TFTD - 04 August 2014 - Thoughts from Today's Bible Readings

04 August 2014

2 Samuel 22
Jeremiah 25
Romans 13; 14

“THE LORD WILL ROAR …”

We have a most challenging selection of chapters today; the most challenging are the words the LORD to Jeremiah.  Suddenly, the LORD’s revelations to him about the future - extends far beyond the impending judgment on Jerusalem because of his people’s utter godlessness.    The LORD now looks further afield beginning with the nations nearby, Egypt, the Philistines, Edom, Moab …Tyre …” [Jeremiah 25:19-21], these are the Arab nations adjoining Israel today, and then, “all the; kings of the north, far and near, one after another, and all the kingdoms of the world …” [Jeremiah 25:26]

This message about “all the kingdoms of the earth” is repeated twice.  Solomon in his wisdom said, “a threefold cord is not quickly broken” [Ecclesiastes 4:12]  We must not avoid meditating on the climax to which Jeremiah’s message develops, “The LORD will roar from on high …. against all the inhabitants of the earth… for the LORD has an indictment against the nations, he is entering into judgement with all flesh.” [Jeremiah 25:30-31]

Fearsome!  God’s judgment to be upon all, whether they believe in him - or not!

 And those who believe in him?

Paul’s words today that we read in the 14th chapter of Romans should dominate their minds - surely that includes you and I!   More that our human anxiety about what we might face as our world suffers God’s judgements, is the way Paul quotes Isaiah 45:23, words that are totally challenging to each one of us.  Paul writes, “For we will all stand before the judgement seat of God; for it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue confess to God.’  So then each of us will give an account of him(her)self to God.” [Romans 14:10-12].
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- DC


Thought for the Day

04 August 2014

"As Jesus himself confirmed, our Heavenly Father does not look upon even a sparrow with the impersonal eye of an ornithologist. The tiny bird fallen in the dust means much to Him. He feels its fall, and in His heart its woe is written. And if that be so with the sparrow, how much more with the children of men, in whom His handiwork is more richly displayed (Matthew 10:29-31). Through all the trials and anguish of a restless world, God’s practical help finds its way unerringly to those who trust Him."

- C. Lamb
Goodness and Mercy (1980)

TFTD - 03 August 2014 - Thoughts from Today's Bible Readings

03 August 2014

2 Samuel 20; 21
Jeremiah 24
Romans 12

"LIVE IN HARMONY WITH ONE ANOTHER"

Today we read that oft quoted and beautiful chapter 12 of Romans: it is such a contrast to the disharmony we also read today in 2 Samuel and the frictions between individuals in the final years of David’s reign. It demonstrates once again that the New Testament provides guidance for individuals and offers principles to personally live by for all those who decide to walk in the footsteps of Christ.

There is no such thing, nor ever has been, as a ‘Christian’ nation.  Oh yes, nations have seen themselves as such, but what does God see?  We read today Paul’s words, “repay no one evil for evil” [Romans 12:17] which is the very opposite to what we have read today in Samuel and, come to think of it, to relationships between most nations throughout history.  The United Nations have attempted the impossible in its 65+ year history.

“Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.  Never be conceited.  Repay no one evil for evil” [Romans 12:16-17] As we read such advice there can be a temptation to look at others and think how they fail to do this.  This is unproductive, we must look within our own hearts. Many situations surrounding the life of David illustrate the opposite, but not in David himself.  We must not confuse this with his zeal to serve the Lord.  Those who became enemies of the Lord became David’s enemies.  In his relationship with individuals he often displayed mercy and forgiveness.  He appointed Amasa, who had been captain of Absalom’s army, as captain of his army, but Amasa came to an unworthy end at the hands of Joab, but we will read soon of Joab’s traumatic end.

The lesson we perceive as we read the Old Testament is that, as Jesus said, “all who take the sword perish by the sword” [Matthew 26:52].  We can trace so many occasions when God sets up evil people to deal with each other.  With those who love the Lord, the opposite occurs.  In Romans we read, “if possible, as far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all … never avenge yourselves …” [Romans 12:18]
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- DC


Thought for the Day

03 August 2014

"Only where there is the love of the Truth can there be the promise of life. How great and how perilous is that which is committed to our trust! There is no room for trifling with the truth, or trying to be different, or allowing feelings to lead us; in handling the Truth there is no place for sentimentalism, or self-assertion, or love of novelty; there is only room for reverence and intellectual humility."

