don't deserve God's forgiveness either. However, out of God's heart of mercy he does just that and, just as David provided reassurance to Shimei, God confirms his promise to forgive us with his oath, "Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. Hebrews 6:17-20.

Those of us who have embraced Jesus Christ in faith enjoy God's mercy, God's forgiveness, as well as his oath to do for us all he has promised. Just as Shimei was promised his physical life in this age, we are promised eternal life in the next to enjoy all the Son of God inherits from our heavenly Father!

How can it Get any better than that?!

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

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

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The Lord can work in wild ways - 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 2 Samuel 18:9,

"Now Absalom happened to meet David's men. He was riding his mule, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak, Absalom's hair got caught in the tree. He was left hanging in midair, while the mule he was riding kept on going."

2 Samuel 17:14b tells us, "For the Lord had determined to frustrate the good advice of Ahithophel in order to bring disaster on Absalom." The Lord decided it was the end of the line for David's son Absalom, who had attempted to seize the throne from David. Absalom did not have the Lord's approval to overthrow the king of his people and so the Lord determined to have his life ended.

The account above, with Absalom getting hooked by the branches of an oak tree until Joab could come and end his life is a reflection of the surprising tactics the Lord may use at any given time. What an odd thing to happen! And, it clearly was not happenstance that Absalom was swinging in the wind till Joab showed up.

I am reminded that the Lord may work, he may accomplish whatever he desires in ways I might never expect. I suspect that all of the wizards of theology who purport to know and understand just how it is God always works have a few things to learn themselves. Just sayin'...

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

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How to understand how God works in the world today - 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 2 Samuel 17:21-22,

"After they had gone, the two climbed out of the well and went to inform King David. They said to him, 'Set out and cross the river at once; Ahithophel has advised such and such against you.' So David and all the people with him set out and crossed the Jordan. By daybreak, no one was left who had not crossed the Jordan."

Here are a couple of verses that speak to the intrigue, the activity, the tactics employed by David, his spies, his men, as they maneuvered in their efforts to evade Absalom and eventually defeat him to return to Jerusalem. The throne was David's but his son, Absalom had taken Jerusalem, causing David and his men to flee.

The Lord was not absent in all of this activity. In verse 14 we read, "For the Lord had determined to frustrate the good advice of Ahithophel in order to bring disaster on Absalom."

If the Lord had determined to take out Absalom, why didn't he simply smite him dead? Why all the activity? Why all the drama? Why the need for all the intrigue and maneuvering by David and his men?

As we read the Scriptures it is very apparent that our Creator God has absolute control over his creation and all that takes place within it. He is supremely transcendent in his sovereignty over mankind. He could have done all kinds of things to accomplish the return of David to his throne and yet, he chose to make it happen by the unfolding of what David and his men did in response to Absalom and his men. If you were caught up in the action of the day, you might not even recognize how the Lord was involved behind the scenes.

We are told in Romans 15:4, "everything that was written in the past was written to teach us..." When we pray today for the Lord's involvement, it appears to me that if we learn how the Lord has done things in the past, as examples, we may be better equipped to confront our challenges today as we approach the Lord and ask for his help. He just may be doing things we are not seeing if we have not learned how he operates. We learn how he does things today as we read what he has done in the past so that we might be informed, equipped and encouraged. This is a big reason why we have the Scriptures available to us today. 

May all of us have a tremendous appreciation for the treasure-storehouse of wisdom and insight that books like 1 and 2 Samuel provide 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

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David encounters two men sent from the Lord - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in 2 Samuel 16:1, 5-7 ,

"When David had gone a short distance beyond the summit, there was Ziba,the steward of Mephibosheth, waiting to meet him. He had a string of donkeys saddled and loaded with two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred cakes of raisins, a hundred cakes of figs and a skin of wine.... As King David approached Bahurim, a man from the same clan as Saul's family came out from there. His name was Shimei son of Gera, and he cursed as he came out. He pelted David and all the king's officials with stones, though all the troops and the special guard were on David's right and left. As he cursed, Shimei said, 'Get out, get out, you murderer, you scoundrel!'"

In a defining time in David's life, the time he had to flee his beloved Jerusalem as his son, Absalom, attempted his overthrow, David encounters two men. Ziba and Shimei. Ziba was a steward of Saul's grandson, Mephibosheth, and Shimei was from the same clan as Saul.

When David encountered Ziba, Ziba had brought David refreshment, supplies and support. When David encountered Shimei, Shimei cursed him. It is not difficult to see in the account that the Lord had sent both men for each to have an encounter with David that day. One to encourage, and one to challenge, to test, to stretch in a very painful way.

