The Faults of Biblical Heroes - 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 Chronicles 5:1,

"The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (he was the firstborn, but when he defiled his father's marriage bed, his rights as firstborn were given to the sons of Joseph son of Israel; so he could not be listed in the genealogical record in accordance with his birthright...)"

In Genesis 35:22 we read. "While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father's concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard of it." Reuben, the oldest of the twelve sons of Jacob (Israel) had sex with one of the four women that gave birth to the twelve sons that made for the twelve tribes of Israel. That is, he slept with his brothers' - Dan and Naphtali - mother. We would view it as Reuben having slept with this step mother, although the domestic arrangements would have been other than what we are familiar with in our day. Nonetheless, it was a wicked thing to do and cost him his rights in that culture as the firstborn.

From time to time we hear those who mistakenly believe the Bible is a collection of literature that men of power put together to keep the masses under control. An invention to keep thought and discourse under the thumb. As such it was written to inspire total devotion and adherence to its teachings. This is an argument advanced to object to the Scripture's own teaching that the Bible is inspired by God himself, as co-author with the various prophets who produced the sixty-six books that comprise it.

The big gaping hole in that argument, however, is the observation that its heroes are presented to us as anything but models of moral perfection and sinlessness, something you might expect if the Bible was written to influence and dominate the masses.

Abraham, Issac, Jacob, the sons of Jacob, Moses, Aaron, David, Peter... it seems all the heroes of the faith have accounts in the Scriptures that document their weaknesses, their sinfulness, their shortcomings.

Obviously, a work of literature that was intended to manipulate people would not be forthcoming about any weaknesses of those that literature provides as its heroes.

Why does the Bible contain these accounts of the shortcomings of those held up to us as its heroes? It is simply because the Bible is exactly what it claims to be. It is the inspired word of God and provides us what he wants us to know. It accurately describes the people and events it covers.

One of the things we learn from Scripture is that, although faith brings us into God's family, faith does not make us perfect in this life - just read the stories and find out for yourself. Obviously those who hold to the false ideas about the origin of the Bible spend less time reading it as they do telling the rest of us what is wrong with it. Perhaps if they spent a little more time in its pages, they might come around to what the rest of us know to be true.

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!

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Always Something New - Not Noticed Before - 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 Chronicles 4:17-18,

"One of Mered's wives gave birth to Miriam, Shammai and Ishbah the father of Eshtemoa... These were the children of Pharaoh's daughter Bithiah, whom Mered had married."

The opening chapters of Chronicles provides us an historical skeletal outline of the genealogies of some of the people we meet in the pages of Scripture. As such, it can be somewhat daunting, somewhat tedious to read through it.

Jewish tradition identifies Pharaoh's daughter Bithiah (whose name means "daughter of God") in 1 Chronicles 4:17-18, as the very one who rescued baby Moses from the bank of the Nile and raised him as her own. If that be the case, then it certainly adds real interest to the account we find in Exodus 2:1-10. Did Pharaoh's daughter of Exodus 2 marry the Jew, Mered, from the tribe of Judah?

Whether that be the case is something I'm not sure of, but it does point to reality that there is a lot of history that stands behind these names. What took place in the lives of these listed here? What part did they play, if any, in God's grand plan of redemption of all mankind? How many of them will we meet in the resurrection?

This is just a tidbit of something interesting I never noticed before, something that I came across while reading the book through this time. It illustrates a feature I always find: most every time I read through a book of Scripture, no matter the genre or book, I see things I hadn't noticed before.

I'll bet you do too!

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!

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Get in the Lord's Way and Get Taken Out - 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 Chronicles 3:4-5,

"David reigned in Jerusalem thirty-three years, and these were the children born to him there: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan and Solomon. These four were by Bathsheba daughter of Ammiel."

I note there was one other son born to David and Bathsheba in Jerusalem not listed here, an unnamed boy who died a few days after birth. This was the first child David and Bathsheba had. The death of the baby was a judgment from God for the sins of David when he took Bathsheba, Uriah's wife, and then murdered Uriah in an attempt to avoid the scandal the pregnancy presented. The baby was the result of David's initial adultery with Uriah's wife.