- L.G. Sargent
The Love of the Truth (1951)

TFTD - 02 August 2014 - Thoughts from Today's Bible Readings

02 August 2014

2 Samuel 19
Jeremiah 23
Romans 10; 11

"IN THE LATTER DAYS YOU WILL ..."

We have a ‘feast’ of thought provoking passages in todays’ chapters!  First, David returns to Jerusalem and shows a spirit of mercy to those who followed Absalom, an example of the spirit all followers of Christ should develop.  Second, we have in today’s 23rd chapter In Jeremiah, a remarkable latter day prophecy.

God tells him, “I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will  bring them back to their fold and they shall be fruitful …” [Jeremiah 23:3]   Then after expressing anger at their attitudes that existed then because “ungodliness has gone out into all the land” [Jeremiah 23:15],  God again extends the vision of his purpose far beyond the prophet’s day, the divine message to him is, “Behold, the storm of the LORD!... a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked.   The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he has accomplished the intents of his heart.  In the latter days you will understand it clearly.” [Jeremiah 23:19-20]

Do we understand it clearly?   The more we read God’s word the more clear is our understanding! Our chapter 11 in Romans is a great help, Romans 11:25 is a particular challenge!  “Lest you be wise in your own conceits,” writes Paul, “I want you to understand this mystery brothers, a partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” The final ingathering among the Gentiles around the world appears have reached its “fullness”. And then, says Paul, quoting Isaiah 59:20-21 “The deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob; and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins”

One day, maybe very soon, God will renew his covenant with his nation, now miraculously re-established in ‘The Holy Land.’  We are fascinated by the wording David Ben Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel, uses in his book, ‘Rebirth and Destiny of ISRAEL’ - he is clearly very familiar with the Old Testament.  “The book is our whole language.  No commentator unravelled the chapters of Joshua as did our Army’s epic deeds … sprout seeds which will be a living revelation of many words of Hosea, Micah and Isaiah …” [p.433]  “Our prophets inveigh passionately against violence … when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness” [p.473]

In that day, the Jews will at last recognise their true Messiah, they will “look on … him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn …”  But says the LORD “I will pour out on the house of  David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace ..” [Zechariah 12:10] We most surely live “in the latter days” and “the storm of the LORD” is about “to burst on the head of the wicked.”  Let us look ever more earnestly for the coming of our Lord ­ and ‘Watch Israel.’
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- DC


Thought for the Day

02 August 2014

"You are my witnesses", said God of His people, and what more dramatic witness could the world have had of God’s hand than the remarkable manner in which God’s people have been restored to God’s Land? "If they hear not Moses and the prophets neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead." Israel has indeed risen from the dead, God has opened their graves, to use Ezekiel’s metaphor; the "dry bones" now support a body which pulsates with vitality, but the world is not persuaded, and few indeed of the Jews themselves, even the subjects of this miracle, see in it the Hand of God."

- A. Winter Moore
The Hand of God (1952)

TFTD - 01 August 2014 - Thoughts from Today's Bible Readings

01 August 2014

2 Samuel 18
Jeremiah 22
Romans 9

“… WILL NOT BE PUT TO SHAME”

These are the concluding words in today’s 9th chapter of Romans.  The complete verse is a quotation from Isaiah 28:16, it is the last of 9 quotations in this chapter that Paul selects from the Old Testament to demonstrate that there are a multitude of sayings in what Moses and the prophets recorded - of what God inspired them to write that are most meaningful for followers of Christ.   Because he was not the all-conquering Messiah they were looking for, the leaders, despite demonstrations of his remarkable power, had no time for him and eventually put him to death.  They ignored certain prophecies by God in their holy book about the Messiah  because they did not fit in with their expectations; Paul himself had been guilty of this before he was converted - it is also a lesson for us in our expectations about world events - have we fully learnt it?  Let us be careful and not decide too absolutely where the jigsaw pieces fit of the prophecies yet to be fulfilled

The full text of the last verse is, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”  Jesus is the “stone” - this symbol was also used in the well-known vision Daniel interpreted for King Nebuchadnezzar, the stone that struck the image (the nations of mankind) on the feet shattering the whole image to pieces.