David acknowledges that Shimei had been sent his way as he told his troops, "Leave him [Shimei] alone; let him curse, for the Lord has told him to. It may be that the Lord will look upon my misery and restore to me his covenant blessing instead of his curse today." Verses 11-12.

I am mindful that this is just the way the Lord works in our lives. He sends things our way that stretch us, that bring about maturity in us, that grow us spiritually and other ways. In Revelation 3:19 Jesus says, "Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent." In Proverbs 3:11-12 we read, "My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in." And in Hebrews 12:7, "Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?"

Yet at the very same time the Lord will provide us encouragement and refreshment, "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity." It is my conviction that when I need it in the midst of some struggle, the Lord is always faithful to raise up someone to encourage, to strengthen as Ziba did in David's life. As I look back on the hardships I have faced in my life, I recognize those the Lord sent my way to provide the encouragement, the refreshing, the strengthening I needed at the time. Our faithful Father is like that. It is what he does.

I am fully convinced that the Lord does not leave any of us, his children, to simply meander through life in the spiritual poverty we show up in his family with. He works in our lives. He brings those times of difficulties to stretch us and he also provides us those who will minister to our needs at those times, refreshing us.

Good to keep in mind as we face what the Lord may bring our way, just as he did when he brought Ziba and Shimei into David's life on that 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

Are we convinced all is good from our heavenly Father? - 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 2 Samuel 15:25-26,

"If I find favor in the Lord's eyes, he will bring me back and let me see it and his dwelling place again. But if he says, 'I am not pleased with you,' then I am ready; let him do to me whatever seems good to him."

As David fled Jerusalem when his son, Absalom, was en route to the city to seize it from his father David, as well as the throne, he spoke these words to Zadok the priest.

It is clear that David, a man of faith, placed his fortunes, his future, his life, in the Lord's hands. As his comment to Zadok makes clear, he was willing to embrace whatever it was the Lord might have for him, whether good or bad from the perspective of this life. David knew that ultimately, no matter what came his way, the hand of the Lord would ensure it was for good in the end.

Whatever the Lord has for any one of us who embrace him in faith is ultimately for our good. We may struggle to see the good of it when things come our way, but there is nothing the Lord is unaware of and there is nothing but his good intentions for each of us. I am reminded of Romans 8:28, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

Here is an example of wonderful believers who understood these things during the time of the writer of Hebrews, "Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions." Hebrews 10:32- 34.

Am I ready to embrace whatever comes my way as ultimately for the good from my heavenly Father who loves 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

The wonder of the heart of our merciful 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 2 Samuel 14:1,

"Joab son of Zeruiah knew that the king's [David's] heart longed for Absalom."

Joab was the commander of King David's armed forces and Absalom was David's son. Absalom had killed another son of David, Absalom's half-brother, Amnon, who had raped Absalom's sister Tamar. Having killed Amnon, Absalom had fled from David.

Joab knew David well and knew that David missed his son, Absalom, who was guilty before David. A plan was devised to bring about the return of Absalom because of David's longing for him. Due to his crime, Absalom was estranged from David and for the return of Absalom, David's character and nature would have to be assuaged. The eventual outcome of the hatched plan is given in verse 33, "Then the king [David] summoned Absalom, and he came in and bowed down with his face to the ground before the king. And the king kissed Absalom."

The one driving force that brought about this reconciliation (at this time) was David's longing for Absalom. Without attempting to make too strong of a parallel of this story to God's story of redemption for mankind, I can't help but be reminded that were it not for God's longing for us, just as David for his estranged son, we would have no opportunity for reconciliation with God. We would be without hope in this lost and fallen world, doomed to an eternity I shudder to think about.

The hope that we have for an eternal life of eternal pleasures at God's right hand, Psalm 16:11, is entirely because of God's longing for us all. I am reminded of what Paul had to say in Romans 9:16, "It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God's mercy."

How astonishing that mercy, given our sinful condition we created for ourselves! How remarkable that God would love us such that he would extend his mercy toward us! How amazing is God's heart that he sent his Son, Jesus Christ to pay for our sins that his mercy could be expressed to us!

How wonderful the heart of our 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

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The deception of sinful impulses - 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 2 Samuel 13:1-2; 15,

"In the course of time, Amnon son of David fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of Absalom son of David. Amnon became so obsessed with his sister Tamar that he made himself ill... Then Amnon hated her with intense hatred. In fact, he hated her more than he had loved her. Amnon said to her, 'Get up and get out!',"

Amnon, David's half-wit scum-bag of a son was attracted to his beautiful virgin half-sister in a big way. The account does not provide indication that the half-sister, Tamar, was responsible in any way for Amnon's intense attraction for her. To satisfy his lust for her, he raped her, and having his lust satisfied, he then hated her. The rape is what takes place between verses 1-2 and 15.