As I say, this first son was taken by the Lord as a judgment of David's sin. In 2 Samuel 12:15-16 we read, "... the Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife [Bathsheba] had borne to David, and he became ill. David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground." In verse 18 we read, "On the seventh day the child died."

In the previous chapter, we have the documentation of Judah's offspring, two of which, sons, were taken by the Lord as well, Er and Onan. We are told in Genesis 38 that both were wicked in the sight of the Lord and so he put both of them to death.

What we see here is that the Lord can, and does, at times, take people out - brings about their deaths in what we might consider an untimely fashion. In the case of these three, two were wicked and one had done nothing wrong - his father, David had and the Lord set about to get his attention.

Does this kind of thing still happen? These accounts took place 3 and 4 millennia ago. How about in the church age? Would the Lord do such a thing during this age? Consider the case of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11. I'll let you look it up - but we see the Lord can and does take people out as he sees fit.

It appears to me that this can be the kind of action the Lord may take when individuals find themselves squarely at odds, or in his way as he pursues the building of his kingdom, his family. He will not allow anyone to stand in his path as he pursues his agenda, and it is not beyond what he may do in order to achieve it.

Although we are told Judah's first two boys were put to death because they were evil in the eyes of the Lord, this is different than his judgment of sinners for their sins. That comes at his great white-throne judgment when he casts all who refuse his offer of salvation into that fiery lake of burning sulfur, Revelation 21:8. We are all going to die some day, and that day just might arrive sooner than later if we get in the Lord's way.

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!

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The Fascinating Scriptures! - 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 Chronicles 2:3-4,

"The sons of Judah: Er, Onan and Shelah. These three were born to him by a Canaanite woman, the daughter of Shua. Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the Lord's sight; so the Lord put him to death. Judah's daughter-in-law Tamar bore Perez and Zerah to Judah. He had five sons in all."

We read the account of Judah, and the sons born to him in Genesis 38. How was it that Judah had the twin sons, Perez and Zerah, born to him by his own daughter-in-law? In Genesis we read that Judah got a wife for his oldest boy, Er. Her name was Tamar. We are told Er was a wicked man so the Lord put him to death.

According to custom, Judah told his next son, Onan to sleep with Tamar to provide an heir to his now dead brother. However, although Onan slept with Tamar, he refused to impregnate her because the boy would be raised as his dead brother's boy and not his. The Lord found this an evil so the Lord put Onan to death as well.

Judah refused to give his last son, Shelah, to Tamar for fear he would wind up dead as well. Tamar, left without a son and no heir for her part of the family, plotted an amazing strategy. She disguised herself as a prostitute and placed herself in Judah's path. He, unknowingly, propositioned her and it resulted in the twins born to him: Perez and Zerah. Tamar now had her family heirs.

Genesis provides a fascinating account - one that is referenced in what may be viewed as a tedious portion of Scripture, the genealogical listing in the beginning of 1 Chronicles. If you haven't read it lately, I highly recommend it.

The Scriptures are anything but boring, or dull, or dry. To think so betrays a lack of exposure to them. Sixty some years of reading all kinds of things (as many do) and nothing I have found can match the color, the richness, the fascination, the evocative impulses that the Scriptures provide. Of course, the greatest contribution the Scriptures provide is the revelation of our Creator who had these things written for our benefit.

Reading the Scriptures is not a chore, but an enchanting delight! No wonder - considering who the author is!

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!

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Real People, Real Events - 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 Chronicles 1:1-4,

"Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah.The sons of Noah: Shem, Ham and Japheth."

The opening chapters of 1 Chronicles document a skeleton outline of the genealogical lines from Adam to Noah to Abraham and to the tribes of Judah. Included in the listing are some references to lines that go in other directions as well. Not all generations are documented here, but it provides something of a "Cliff Notes" summary of some of the generations.

Here in this first chapter, the text takes us from Adam down to Jacob (Israel). The second chapter picks up on the sons of Jacob that make up the tribes of Israel.

I am reminded that this is not just a list of names. The events and persons described in the Scriptures were real people that lived in real places that experienced the events documented - they actually took place.

For me, personally, what might be considered to be a dry bit of genealogical data, is the reminder that what I read of in the Scriptures is not something that just floated down from heaven without reference to real people and real events, but a factual account of the things of God within the affairs of real people who lived and died - people just as 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!

