Worship for Today: God has decided that man can choose!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Deuteronomy 30:19-20,

"This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have
set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life,
so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord
your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is
your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to
give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."

Here Moses calls as his witnesses heaven and earth, that he has warned
Israel, if the Israelites obey the Lord they will inherit the many
blessings the Lord promised them and give them many years in the land.
If not, they will inherit the curses Moses warned them of. It will be
up to the Israelites own choosing. Moses urges them, "Now choose
life...".

Here we see the wonderful interplay between God's decree and mankind's
responsibility before the Lord. Israel has the opportunity to
determine their future. They are told if they obey God they will
receive his blessings. On the other hand, they are told if they don't,
they will receive God's curses. Man gets to choose, but God has
decreed what the stakes are and the criteria upon which the outcome
man receives will be based. Who is in charge here? God. Who gets to
determine the outcome? God has decided to leave that in the hands of
the Israelites.

One time Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the great British Baptist preacher
of the nineteenth century, was asked how he reconciled God's
sovereignty with mankind's free will as an apparent contradiction in
theology. His reply was that he never reconciled friends. His point
was the two are not in contradiction at all. God, in his sovereignty,
has decided to endow mankind with the freedom to make choices within
the confines God has set. Those choices mankind makes bring a result
that God himself determines.

To me, this manifests the wonder of God's marvelous interaction with
his creation. He has not created us as automatons within a closed
fatalistic existence where he has pre-scripted all that will happen
himself. He has provided us with the means to live lives that have
purpose and meaning by allowing us to make choices and those choices
have eternal consequences as God himself has determined. This provides
for real opportunity for us to demonstrate our love for our wonderful
Creator and provide the context for which we can truly worship him: we
have a choice to do so!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: God circumcises our hearts!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Deuteronomy 30:6,

"The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your
descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all
your soul, and live."

In this chapter Moses speaks of a time when the Lord will circumcise
the Israelites hearts. This will be when the Israelites return to the
Lord and obey him with all their hearts. The Lord will restore their
fortunes, bring them back to the land and circumcise their hearts so
that they may love him with all their hearts and souls and live.

We know what literal circumcision is, but what is this "circumcision"
of the heart? We read of this in Paul's letter to the Romans. "A man
is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely
outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and
circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the
written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God."
Romans 2:28-29. Here we learn of a circumcision of our hearts that is
not outward but done in the heart by the Holy Spirit. It stands as
opposed to an outward obedience to keeping the law and as such renders
keeping the law as an external or outward expression moot.

When the new covenant was announced through Jeremiah, the Lord said he
would write the law on the minds and hearts of his people, Jeremiah
31:31-33. The need for this is that we are born into life with a sin
nature. We need a new nature to live lives that are pleasing to God
and so when we become his children he sends the Holy Spirit who
"circumcises" the sin nature of our hearts and begins to produce
spiritual fruit in our lives, See Galatians 5:16-26 for a great
discussion of this by Paul.

What I find so wonderful about our Lord is that he doesn't just save
us from his wrathful judgment, but he also changes us from within such
that our lives become pleasing to him. He circumcises our hearts!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: God enables us to know the things of him!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Deuteronomy 29:4,

"To this day the Lord has not given you a mind that understands or
eyes that see or ears that hear."

Here we see that the Lord has withheld from the Israelites a certain
perception of the things of God. As we read the fuller story we see it
is due to the fact they have not appropriately responded to what was
revealed to them earlier by the Lord.This verse brings to my mind that
it is the Lord who enables us to know what we do of him. Our
perception, acuity, sensitivity and understanding of the things of God
all rest with his enabling us to do so. I consider it a great
manifestation of his grace when he gives us those "Oh, so that is what
this means... " moments.

When Jesus was here, before his crucifixion he said "But I, when I am
lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." John 12:32. He
also informed his disciples that, following his death, resurrection
and ascension into heaven, he would send the Holy Spirit to make some
things known to the world, "I will send him [the Counselor - the Holy
Spirit] to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in
regard to sin and righteousness and judgment" John 16:7-8. Here we see
our Lord Jesus Christ telling us he is going to bring a perception of
the things of God to the world. The Holy Spirit energizes and
enlightens the darkness of sinful man's mind to some things of God -
of man's great need to be made right with God. This prepares the way
for the gospel message. Paul says, "I am not ashamed of the gospel,
because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who
believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a
righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith
from first to last, just as it is written: 'The righteous will live by
faith.'" Romans 1:16-17. Here is a message from God that holds
incredible power, a message he reveals to us as we hear it from those
who carry it!

Those of us who have turned to the Lord through the gospel message
have done so only because the Lord drew us to himself through the Holy
Spirit he sent to us. There is nothing special about us and nothing we
have received from God he hasn't freely given us apart from his
enabling us to receive it - enabling us to see some things of him. All
mankind has an opportunity through this wonderful reach of God to all
mankind that we call his grace!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: Joy and gladness mark our service to the Lord!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Deuteronomy 28:46-48,

"They [the Lord's curses] will be a sign and a wonder to you and your
descendants forever. Because you did not serve the Lord your God
joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, therefore in hunger and
thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the
Lord sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he
has destroyed you."

Moses warns Israel that if they do not serve the Lord joyfully and
gladly during the times of their prosperity, the Lord would bring
curses upon them. If they don't serve the Lord in this way, they would
wind up serving enemies the Lord sends against them. It seems as if it
would be an easy decision. Serve the Lord joyfully and gladly and
enjoy his blessings or don't serve him joyfully and gladly and serve
their enemies. They will serve someone. Who will it be?