Like many things in our lives that can become a shiny glittering object of temptation for us, Tamar became that for Amnon. While most of us may not resort to the rape of a family member, we all experience the draw of temptation to whatever that object may become in our lives. And, we all get tempted.

I have to ask the question, (when I think of my own life), how often does that shiny object of temptation lose its luster, its excitement, its anticipated happiness or fulfillment when pursued and obtained by us?

The temptation to sin can become the greatest of deceptions, and only recognized as such after the act of gratifying it is actualized. The lesson here for me is that to be forewarned is to be forearmed. I need to keep in mind, no matter how strong the desire may come to be to commit that sin, no matter what it might be, it is deceitful - sin never satisfies in the end. God designed life together with the happiness, fulfillment and satisfaction it can bring. Sin is the antithesis to God's design and can never ultimately satisfy.

Why do we fall prey to the temptation to sin? We all, each and every one of us, have a sinful nature we have inherited from the fall of mankind in the garden of Eden. And, although we may fall prey to that temptation, we never have to gratify it. We're pretty good at deceiving ourselves that we have no choice in the matter... but, c'mon... really??? I am reminded of what Paul had to say, "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it." 1 Corinthians 10:13.

Here are a few good verses that helps us define what is sin in our lives:

"Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness." 1 John 3:4.
"If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do it, it is sin for them." James 4:17.
"...  everything that does not come from faith is sin." Romans 14:23b.

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

David: teacher's pet? - 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 2 Samuel 12:13,

"Nathan replied, "The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die."

How about that?! David commits the murder of Uriah and others with him (collateral damage in the effort to kill Uriah), and sleeps with his wife, impregnating her. After all that, when the Lord's prophet, Nathan, confronts David on the Lord's behalf, Nathan tells David, "The Lord has taken away your sin."

No problem? To be sure, there will be a reaping of what David sowed. The baby Bathsheba became pregnant with in the tryst with David will die. However, David is told the Lord will not otherwise hold this sin against David, "The Lord has taken away your sin."

Earlier, when Moses wanted the Lord to reveal himself to him, the Lord told Moses, "Yet he [the Lord] does not leave the guilty unpunished..." Exodus 34:7. So why does the Lord punish some for their sins, but not David?

The answer to that question resides in a fascinating look Paul provides of Jesus Christ. In Romans 3:25 he says, "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."

When Nathan told David the Lord had taken away his sin, that didn't mean the sin David committed was not paid for. Paul explains that God the Father sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to pay for all sins of all mankind for all time. This is why Jesus Christ died on that miserable cross. Forgiveness, the "taking away" of sin is appropriated when we place our faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

Peter makes this clear when he was given a vision that taught him, "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right." Acts 10:34-35.

No "teacher's pet" with God. Jesus Christ died for all people's sins for all time, whether committed before Jesus paid for them or at the end of this age. David was a great man of faith, recognized as one of the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11.

David was no "teacher's pet" in regard to sin, but as a man who embraced the Lord in faith, not only his sin in the murder of Uriah and his adultery with Bathsheba was forgiven, all of his sins were forgiven. Just like you and me when we place our faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

Read what Jesus taught about this himself, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." John 3:16-18. If we fail to embrace Jesus Christ in this life, our sins condemn us for all eternity. If we embrace Jesus Christ in this life we will be freed from the penalty of our sins for all eternity.

How can it possibly get any better than that?!

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

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

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To sin is to despise the Lord - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in 2 Samuel 12:10,

"Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me [the Lord] and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own."

When Nathan approached David to level the Lord's indictment of him for his murder of Uriah and his adultery with Uriah's wife, this statement from the Lord was included in the indictment. When David took Uriah's wife and killed him the Lord told David that his actions expressed a despising by David of the Lord himself.

After Nathan delivered the indictment, David confessed that he had "sinned against the Lord." Verse 13. In Psalm 51, a psalm David wrote of the incident, David said, "For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you [God], you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge."

The victim of David's sin was Uriah (and Bathsheba!), but his execution of that sin was against the Lord. Why is that? David knew the Lord, David was a man of faith and loved the Lord. David also knew God's righteous decree, his laws against murder and adultery. As such, the committing of those sins was the commission of an act against what God had decreed, and against God himself. In the very act of sinning, David subordinated God's desires to the gratification of his own sinful nature.

In what terms do we recognize our sins to be? Do we stop to consider, as we may contemplate some sin, that it is an expression of a believer to despise his God when he commits that sin? Something to consider here...