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God is a Consuming Fire - 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 Kings 25:6-7,

"He [King Zedekiah] was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where sentence was pronounced on him. They killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon."

When the Babylonians destroyed Judah, it was the culmination of the Lord's judgment for their spurning him. The Lord had given Judah fair warning that if they did not turn their hearts back to him, they would face his judgment... and face it they did.

Zedekiah was one of the dozen bad kings Judah had and the last that would rule over the southern part of divided Israel. The last thing this last king of Judah saw was his own sons being put to death, and then they put out his eyes. What a memory to carry to his death: his last vision was the slaughter of his sons.

The Lord's judgment against those who reject him is literally horrific and frightening. It is not what the devil and his demonic minions can do that should bring us our greatest fears. It is what the Lord can and will do to all those who fail to place their faith and trust in him in this life.

"... worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our 'God is a consuming fire.'" Hebrews 12:28-29.

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!

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Should Christians Have a Voice in the Public Square? - 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 Kings 24:14,

"He [Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon] carried all Jerusalem into exile: all the officers and fighting men, and all the skilled workers and artisans—a total of ten thousand. Only the poorest people of the land were left."

We are told in verse 20 that it was due to the Lord's anger against Judah that he "thrust them from his presence." Just as Judah's sister nation (the northern ten tribes of Israel), the Lord brought his judgment due to their corruption of idolatry.

We are told repeatedly that this king or that king of Judah promoted idolatry (with the exception of a few - eight of twenty) and that it led to the Lord's judgment of the nation.

While the "poorest of the people" were left in the land, all others were either put to death or carried off in captivity by the Babylonians, "officers and fighting men, and all the skilled workers and artisans". We are told ten thousand were taken into exile. In other places we read that even God's prophets suffered in the judgment of both Judah, and at an earlier time, the northern kingdom.

How many were idolators? Was every last man, woman, child that suffered the destruction of Judah an instigator that brought the Lord's judgment? Was there not a single individual that worshiped the true God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob left in the land? Were there godly people that suffered along with the truly guilty idolators?

If you recall, Elijah thought he was the only godly man left in all Israel. Paul references Elijah's complaint to the Lord in Romans 11:1-6. There Paul points out that the Lord always has a remnant of people - people of faith, people reserved for himself.

Without question there were godly people who suffered along with the wicked when the Lord brought his judgment against Judah.

I recall someone who once told me that since I was a Christian, my voice had no place in the public square in the discussion of abortion. It was wrong of me to "push my religion" on others.

Nothing could be further from the truth! We all have a stake in influencing our nation to godliness!

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!

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Limited 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 Kings 23:26,

"Nevertheless, the Lord did not turn away from the heat of his fierce anger, which burned against Judah because of all that Manasseh had done to arouse his anger."

Eight of the kings of Judah did what was "right in the eyes of the Lord" and the others did what was "evil in the eyes of the Lord." Josiah was a good king and rid Judah of all of the filth of idolatry his father, King Amon, and his grandfather, King Manasseh, had reestablished in the land.

"Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the idols and all the other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem. This he did to fulfill the requirements of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the temple of the Lord. Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses." Verses 24-25.

In spite of King Josiah's devotion to the Lord and his actions in turning the nation back to the Lord, the Lord had already had enough. No mercy, no matter what. Judah was at the end of the line and no amount of good deeds, no amount of pleading, no appeal to the love of the Lord would have any impact on the Lord's determined destruction of the nation. Judah was done.

It reminds me of a reality we all face today. Where many appear to presume upon the love of the Lord and his forgiveness, no one will enter the kingdom of heaven apart from embracing the Lord in faith in this life. Just as Judah faced a bitter and horrific judgment from the Lord, so will all who reject the Lord today. There will be no mercy, no matter what. No appeal, no opportunity later on.

The Roman Catholic concept of a half-way house following this life, Purgatory, is a pure fiction. Found no where in the Scriptures, found no where in the writings of the Lord's prophets, found no where in the Lord's teachings, it is a pure fiction invented by men involved in a bastardized form of Christianity, rife with its own filth of idolatry. Each and every human will leave this life for one of only two destinations - heaven or hell. Those who embrace Jesus Christ in faith will be headed to heaven, and those who do not will be headed to hell. There will be no appeal, no opportunity to "take care of it later".