We, likewise have the very same opportunity. As we come into this
world we can choose to serve the Lord or reject him. How do we serve
the Lord? Jesus said, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one
he has sent." John 6:29. As Israel's service to the Lord was to be
marked by joy and gladness, so should ours. Why is it our service
should be an act of joy and gladness? Because of how wonderful God is
and what wonderful things he has done in our behalf! Our level of joy
and gladness is a very obvious barometer of how well we have come to
know our matchless wonderful Savior!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: God's redemption is our confession!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Deuteronomy 26:7-10a,

"We cried out to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard
our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression. So the Lord brought
us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great
terror and with miraculous signs and wonders. He brought us to this
place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; and
now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, O Lord, have given
me."

These verses comprise a part of the confession the worshipper was to
make when he brought his offering of firstfruits to the tabernacle or
temple in Jerusalem. The confession was an acknowledgment that the
worshippers in Jerusalem were from an Aramean father, a wanderer whose
people wound up in Egypt and fell into slavery. Calling out to God, he
freed them from the bondage of slavery and brought them into a land he
promised them. Now, in this land, they bring the firstfruits of the
harvest.

This, of course, is rich with reference to the circumstance of all who
will inherit the resurrection of life. We are of people who wander the
earth and have fallen into the slavery of sinfulness and God's
judgment. God responded to our cry for mercy and sent his Son to lead
us out of this slavery. Having redeemed us from sin and his judgment,
he has promised us "a better country—a heavenly one", Hebrews 11:16.

I am certain the confession of the Israelites with their firstfruits
offering will mirror what will take place in the resurrection. We will
express our great appreciation and love for God for all he has done
for us in freeing us from our bondage and bringing us to a heavenly
eternity of pleasures at his right hand, Psalm 16:11.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: The Lord's conditional response.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Deuteronomy 30:1-3,

"When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come upon
you and you take them to heart wherever the Lord your God disperses
you among the nations, and when you and your children return to the
Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul
according to everything I command you today, then the Lord your God
will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you
again from all the nations where he scattered you."

Moses tells the Israelites that if they choose to follow the idol
worship of the peoples around them, 29:26-28, they will suffer his
judgment and be dispersed among the nations. But that is not the end
of God's care and concern for the Israelites. He says when they have
been scattered and then return to the Lord and obey him with all their
heart and with all their soul he will then restore their fortunes.
Simply put, if they disobeyed God they would suffer his wrath. If they
returned to the Lord they would enjoy his blessing. This brings to
mind Jeremiah 18:7-10, "If at any time I announce that a nation or
kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation
I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it
the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a
nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil
in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I
had intended to do for it."

Some folk's theology will simply not allow for God to respond to the
actions of people. In their minds we live in a closed fatalistic
existence where everything has been pre-scripted by God. Else, they
say, how can God be sovereign? This is not how I read the Scriptures.
As in our passage today, and as the passage in Jeremiah clearly
indicates, our God is much bigger than that. In his great
transcendence he is able to interact with the choices he has allowed
people to make of their own free will. In doing such he has provided
an environment where people can truly choose him. This provides for
true glorification of God. We have the ability to choose to worship
and glorify our God or turn our backs on him as Adam and Eve did in
the garden.

For me, it is not simply that Scripture presents God in this way, I
want God this way. I want to know that it is my own free choice that
he has allowed me to make that has been the cause of my embrace of him
in faith! Why? Not because I am a wonderful person who has made the
wiser choice by choosing him, but because he is the wonderful Lord who
is due all my love, adoration, reverence and worship! It is all about
him and nothing about me.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: God has revealed things to us!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Deuteronomy 29:29,

"The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed
belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the
words of this law."

There are things we know and there are things we don't know. In that
God has created all there is from a posture that exists beyond the
limits of time and space, there is undoubtedly much we don't know and
can't know without being told. For me, I know there are some things I
would love to find out and have no way of knowing in this life.
Possibly from the perspective of the resurrection I will gain some
answers to questions I have today that go unanswered here. Beyond
this, I am certain there are all kinds of things I don't know of and I
don't have an inkling about them to raise a question! In other words,
without a doubt, I don't know what it is I don't know. I don't even
know enough to have a question!

But not our God. He knows it all. We call it omniscience. He knows all
there is, he knows the past, he knows even the secret things about us,
he knows the future. From this exalted position he has decided to let
us know some things, things he reveals to us. From this perspective
there are the "secret things" that belong to God and there are the
"things revealed" he has told us of.

We tend to think in terms of prophecy as "future-telling". From a
Scriptural standpoint prophecy is much more that just future-telling.
Prophecy is anything God has to say to us. From the pattern God uses
in Scripture we find that God speaks to a person and that person
passes on what God has to say. We discover that what God has to say is
intentional and purposeful. It is from this understanding of prophecy
that Peter speaks, "Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of
Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy
never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as
they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." 2 Peter 1:20-21. Imagine
that! God decides he has something to say and says it though a
spokesman of his choice. He wants us to know some things!

What are the things he wants us to know? From our lost and fallen
condition before him, stumbling around in the darkness of a lost
world, limping along under his judgment, he wants us to know we have a
problem. There is a coming judgement called the lake of fire. He wants
us to know if something doesn't happen, our inevitable future leads to
us being cast into it. But, he also wants us to know of his great love
for us, his mercy and his kindness. He wants us to know that he has
sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to take our punishment for us that we
might have a right standing before him. As Paul quoted Isaiah for the
church in Rome, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good
news!" Romans 10:15.

It is astonishing to me to think that the Creator of all has revealed
things to us! How amazing his words are captured in this book, the
Bible. It sits, right here in front of me! How wonderful he has
communicated to us!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com