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

Collateral Damage - 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 2 Samuel 11:23-24,

"The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open, but we drove them back to the entrance of the city gate. Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king's men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead."

This is the report brought back to David from the front where David engineered the murder of Uriah the Hittite.

"Some of the king's men died." These "some" were David's men. Men who were fighting David's fight, men who were taking orders that were directly from David. Innocent men who died needlessly in a vain attempt to provide cover for David's adultery and impregnation of Bathsheba, Uriah's wife. We often fail to recall that David not only murdered Uriah, but the deaths of all these men, including Uriah, were murders - not casualties of war. All these men, honorable and obedient, died needless deaths in David's attempt to hide his sin.

What began as a furtive glance of sexual impropriety by a man that already had a number of wives, turned into an episode of lying, deceitful dishonesty, and the murder of a number of good, loyal men, including Uriah, as well as the adultery David engaged in with Bathsheba.

Sin has a way of slipping beyond our control, beyond our ability to keep it compartmentalized, beyond our ability to keep it contained. David was a great man of faith, a hero among those whose lives point the way to great faith, a man after God's own heart, and look at how his indulging in his lust for Bathsheba cost so much.

David, of course, as a man of God, was not beyond God's ability to know and confront David, which he did through the prophet Nathan.

So... I ask myself, if it was beyond David's ability to contain his sin, if it was beyond his ability to hide it from God, if it was beyond his ability to keep the whole of it under wraps, if it was beyond his ability to keep it from morphing into an episode that horrified even himself by what he had done... how about me? Do I ever think the sin in my life is something I can manage, I can control?

These innocent and loyal men who died were not the only collateral damage, damage turned its ugly face toward the principal in the episode: the one who allowed his time of temptation to get the best of 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 aggressive use of force - 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 2 Samuel 10:17-19,

"The Arameans formed their battle lines to meet David and fought against him. But they fled before Israel, and David killed seven hundred of their charioteers and forty thousand of their foot soldiers. He also struck down Shobak the commander of their army, and he died there. When all the kings who were vassals of Hadadezer saw that they had been routed by Israel, they made peace with the Israelites and became subject to them."

In these several verses a great truth in life is on display regarding international relationships. Diplomacy can provide for the well being of a nation, but that diplomacy will always be couched in the outcomes of the aggressive use of force.

The Ammonites had spurned a genuine expression of kindness by David and Israel, and greatly humiliated David and all of Israel. As a result war ensued. David and the Israelites defeated the enemy and when the kings who had been subject to Israel's enemy, the Arameans and Ammonites, they "made peace with the Israelites and became subject to them." Verse 19. Note that the diplomacy was couched in the realities of the aggressive use of force by David. Diplomacy is always couched in the realities of the potential aggressive use of force.

It is often recalled that the world is controlled by the aggressive use of force. What this truthful observation is short to recognize, however, is that the aggressive use of force is squarely in the hands of God. It is God who utilizes nations and the relationships they develop to his own ends. When the threat of an aggressive enemy, and its intent to use force imposes itself on others, it produces people who begin to reach out for refuge, for help, for relief. It is in this context the gospel operates with great efficiency.

Perhaps this sounds somewhat bewildering, but it is God who determines the nations that exist and he uses them for his own agenda. Listen to Paul as he speaks to the philosophers at the Areopagus, "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.

How does God utilize the institution of nations to cause people to "seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him"? We read in Romans 8:20-21, "For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God."

God uses the push and pull between nations, the aggressive threats imposed by some nations over others to bring people to a point where they begin to seek refuge, relief from fear, a desire to be rescued, a felt need for deliverance, and, hopefully, bring them to a point where they "seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him... " In this way God meets us well past "half way" in order to draw us to himself.

While our desire might be for a peaceful and hopefully prosperous existence in this life, this is not the agenda of God. This life is the stage upon which God seeks to make a kingdom and a family for himself from all who will embrace him in faith. This life is all about this one singular agenda of God. Real life takes place in the resurrection, not in this age. This age has one purpose and one purpose alone, to populate a kingdom, a people, a nation, a family for God in the next. One way God accomplishes this is by establishing within us a felt need for being saved, that we might reach out to him.

Unrest in the world, as well as the fear from concerns within a nation is an answer to prayer for God to "move mightily" in drawing the unsaved to himself. If those people who pray for such only knew...

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

New life with a place at God's table! - 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 2 Samuel 9:7,

"'Don't be afraid,' David said to him [Mephibosheth], 'for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.'"

I can't think of a better picture of God's grace for believers than what David did for Mephibosheth. Here in this account is a parallel to what God's kind words to us will be on judgement day.