We all die, and when we do, our destination is firmly fixed - just as Judah's destination was fixed when they discovered the limited nature of the Lord's mercy.

Don't put it off! Embrace the Lord 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!

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God Just May Change Something Because of What You Say or Do - Ruminating on 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 Kings 22:19-20,

"Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I have spoken against this place and its people—that they would become a curse and be laid waste—and because you tore your robes and wept in my presence, I also have heard you, declares the Lord. Therefore I will gather you to your ancestors, and you will be buried in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place."

When the Bible, the "Book of the Law" was discovered in the temple during the reign of King Josiah of Judah, he tore his robes in great grief and sorrow over the abject treatment of the word of God and the judgment that treatment of it would bring. He humbled himself. The Lord did not manipulate him to be humble... it was within his heart he was humbled and horrified. Others treated the word of the Lord with contempt as demonstrated in the fact it was lost and neglected somewhere in the temple, but Josiah was different. He had a heart for the Lord and what it was the Lord had to say.

By this time, due to Judah's rejection of the Lord, the Lord had decided to have Judah destroyed with a remnant of people carried away in captivity. Because of Josiah's heart, his humility, and his reaction to what he discovered in the Scriptures, the Lord decided to spare Josiah the disaster that was going to befall Judah. It would take place following his death.

Here is yet another clear example of the Lord responding in real-time to the actions and attitudes of a person. Pop theology today declares that because the Lord is sovereign, all that happens must be the Lord's doing. If a person repents, the Lord made him repent... you know the drill. It denies God has given mankind a free will to make choices and take actions that may either please him or anger him and result in the Lord changing what he may do.

All such theology clearly thrives on the cherry-picking of selected passages of Scripture, to the neglect of the full counsel of God's word. God demonstrates to us through his word, in a great number of places, that he may change what it is he may be doing based on what a human may say or do.

This is why prayer and humbling ourselves before the Lord is so important.

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!

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A Dog Returns to its Vomit - 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 Kings 21:1-6,

"Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. His mother's name was Hephzibah. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he also erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole, as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them. He built altars in the temple of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, 'In Jerusalem I will put my Name.' In the two courts of the temple of the Lord, he built altars to all the starry hosts. He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced divination, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger."

Manasseh succeeded his father, Hezekiah, on the throne of Judah. Hezekiah was a good king -  doing what was "right in the eyes of the Lord." We read the following about him, "In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother's name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done. He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.) Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the Lord and did not stop following him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses. And the Lord was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook." 2 Kings 18:1-7.

Manasseh reestablished all of the idolatry his father Hezekiah had rid Israel of. Of note, Hezekiah's father, King Ahaz was an evil king. "In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign. Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. Unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God. He followed the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire, engaging in the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places, on the hilltops and under every spreading tree." 2 Kings 16:1-4.

Of the twenty monarchs Judah had, eight did what was "right in the eyes of the Lord" and the rest did what was "evil in the eyes of the Lord." In successive generations of kings in Judah we see the southern kingdom either led to the Lord by the king, or led into idolatry by the king. You might think these kings would get a clue. However, that sinful nature all mankind is infected with draws people in any direction that is away from the Lord.

The two books of Kings can be somewhat exasperating while reading of what seems to me to be a generational approach to the proverb: "As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly." Proverbs 26:11. If it is exasperating for us to read about this history of Israel, I wonder how it made the Lord feel as he observed 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!

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God Responds to Us - 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 Kings 20:1,

"This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover."

The Lord sent the prophet Isaiah to tell the good king Hezekiah that he was going to die. He had some kind of life-threatening boil on his body and the Lord told him he would not recover from it.

Fairly simple, right? God's prophet told the king what was going to happen.

But... it didn't happen! Was God mistaken? Not at all. We are told that when King Hezekiah received the word of the Lord that he was going to die, he prayed. When he prayed the Lord listened and sent Isaiah back in to see the king as he was on his way out of the court.

Following Hezekiah's prayer, the Lord told him, "This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the Lord. I will add fifteen years to your life." Verses 5 and 6.

