Where Arrogance Leads; What Humility Brings - Ruminating in the Word of God

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

"In that day seven women will take hold of one man and say, 'We will eat our own food and provide our own clothes; only let us be called by your name. Take away our disgrace!'"

In Isaiah 3:25 we read, "Your men will fall by the sword, your warriors in battle." So horrific will be the judgment of God upon his people that there will be few men left. In 4:1 the prophet tells us the women of Israel will be so desperate, they will beg what few men are available to take away their disgrace of being single. In that culture, remaining unmarried was looked down on.

So desperate these women will be that they promise to be no burden whatsoever to the few men they can find - if they would but take them and remove the stigma and disgrace of spinsterhood. What a far cry from the arrogance Judah and Jerusalem had toward the Lord! "The Lord Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted (and they will be humbled)," Isaiah 2:12.

In their arrogance, "They have forsaken the Lord; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him." Isaiah 1:4b.

Here is a great quote from John N. Oswalt in the New International Commentary on the Old Testament, "The situation would become so desperate that the ratio of men to women would be one to seven. No longer would there be any dependence upon flirtation and allure to 'catch.' Now the women would not even ask for support if they could only have some legal and social identity. Here is the final end of our desire to avoid dependence. We will become dependent in the most degrading and disadvantageous ways. Instead of the exaltation and building-up which comes from glad submission to God and one another (60:1–62:12), our drive to be sufficient in ourselves brings only humiliation, despair, and bondage."

And to think, all of this dependence, humiliation and desperation would be avoided if Israel humbled herself before 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!

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The Judgment Of Our God Of Love - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Isaiah 3:11,

"Woe to the wicked! Disaster is upon them! They will be paid back for what their hands have done."

As God reveals himself through the pages of Scripture, we find he has two qualities he delights in, two qualities he exercises, he expresses, throughout all ages. These two qualities Paul sums up as his "kindness and sternness", "Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off." Romans 11:22.

Here is how the Lord put it through his prophet, Jeremiah, "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..." Jeremiah 9:24.

When God pays back the wicked for "what their hands have done", he expresses his justice. His ultimate expression of justice for all mankind individually will take place in the great white throne judgment that we read of in Revelation 20. There we find that all people will be raised from the dead, and those whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of life will be cast into a fiery lake of burning sulfur.

Those whose names appear in the Lamb's book of life have their names there, not because of "righteous things we have done", Titus 3:4-5, but because they have placed their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, "To all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God", John 1:12. Also, "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 3:36.

While in this life, however, we can already find ourselves in the cross-hairs of God's judgement, condemnation and the misery his justice can bring to us. While we do not see a full accounting for the sins of each and every person in this life, when a person's sinful condition impinges upon the agenda God has of building his kingdom, he can certainly find himself as the object of God's wrath.

The parable of the weeds we read in Matthew 13:24-30 teaches us that individuals will not experience God's final judgment of them for their lives on earth until after the resurrection. Meanwhile, however, as demonstrated in the sinfulness of Judah and Jerusalem, and God's judgment of the nation, we can suffer plenty in this life for living a life in rebellion against God.

How thankful I am that Jesus Christ has already paid the penalty for all of my sins. How thankful I am he has made a way for me and that through him, I have been granted access into the family of God with my name entered into the lamb's book of life. How thankful I am that I do not have to face God's judgment! It only takes faith.

How about 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!

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Going Up To The Mountain! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Isaiah 2:3a,

"Many peoples will come and say, 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.'"

As a prophet of the Lord, Isaiah looks past the end of this age when, in the resurrection, people will seek the Lord who will be residing in Jerusalem. I am reminded of a striking passage in Revelation 21:1-3, 22-27:

"Then I saw 'a new heaven and a new earth,' for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.'... I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life."

As I look about myself in this life, how far has sinful man destroyed, distorted and perverted this world and the life our Creator had intended for us! As I look ahead to the restoration of things in the resurrection, how different, how wonderful things will be!

What a hope! What a cause for joy and rejoicing! What a future those of faith have to look forward to!

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 reply and let me know.

Israel At Odds With the Lord - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Isaiah 1:2-3,

"Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth!
    For the Lord has spoken:
'I reared children and brought them up,
    but they have rebelled against me.
The ox knows its master,
    the donkey its owner's manger,
but Israel does not know,
    my people do not understand.'"

God elected to bring into his family all mankind who would embrace him in faith. He found Abraham as a man who expressed that kind of faith he desired in people, so he made a covenant with Abraham that he would make a great nation of him. Initially this nation would be comprised of his own physical offspring. (Eventually it would include all people who emulate the faith of Abraham, his "spiritual offspring". See Romans 9:6-8; 30-33) His specific purpose for that nation, Israel, was to be the vehicle through whom he would bring his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to pay for the sins for all mankind.