I am unaware of anything Mephibosheth had done to earn David's gracious kindness toward him. In a lavish display of rich blessing, David gave Mephibosheth land that had been in his family and was now gone from him as well as appointing servants to care for him. Additionally, David gave Mephibosheth a place at his very own table! David told Mephibosheth he did it for his friend, Jonathan's sake.

I am reminded of the wonderful inheritance that is our because of Jesus Christ, "Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory." Romans 8:17.

This is something that becomes ours not because of anything we have done, "But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy." Titus 3:4-5. Indeed, as Mephibosheth, who was lame in both feet, verse 13, we likewise are lame - but of a spiritual nature, "What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. As it is written: 'There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.'" Romans 3:9-11.

Just as David gave Mephibosheth a new life with a place at his table because of his father Jonathan, so God the Father will grant us eternal life with a place at his table because of his Son, Jesus Christ.

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

God's agenda and a man of faith - 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 2 Samuel 8:1,

"In the course of time, David defeated the Philistines and subdued them, and he took Metheg Ammah from the control of the Philistines."

David had quite a few achievements for his resume. In this chapter alone we read he:

Defeated the Philstines
Defeated the Moabites
Defeated Hadadezer, king of Zobah
Slaughtered 22,000 Arameans

In verse 11 we read he subdued Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines and Amalek. We are told twice in this chapter it was the Lord who gave David his victories, verses 6 and 14, "The Lord gave David victory wherever he went." David was quite a military leader who defended Israeli territory and expanded it. In this chapter we read nothing of the kinds of defeats King Saul experienced, his final one ending his life in 1 Samuel 31.

As a man of faith, the Lord used David to establish Israel's existence as a nation to be reckoned with in the area. It would be from this platform, together with both her past experiences and the further experiences Israel would have with the Lord (mostly painful due to Israel's continual rejection of the Lord) that the Lord would use for the things Paul would enumerate a thousand years later: "Theirs (Israel) is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen." Romans 9:4-5.

David was a man of faith, a man for the times as it was the Lord's agenda to pursue what he did through David. I see two elements here: David's faith, and David functioning squarely within the agenda God had for Israel.

Something to think about here. As God's people, are we well-versed in what God's agenda is today? And, as David was, are we actively participating in those activities God is employing to pursue his agenda?

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

Consequences and blessing! - 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 2 Samuel 7:1-2,

"After the king [David] was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, he said to Nathan the prophet, 'Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.'"

David desired to build a temple for the Lord, a place for the ark of the covenant.

However, the Lord told David he was not fit to build it. We read in 1 Chronicles 22:7-10, "David said to Solomon: 'My son, I had it in my heart to build a house for the Name of the Lord my God. But this word of the Lord came to me: "You have shed much blood and have fought many wars. You are not to build a house for my Name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight. But you will have a son who will be a man of peace and rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side. His name will be Solomon, and I will grant Israel peace and quiet during his reign. He is the one who will build a house for my Name."'"

David was a great man of faith and was acknowledged by God. However, David's faith did not preclude the consequences of choices he made. David had shed a lot of blood, at times even killing every person who lived in various towns in enemy territory. "When Achish asked, 'Where did you go raiding today?' David would say, 'Against the Negev of Judah' or 'Against the Negev of Jerahmeel' or 'Against the Negev of the Kenites.' He did not leave a man or woman alive to be brought to Gath, for he thought, 'They might inform on us and say, "This is what David did."' And such was his practice as long as he lived in Philistine territory."

David was a great man of faith, and as such, he wanted to build a temple for the Lord - but the Lord refused him.

Likewise, in a sobering thought, we may find the things we do as believers bring consequences as well. While believers will not be judged for their sins, they may find they are not exempted from the consequences of those sins in this life.

However, notice something simply amazing: David wanted to build a house for God, and although God refused him, God told David he would build a house for him! "The Lord declares to you [David] that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom."

And, so, like David, even though believers may have to reap the consequences of poor decisions in this life, nevertheless, they will experience the ultimate blessings God has for those who are his- the wonderful riches of a lavish inheritance God has bestowed on all believers awaits 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

The presence of the Lord - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in 2 Samuel 6:11,

"The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months, and the Lord blessed him and his entire household."

The ark was to have been the representation of God's presence among the Israelites. We know that God actually resides outside of time and space, but here in this physical realm, God had chosen to manifest his presence among the Israelites, and specifically from the ark they carried with them in their wilderness wanderings together with the tabernacle created for just such a purpose.