Clearly the Lord made a change in response to what Hezekiah had done (his prayer). This conflicts with the theology of many today. In many quarters it is thought that our sovereign and transcendent God determines all that will happen. It would be their understanding that the only reason Hezekiah had prayed was because the Lord determined he would, and that the Lord had always intended all along to heal him. However, that is not the intended thrust of the passage. We are clearly presented with a set of events where the Lord says one thing will happen, and then changed what was going to happen based on what a man did. We see this with Moses and others within the pages of Scripture.

The fact that God answers our prayers demonstrates the Lord will change things based on choices we make - like prayer. God has created us with a free will, and when we exercise that free will it can change what God may or may not do. In Hezekiah's case, it turned out to be an additional 15 years of life.

What we choose to do in this life can result in a response from God that we might consider as something good or not good for us. God didn't make us as robots. He created us in his own image, which includes the free exercise of our own volition.

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!

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What Faith Looks Like - 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 Kings 19:14-16,

"Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: 'Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God...'"

When King Hezekiah of Judah received a threatening letter from Sennacherib, king of Assyria (the nation that destroyed northern Israel), he took the letter to the temple and laid it out before the Lord. He sought the Lord's intervention, help and strength to ward off this lethal enemy.

We are told in 2 Kings 18:5, "Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him." Here he manifests his faith by seeking refuge and help from the Lord. This is what faith looks like.

This was not all Hezekiah did in response to that which was threatening, but clearly, he sought the Lord's help with what was an insurmountable danger. He displayed the same confidence in the Lord as seen in David's confession in Psalm 18:2, "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."

This is what faith looks like. This is how faith acts. This is the confidence of faith. This is the assurance of faith.

The great threat all of us face is the Lord's wrath looming over each one of us for the sin in our lives. We will all face judgment day with the Lord as our judge. It is by faith and faith alone that we can find refuge from this horrific threat by embracing the Lord himself in the kind of faith that Hezekiah demonstrated twenty-seven hundred years ago.

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.

Objects of God Becoming Objects of Idolatry - 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 Kings 18:3-5,

"He [King Hezekiah of Judah] did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done. He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.) Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him."

Hezekiah was one of the good kings of Judah - the most godly according to this passage. This text provides for us some of the actions of Hezekiah that demonstrated his contempt for those things the Lord had contempt for - the trappings of idolatry.

One of these actions, I notice, was to break into pieces Moses' bronze snake. We read of this bronze snake being made by Moses at God's command in Numbers 21:4-5.

Following the exodus from Egypt, and having to travel around Edom, the Israelites became impatient and spoke against God and Moses. Due to this, the Lord sent poisonous snakes among them that caused a number of casualties. They came to Moses and begged him to ask the Lord to remove the snakes.

When Moses approached the Lord, the Lord told Moses to make a bronze snake, put it on a pole so that if any Israelite was bitten, if they looked to the snake they would survive. (I note the Lord didn't remove the snakes, but provided a "healing" if anyone might be bit - there is a whole thought that should be given to that.)

Fourteen hundred years later, Jesus used the account of the bronze snake as a metaphor in his conversation with Nicodemus, "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him." John 3:14-15. Here we recognize the purpose the Lord had in mind all along when he had Moses make the snake and put it on a pole - it was a "type", prophetic of Jesus Christ. We are all bitten by the poison of sin, however, if anyone "looks" to Jesus Christ, he will be spared his eternal life.

What comes to my mind this morning is how something - even something provided by God or commanded by God can become an object of idolatry and sin. Where an initial purpose for something may have been good and appropriate, man, in his lost and fallen condition finds a way that perverts those kinds of things such they become in themselves idolatrous or sinful in some way. The Israelites did it in their day and the church does it today. The perversion of many sacraments and ordinances in the church, the revering of saints with a devotion that is only appropriate for the worship of God, the veneration of relics etc. all demonstrate the proclivity of sinful man to drift to idolatry.

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!

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Conflated Religion - 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 Kings 17:41,

"Even while these people were worshiping the Lord, they were serving their idols. To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their ancestors did."

If I am following the text correctly here, "these people" refer to the pagans the king of Assyria deported to Samaria to replace the Israelites he removed. They came from Babylon, Kuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim.

Upon arriving in Samaria and taking over the towns, now empty since Assyria had defeated the Israelites, they brought their pagan gods and pagan practices with them. In response, the Lord sent lions that began killing them.