When God called Isaiah to his prophetic ministry, sometime around 740 B.C., Israel was in great need of a course correction, hence the need for Isaiah's ministry. In the verses above we see the Lord as very unhappy with his people. They were on a trajectory that would preclude them as profitable for his purposes (bringing Jesus Christ into the world). He sent Isaiah as a warning, and as things worked out, it was a formidable and horrific change in direction God charted for them. God's will and his purposes would not be thwarted.

I have to ask myself this morning: am I useful to God for what he intends of me? Am I due a course correction in my life? I would hate to find myself in the predicament Israel placed herself in.

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 Trinity Is Fascinating! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in 2 Corinthians 13:14,

"May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."

In this closing benediction (blessing) to the Corinthians, that Paul ends his second letter with, he expresses his desire that each member of the Trinity bless these believers.

Paul refers to the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. There is something fascinating to me and intriguing about the Trinity. The members of the Trinity talk with one another, they embrace one another in singleness of purpose, and yet they appear to have differing functions and roles in their activities.

God the Son speaks to God the Father on behalf of us believers in John 17 and we see he continues to do so today, Romans 8:34. The Holy Spirit does so as well, Romans 8:26-27. In that passage we see that God the Father knows the mind of the Holy Spirit who goes before the Father on our behalf, which, by the way, is the Father's desire: "in accordance with God's will." As I say, this is all fascinating to me.

In Hebrews 1:1-4 we learn that it was through the Son that the Father made the universe and that the Father "appointed" the Son as "heir of all things". The Son is the radiance of the Father's glory. Jesus said, "All that belongs to the Father is mine." John 16:15.

In John 14 we read that the Son asks the Father to send the Holy Spirit to believers which takes place in Acts 2. Jesus says the Father is greater than he is and that he always does what the Father tells him to do, John 14:28, 31. Jesus said when the Father sends the Holy Spirit to believers, the Spirit will teach them all things and remind them of all Jesus had to say, creating the possibility for fellowship amongst believers and believers with the Trinity. John 14:26.

Fascinating stuff, isn't it? There is so much to learn and glean from the pages of Scripture about our triune 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 reply and let me know.

Beyond The Grave: Breathtaking! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in 2 Corinthians 11:1-4,

"Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell."

As Paul speaks of experiences he had some fourteen years earlier he talks of being caught up to paradise, to heaven. He experienced visions and revelations. He says when he was caught up to heaven he heard inexpressible things, things he was not permitted to tell.

As I'm sure with most folks, I find this fascinating! Here is a man whom many of us have spent hours with in his writings, who has seen and experienced "the other side". Creation has been designed such that normative experience never provides opportunity to look out beyond the scope of the creation we live in and are a part of. And although all of us will see and experience this dimension in one way or the other after death, while in this life we cannot see beyond. Only a precious few have seen or experienced heaven before death. Paul was one (John was another), and following these visions and revelations from the Lord, he spent some 25 years or so communicating with all who would listen. He still speaks today in his writings.

The "inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell" fascinate me. What were they? What did Paul see? What did he hear? What did he feel as he was transported to heaven? What a perspective this man had! Here is one man who was able to live out the thought, "If I had only known, I would have lived my life differently". He did know and he did live his life differently.

Just a few rambling thoughts again, but for me they point to the mystical reality of what lies beyond a heartbeat for each one of us. What we experience within this creation is only the beginning of our lives. What comes next seems to me to be sweeping, breath-taking and enchanting! Such are the things 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 reply and let me know.

Jesus Christ Makes Us Holy! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in 2 Corinthians 11:2b,

"I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him."

As the one who took the gospel to Corinth, Paul uses the figurative term of "virgin" in a spiritual sense to describe the appointed completion of his evangelistic efforts. He desired to present these believers as a "pure virgin" to Jesus Christ.

We have all sinned. We have all disappointed the Lord, those around us at times, and ourselves. But when we are born into God's family we are imbued with the righteousness of Jesus Christ himself. He makes us holy and righteous in spite of all those things we may feel shame or disappointment for in our lives.

The writer of Hebrews says, "we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all", Hebrews 10:10.

In Ephesians 1:4, Paul says, "He [God] chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight."

One of my favorite passages in Scripture, a wonderful doxology, is Jude 24-25, "To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen."

Jesus Christ makes us holy! He is able to present us before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy! As such we are figurative spiritual virgins before him! How wonderful is that?!

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

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 reply and let me know.