Today, God manifests his presence in the world through his people. We are told that when we embrace Jesus Christ in faith, the Holy Spirit takes up residence within the believer. Jesus spoke of this coming wonder while here in John 14 and 16. Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit's work in our lives in a number of passages, such as Galatians 5:16-26.

God is at work in the world today, with his presence expressed in and through his people as they continue the work of God building his family. And, just as Obed-Edom's household was blessed with God's presence, so believers today are blessed as well.

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

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Victory in the Lord - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in 2 Samuel 5:23-25,

"David inquired of the Lord, and he answered, 'Do not go straight up, but circle around behind them and attack them in front of the poplar trees. As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the poplar trees, move quickly, because that will mean the Lord has gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army.' So David did as the Lord commanded him, and he struck down the Philistines all the way from Gibeon to Gezer."

Unlike King Saul, David sought the Lord himself and won victories as recounted here. As the Lord responded to David, David was assured victory. Saul could not find within himself the desire or need to turn to the Lord directly and take his confidence in him and represents all of mankind that rejects the gospel message.

Those of us who embrace Jesus Christ in faith can take great reassurance in God's provision for us. Whether it is getting through the trials and difficulties of this life, or facing our future beyond our physical deaths, the Lord is our refuge, our strength, our source of confidence.

David found this in his life, and so became our example of what a victorious life looks like. Just as the Lord promised victory, and as David followed the Lord, David reaped the victory, so God makes his promise to those of us today who live in faith.

In regards to our physical deaths, we can take confidence in God, of whom Paul said, "Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory.'" 1 Corinthians 15:51-54.

Listen to the victory John speaks of, "Everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God." 1 John 5:4-5.

Saul failed and became the poster boy of losers who reject Jesus Christ. David points the way for those of us who follow in the faith both he and his ancestor Abraham modeled for 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

Where is our confidence? - 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 2 Samuel 4:1,

"When Ish-Bosheth son of Saul heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he lost courage, and all Israel became alarmed."

Ish-Bosheth didn't last long. He only held the throne of the northern tribes of Israel for two years (2 Samuel 2:10) and was then murdered. It was precisely through his lack of trust and faith in the Lord that he foolishly placed himself in a position where he was doomed.

I note that when Ish-Bosheth heard the commander of his military, Abner, had been killed that he "lost courage". And, not just him but the rest of Israel. In spite of the fact that Abner had placed Ish-Bosheth on the throne (when God had appointed David for that), and that Abner had attained a powerful position within Israel, it was not to Abner Ish-Bosheth should have taken his confidence in, his courage in, his refuge in.

We read in Proverbs 11:7, "Hopes placed in mortals die with them; all the promise of their power comes to nothing." Ish-Bosheth maintaining his confidence in Abner was a personal mistake and a personal tragedy.

Ish-Bosheth can be contrasted to David who said, "In the Lord I take refuge. How then can you say to me: 'Flee like a bird to your mountain. For look, the wicked bend their bows; they set their arrows against the strings to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart. When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?'"

Consider what David had to say in Psalm 18:1-2, "I love you, Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold." 

What about us today? Do we place our faith, our trust in wealth, in success, in our spouse, in our friends, in ourselves, in some political outlook? Or, as David, have we placed our faith and trust where it belongs, where our Creator intended - in the Lord himself?

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

Politics, Corruption and Scandal - 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 2 Samuel 3:6,

"During the war between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner had been strengthening his own position in the house of Saul."

Following King Saul's death, his military leader, Abner, consolidated a political advantage for himself by placing Saul's son, Ish-Bosheth on Saul's throne. David was to be Saul's replacement, but he already had a military leader, Joab, and so Abner made his move as the commander of Saul's army to arrange things that suited his interests. "Abner son of Ner, the commander of Saul's army, had taken Ish-Bosheth son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim. He made him king over Gilead, Ashuri and Jezreel, and also over Ephraim, Benjamin and all Israel."

This arrangement by Abner would not last long. We are told Ish-Bosheth only ruled the northern tribes of Israel for two years. During that time Ish-Bosheth accused Abner of sleeping with his deceased father's concubine, Rizpah. We don't know for sure if Abner was guilty of it as he reacts (but without clear denial) to Ish-Bosheth in hostility. Were the accusation to have been true, sleeping with the previous king's concubine was tantamount to challenging the current king's throne.

In any event, Abner responded in outrage and told Ish-Bosheth he would deliver his kingdom over to David, his rival in Judah. "'May God deal with Abner [himself speaking here], be it ever so severely, if I do not do for David what the Lord promised him on oath and transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and establish David's throne over Israel and Judah from Dan to Beersheba.' Ish-Bosheth did not dare to say another word to Abner, because he was afraid of him." 3:9-11.  