When brought to the attention of the king of Assyria, he sent some of the Israelite priests back to Israel to teach these pagans how to worship "the god of that country." The end result was they worshiped the Lord as they were taught by the Israelite priests, but also continued to practice their pagan worship. Conflated religion.

While we might scratch our heads in wonderment over such a bizarre thing... we don't have to look too far to see "conflated religion" practiced in all kinds of churches in our nation today. It is as if many groups, denominations, isms and schisms may as well just admit, "Yep, we got us a Bible, and we got us a Jesus! But, looky-here, unlike the other boys, we got us our own inside scoop!"

So many groups have wandered from the unadulterated truths of the Scriptures to take on their own "distinctives". All denominations cannot represent the truths of Scripture, since they contradict one another. Cults certainly cannot as they clearly contradict the Scriptures in obvious ways. But many start with the Scriptures and add their own "religion" to it. A "conflated religion"

It is not up to us to worship with just any group. If we do, we may be no better off than the pagans that were sent to occupy Samaria. It is our responsibility to read the Scriptures for ourselves and engage in fellowship and worship with those who cling to, and who practice the truths of the Scriptures. It is not good enough to go with what our friends, neighbors and family are accustomed to. We need to reach out to the Lord himself, as he has revealed himself in his word.

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!

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Foolishly Rejecting the Omnipotent One - 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 Kings 16:7-8,

"Ahaz sent messengers to say to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, 'I am your servant and vassal. Come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Aram and of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.' And Ahaz took the silver and gold found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace and sent it as a gift to the king of Assyria."

Ahaz was the twelfth king of Judah following Solomon's reign over all Israel. We are told he was, unlike the previous four kings of Judah, a bad king, "Unlike David his father, he [King Ahaz] did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God. He followed the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire, engaging in the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places, on the hilltops and under every spreading tree."

Ahaz was a man who did not embrace the Lord in faith. He neither feared nor revered the Lord. As such, when trouble came calling, rather than looking to the Lord for help, he went to the king of Assyria. In seeking help and refuge from both Aram and northern Israel who were attacking Judah, he sent the silver and gold from both the temple and the palace treasury in his request for help from Assyria.

In my thoughts this morning, I think of the foolishness of a king who could have had God Almighty on his side, he could have turned to the omnipotent God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for refuge and victory over his enemies.

Instead, pitifully, he rejected the One with transcendent power and strength, robbed the temple of the gifts of generations that had been given to the Lord and used it to seek the help of another human king. Tiglath-Pileser was king of Assyria and martialled the greatest military strength in the region, but... hardly the resource of strength the God of the gifts that Ahaz pilfered was.

And, so, today, we have many who reject the One who is powerful enough to pay for our sins and forgive us of them, powerful enough to raise us up from the dead to live for an eternity... enjoying eternal pleasures at his right hand (Psalm 16:11), filling us with the joy of his presence. Just as King Ahaz, many today look past the transcendent resource we all need for our challenges, to look to relatively weak and meagerly things that, in the end, will never help 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!

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Military Threat as a Tool in God's Toolbox - 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 Kings 15:37,

"In those days the Lord began to send Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah against Judah."

Judah experienced difficulties with Aram and northern Israel. King Jotham had his challenges in foreign affairs. I note the words, "the Lord began..." It was the Lord's doing that Judah had her problems with the northern ten tribes and Aram.

It is often thought the Lord wants us all here on earth to behave and "get along" with one another, all living in peace with one another. That is not what I read of and it is not how the Lord has revealed himself in the pages of Scripture.

In account after account I read of the Lord pitting one nation against another as he pursues his own agenda. The simple-mindedness of globalism and peaceful coexistence is a concept not shared by our Creator. In fact, we are told the reason God instituted nations among mankind was for a specific purpose he pursues, "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 17:27. God is pursuing us.

Why does our Creator do this? "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. It is through national identity that provides the context for nations to rise up against one another. It is this very frustration that will hopefully drive us to seek a refuge, a hope, a felt need to be saved.

If we lived in the world John Lennon described in his song "Imagine", we would all be lulled into feeling that this life, as a bed of roses is, in fact, a bed of roses and we just might be lulled into finding our fulfillment in a sense of well-being that belies God's coming judgement of us for our sins. He is drawing us to himself and helping us sense our need of his salvation by disrupting us in the fog of our estrangement from him.