In making good on his threat, following a meeting with David and having been dismissed by him, on the way home, Abner was murdered by Joab, David's military commander. In killing Abner, Joab avenged his brother's (Asahel) death at the hand of Abner earlier.

Politics, corruption and scandal. Sounds like the kind of thing we see all around us today. Yet, in the midst of all this is God... working to bring about the fulfillment of his agenda. We see that agenda played out all the way to the time when Jesus Christ would step into the world through the people of Israel.

The encouragement to me here is that despite how corrupt this world is, and the players that make it so corrupt, none of it is a match for our God. He has his own agenda, his own plans, and does all he decides to do to bring about his program of redemption.

Nothing can stop what God decides to do, despite the politics, the corruption and the scandal in this lost and fallen world.

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

Disunity: never a good sign - 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 2 Samuel 2:8-11,

"Meanwhile, Abner son of Ner, the commander of Saul's army, had taken Ish-Bosheth son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim. He made him king over Gilead, Ashuri and Jezreel, and also over Ephraim, Benjamin and all Israel. Ish-Bosheth son of Saul was forty years old when he became king over Israel, and he reigned two years. The tribe of Judah, however, remained loyal to David. The length of time David was king in Hebron over Judah was seven years and six months."

When Saul, Israel's first king, displeased the Lord, the Lord had Samuel, Israel's last ruling judge, anoint David to replace Saul on the throne. However, when Saul died, the commander of his army took Saul's son, Ish-Bosheth and made him king over the norther territory of Israel. We are told in this passage that the tribe of Judah embraced David as their king. This resulted in a divided Israel.

The nation would soon unite. However, it is instructive to note that as Israel struggled in faithfulness to the Lord, it fractured. It became divided. It would later reunite under David and remain so under David's son's reign, (King Solomon), only to divide again following the death of Solomon.

Here is what happens when a people no longer embrace their God. Having lost its way, any people will drift from the God who is bigger than them, any people will drift from the God who provides for them, any people will drift from the God who has called them to be one people. A divided Israel, in fact, became God's judgment of the nation for no longer following him.

The church is called to be one entity, existing in unity. We make up all kinds of rationale for having a divided church, but this was not the Lord's will that the church be fractured today, as Israel was then. Jesus prayed to his Father that the church would remain united, "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." John 17:20-23.

Paul stressed this need for unity within the church in Romans 15:5-6, "May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Clearly, today, with all of the iterations of Christianity expressed though differing fellowships, different denominations, different theologies, different personalities, the church has failed to achieve and maintain unity within itself as it bows to the lordship of Jesus Christ.

Just as a divided Israel represented a people who had lost their way, so the church, in its disunity represents a people who have lost their way in many aspects. This will not remain so, however, as when the Lord comes in his full glory for his own, all these differences will suddenly evaporate as weak and anemic faith, weak and anemic teaching, weak and anemic leaders will all give way to the thundering and magnificent approach of Jesus Christ to establish his kingdom here on earth.

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

Do we manifest the reverence for God David had? - 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 2 Samuel 1:27,

"How the mighty have fallen! The weapons of war have perished!"

The phrase "How the mighty have fallen" occurs three times in this lament of nine verses. David penned this lament and ordered the people of Judah be taught it.

As such, the lament tells us something about the heart of David. A man of deep faith and also a man who had his own struggles with sin, David had a vision for the big things in life. David had had his experiences with the Lord and had already accomplished some amazing things through the Lord by this time in his life. From my perspective it was these that framed his outlook.

Although sought by Saul (in an insane obsession to kill him), David never raised his hand against Saul. He had at least two opportunities to do so, but Saul had been anointed by God and so David would never harm Saul. This speaks not of David's respect for the man, but of a highly attuned veneration, a deep reverence for what was God's. Saul was God's chosen man to be Israel's first king, and his son, Jonathan, was his close friend he loved.

From this perspective David viewed the deaths of Saul and his sons as "the mighty" that had fallen.

It brings to my mind the respect, reverence and veneration we all should have of the things of God. Saul was God's anointed, and, likewise, today, there are many things in this life that are God's. For instance, to cast about and question God's choice of gender as he created us demonstrates a contempt for this reverence of God. To take the life of an unborn child demonstrates a contempt for this reverence of God. To invent our own religions, theologies, cults and "isms" demonstrates a contempt for this reverence of God. To question God's word, the Scriptures, demonstrates a contempt for this reverence of God.

To embrace the invitation God offers us in the gospel manifests the reverence of God David expressed. To uphold the truths of God's word manifests the reverence of God that David expressed. To protect human life manifests the reverence of God that David expressed. To participate with the Lord in the building of his kingdom manifests the reverence of God that David expressed. I am quite sure you could add to this list, but you get the idea.