Judah had gone astray... and we have as well. All mankind has gone astray and this is one way the Lord helps us, motivates us, to seek a refuge in him through our Savior Jesus Christ. He disrupts our lives, and often brings frustration and fear to us, to draw us to himself.

There is little in life that can compare to a looming military invasion to drive people to seek refuge.

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!

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Good Loses to Bad? - 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 Kings 14:12,

"Judah was routed by Israel, and every man fled to his home."

Following a victory over Edom, the king of Judah, Amaziah, called out King Jehoash of Israel to fight.

We are told King Amaziah was one of the eight good kings of the 20 monarchs of Judah. "He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord... " Verse 3. On the other hand, we are told, as was the case of all of northern Israel's kings, King Jehoash was evil, "He [King Jehoash] did evil in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit; he continued in them." 2 Kings 13:11.

When Amaziah called out Jehoash to fight, Jehoash attempted to dissuade him, "You have indeed defeated Edom and now you are arrogant. Glory in your victory, but stay at home! Why ask for trouble and cause your own downfall and that of Judah also?" Verse 10. We are told, "Amaziah, however, would not listen, so Jehoash king of Israel attacked." Verse 11.

Amaziah was routed by Jehoash and captured by him.

Here we have an account of a "good" king being defeated by a "bad" king. Why? And, why is this presented to us in the Scriptures?

I might surmise that Amaziah had become proud and arrogant, as Jehoash pointed out, after his defeat of Edom (in spite of the fact that he was a good king.) As such, the proverb might be observed, "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall." Proverbs 16:18. I suspect that might be the moral of the story. There is also no mention of the Lord's direction to Amaziah to call out Jehoash to fight.

Another observation I have is that just because someone "did what was right in the eyes of the Lord", not everything they do might be right in the eyes of the Lord. In any event, what we have here is a good king losing to a bad king in a military context. The Lord did not ensure the good man won, or the bad man lost.

I think there is a "take-away" for me here somehow… Might it have been that the good king needed an "adjustment" from the Lord? If so, then we see here a bad person used by the Lord to bring about what he desired in a good person's life.

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!

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Energy, Enthusiasm, Zeal, Excitement for Striking the Ground for 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 Kings 13:19,

"The man of God [Elisha] was angry with him [Jehoash, king of Israel] and said, 'You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.'"

Israel had been at war with Aram. When Jehoash, king of Israel went to see the prophet Elisha, who lay sick, Elisha told him to take some arrows and strike the ground with them. When Jehoash did so, he struck the ground just three times. We are told Elisha was angry with the king because he only struck the ground three times.

Elisha then told the king that because he only struck the ground three times, he would only defeat the Arameans in three fights. He went on to say that had Jehoash struck the ground five or six times he would have completely destroyed Aram.

As a prophet, Elisha represented the Lord and when Elisha asked the king to strike the ground, it was from the Lord. The Lord was asking Jehoash to strike the ground and it would be the Lord that would bring about the number of military victories relative to the number of times the king struck the ground with the arrows - the text leaving us the assumption Jehoash had no idea of the connection between his actions that day and the impact it would have on Israel's military victories over her enemy provided by the Lord.

At the end of the chapter we read that Jehoash defeated the Arameans three times and recovered Israelite towns that had been previously taken by them, verse 25. But... Aram was not destroyed.

The natural question I have is why the connection (unknown to the king at the time) between striking the ground and the number of military victories being determined by the number of times the ground was struck by Jehoash?

A thought that comes to me is that since Jehoash was being asked to strike the ground by the man of God, Elisha, Jehoash manifested his level of enthusiasm and energy, his level of zeal and excitement for doing the things of the Lord in the simple display. Unfortunately he didn't display much at all. Consequently when he displayed little for the Lord, the Lord would do little for his reign as king relative to military victory over his enemies. Earlier in the chapter we read, "He [Jehoash] did evil in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit; he continued in them." Verse 11.

How about us today? Do we have energy and enthusiasm for the Lord? What is our level of zeal and excitement for the Lord? How does that manifest itself in our lives? How might our answers to these questions represent what the Lord may be doing/not doing in our lives in apparently unforeseen ways?

Just a thought... how many times would I, would you, strike the ground?