May we all hold God, and those things that are his, in the reverence he is due, just as David did.

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

Without God's blessing: the end of King Saul - 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 1 Samuel 31:7,

"When the Israelites along the valley and those across the Jordan saw that the Israelite army had fled and that Saul and his sons had died, they abandoned their towns and fled. And the Philistines came and occupied them."

Saul became king over Israel when the elders approached Samuel, Israel's last judge, and demanded a human king be placed over them. The demand "displeased" Samuel, and the Lord explained to him that the nation was not rejecting him (Samuel) but the Lord himself, "it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king." 8:7. The Lord gave the nation over to what they demanded.

Samuel warned the elders of the disaster that would take place, but they "refused to listen to Samuel. 'No!' they said. 'We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.'"

1 Samuel 31:7 tells how it turns out with this first king Israel demanded. He died in battle with his sons (he fell on his sword after being wounded.) Following Saul's death and the scattering of Israel's army, the Israelites had to abandon their towns as the Philistines took them from the Israelites and occupied them.

No glory for Israel here. No example of what a nation who submits herself to God can become. Defeat, destruction, despair... here is the outcome for any nation that rejects the Lord.

How about us? Will we hit a tipping point where God is rejected by so many that his blessings are removed from our nation? Can we expect to see our nation turn out like so many losers on the international stage throughout recorded history?

The next time anyone tells you "your religion" has no legitimate presence in the public square, recall Israel here. Learn and remember what happens to a nation that rejects the Lord. If we have any care for our nation, believers need to be the loudest voice being heard; believers need to be pushing back against the darkness of what the spiritually dead are pushing into the national conversation, in the political arena, in social media, everywhere.

It was Christians who founded this country. It was believers who built it and it will require the same to keep it afloat. Never buy into the lie that believers need to keep their faith hidden behind church walls. As children are given an "F" for refusing to deny God's existence, as coaches are terminated for praying with their teams, as vestiges of what founded our nation and the cause of its blessings are challenged and rejected, what do you expect will keep it afloat?

Be strong, be courageous, be heard! Share the gospel and proclaim our nation's need of God.

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

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

What does this life look like for those of faith? - 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 1 Samuel 30:6,

"David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the Lord his God."

David was a man of faith. Of him, God is quoted as saying, "I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do." Acts 13:22. He is listed among those of faith in Hebrews 11:33-34 who, "through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies."

Often times, over the years, I have heard sermons, I have heard on religious broadcasting, I have read in books and Christian periodicals that because God loves us, he wants to bless us. If we but put our faith in him, will will have an abundant life here (defined as affluence and personal peace, the very same goals as the world pursues.) However, the writer of Hebrews goes on to say in 11:39-40, "These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect."

The heroes of faith did not find the kind of lifestyle so often offered in the name of the gospel. Certainly David experienced extreme hardship in this life, as demonstrated in my verse today, as a man of great faith. Here is a sampling of David's emotions and frame of mind as a godly man of faith, as noted in Psalm 142,

"I cry aloud to the Lord;
    I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy.
I pour out before him my complaint;
    before him I tell my trouble.
When my spirit grows faint within me,
    it is you who watch over my way.
In the path where I walk
    people have hidden a snare for me.
Look and see, there is no one at my right hand;
    no one is concerned for me.
I have no refuge;
    no one cares for my life.
I cry to you, Lord;
    I say, 'You are my refuge,
    my portion in the land of the living.'
Listen to my cry,
    for I am in desperate need;
rescue me from those who pursue me,
    for they are too strong for me.
Set me free from my prison,
    that I may praise your name.
Then the righteous will gather about me
    because of your goodness to me."

In this psalm I read of this man of faith that:

He felt faint because of his enemies.
He sought the Lord's mercy.
He had his complaint.
He had trouble.
He was in danger from his enemies.
He was in desperate need.
He was pursued by his enemies and they were stronger than he was.
He felt as if he were in a prison.

When it comes to what life in this age is like for people of faith, we need to face truth. We need to scour the Scriptures and learn for ourselves what they teach us this life is all about for those of us who have embraced Jesus Christ in faith, what life is like, what we can expect between today and the day we leave this life. Heaven awaits us, until then we live in a lost and fallen world filled with evil.

Why deceive ourselves with the peddling of silly child-like ideas which have no foundation in the Scriptures? Pastors who offer potential followers a life of ease, peace and prosperity - if they would join up and contribute financially, are charlatans and deceivers.

Read the Scriptures and find out for yourself!  

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