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!

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Resources and Temple Repair - 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 Kings 12:4-5,

"Collect all the money that is brought as sacred offerings to the temple of the Lord—the money collected in the census, the money received from personal vows and the money brought voluntarily to the temple. Let every priest receive the money from one of the treasurers, then use it to repair whatever damage is found in the temple."

Joash was one of the good kings in Judah. "Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the years Jehoiada the priest instructed him." Verse 2. We see in verses 4 and 5 that he instructed the priests to use the temple resources for repair and maintenance, "the money that is brought as sacred offerings to the temple of the Lord" as well as other resources, "money collected in the census". Other resources from personal vows and what was brought voluntarily to the temple were to be utilized also by the priests. He told the priests to use these funds for repairs to "whatever damage is found in the temple."

As I think of this enterprise, which apparently stumbled in the beginning, it causes me to think of the temple made up of believers today.

Those who embrace Jesus Christ in faith are built into a spiritual house, "As you come to him [the Lord], the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." No longer does the Lord manifest his presence in a physical structure as he did the tabernacle, and later, the temple. He now maintains his presence in this world through the hearts and lives of his people.

As I think of that and as I think of the resources Joash devoted to the maintenance and repair of the temple in Jerusalem, it causes me to think of the maintenance and repair needed in the church today, where the Lord make his residence on earth. Not the church buildings, but the lives of those who make up the church here today.

What kind of resources might be required for the repair and maintenance of the hearts, minds, spirits of those who make up the church today? Where politicians feel the only fix for all the problems in our nation today is to throw hard earned tax dollars at them, and where the real interest of so many television evangelists and mega-church operators is the money they can fleece from the flock, those are not the resources that come to mind.

In 1 Peter 4:10 we read, "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms." Peter does not have money in mind here, he has special enablements the Lord provides us as his children. "Gifts of the Spirit", such as we read of in passages like 1 Corinthians 12-13 and Galatians 5. Here we find valuable resources available to us, rare resources that are not found just anywhere, resources that are only available to God's people.

However, just as the people in Joash's day had to work and make money to provide for the maintenance and repair of God's temple, so there may be work required on our part to be able to contribute toward the maintenance and repair of God's "spiritual house" today. One passage that comes to mind is 2 Timothy 2:15, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth." That is going to take some work on our part, some effort. However, the yield is impressive, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work" 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

Perhaps it is time to take stock in ourselves: are we contributing toward God's spiritual house here? Maybe it is time to open up that Bible, learn what the Lord has to say, and allow him to fill our tool box with things we can contribute with, more precious and valuable than what is often sought in the church 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!

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A Wicked Queen Through the Eyes of Proverbs - 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 Kings 11:20,

"All the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was calm, because Athaliah had been slain with the sword at the palace."

Athaliah had seized the throne of Judah for herself when she saw that her son, King Ahaziah, was dead. The first thing we read about her is that she set herself to killing her own family to protect her place on the throne. A wicked woman, she is considered to be one of the twelve bad monarchs of Judah, out of the twenty that followed King Solomon during the divided kingdom period of Israel.

I note the rejoicing of the people when they were finally rid of Athaliah. Rejoicing and calmness. This illustrates some of the truths we read about in the book of Proverbs.

In Proverbs 20:28 we read, "Love and faithfulness keep a king safe; through love his throne is made secure." Killing off the royal family may have seemed like a cunning way to make her throne secure, but it insured she would not enjoy a lengthy and satisfying rule over the people.

In Proverbs 29:4 we read, "By justice a king gives a country stability, but those who are greedy for bribes tear it down." Athaliah was anything but just and it was no surprise to read of the uprising that led to her destruction.

In Proverbs 29:14 we read, "If a king judges the poor with fairness, his throne will be established forever." This was not to be Athaliah's outcome.

In Proverbs 28:15 we read, "Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a helpless people." this certainly describes Athaliah's rule.

There are many other verses in Proverbs that speak to kings and rulers. It is enlightening to read how these truths are illustrated in the narratives we read in the Scriptures. There is a lot of truth, a lot of wisdom, and a lot of knowledge that can be gleaned from Proverbs. Of course, it requires reading and meditating to avail ourselves of the treasures contained in the book. A wise person will spend time there.

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.