Let us make sure we have a heart-felt belief in him and then we “will not be put to shame” being motivated to live our lives ‘inspired’ by our reading of his word.   We cannot ‘work’ to earn our salvation, our salvation, writes Paul, “depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy” [Romans 9:16] Paul quotes extensively [Romans 9:25-29] from the prophets  Hosea and Isaiah, he shows God is looking to call people from among the Gentiles, that is, the non-Jewish nations - and also that a “remnant” among the “sons of Israel … will be saved.”

May we live so that we are among those who “will not be put to shame” realizing that the signs among the nations, especially in and around the Holy Land, are ominous and that it could be very soon now when the “stone” strikes the feet of the image.
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- DC


Thought for the Day

01 August 2014

"So teach us to number our days, that we may get us an heart of wisdom" (Psalm 90:12). This may sound like numbering sadly the days and vicissitudes of life. This is not for the sake of sentiment but for a practical purpose. And that aim is to furnish a motive for a wiser life, to see that we have the right end in view - this end, "that we may get us an heart of wisdom", to go all out in seeking the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33). The real motive is the furnishing of a wiser life of the heart, the allied forces of mind and will, the inner life. The resultant illumination will transfigure the life in its character and conduct."

- Claud Lamb
So shall thy strength be (1997)

TFTD - 31 July 2014 - Thoughts from Today's Bible Readings

31 July 2014

2 Samuel 17
Jeremiah 21
Romans 7; 8

“IF GOD BE FOR US”

Today we read two of the most meaningful chapters in the Bible for those who truly sense they are “called to be saints.”  [Romans 1:7] They are a sequel to yesterday’s chapters - Romans 5 and 6 - that challenge believers that they, “having been set free from sin” must now be “slaves to righteousness.” [Romans 6:18]  The sacrifice of Jesus brought an end to the law of Moses, a law which spelt out all the ways that humans become classified as sinners in God’s eyes. In its place we have, says Paul, “received the spirit of adoption, as sons (and daughters) by which we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ [Romans 8:15] Let us sense as fully as we can that we became the adopted children of God when put on the name of his Son in baptism; let us think positively of the wonder and privilege of this!

It was a spirit which transformed the world of the first century - and there was a renewal of this spirit to a considerable degree in the wider world when the Bible was first printed and available for all to read.

Romans 7; 8 today go together; we should ignore the chapter break.   It is essential we develop a spiritual mind, in contrast to a fleshly mind - there is nothing in-between.   Paul says, “those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit … the mind of the spirit is life and peace.” [Romans 8:5-6]  This “set” of our minds, develops to greater and greater degrees the more we meditatively read God’s word and this letter of Paul is an outstanding and inspirational example.

Paul says, “If God be for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? … Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation or distress … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through him who loved us.  For I am sure that neither death nor life … nor things to come … nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” [Romans 8:31,35,37-39]   God will certainly be “for us” - as long as we are for him and show we are trying our best to be “slaves to righteousness.”

When we come to Romans 15,  verse 13 will ‘jump out’ at us  “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” This is not the power to do miracles, it is having a genuine spiritual mind in contrast to a fleshly mind: absorb the point Paul makes in what we read in Romans 8:5 ‘For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.”  And, O,  the wonder then of God being “for us.”
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- DC


Thought for the Day

31 July 2014

"And how shall they hear without a preacher?" This is the down-to-earth question of the great Apostle whose total dedication to the service of Christ and to the work of the Gospel urged him ever on in search of new fields of activity (cf. Romans 15:18-21). It is a reminder that while God is not dependent on any of us, yet the normal medium He employs is human agency. Seed can be borne great distances by birds, by wind or river, but the harvests of the earth are the fruits of human endeavour. The Parable of the Sower shows this clearly, and Christ instructed his followers to pray to the Lord to send forth labourers into His harvest."

- T.J. Barling
The Spirit of Our Witness

TFTD - 30 July 2014 - Thoughts from Today's Bible Readings

30 July 2014

2 Samuel 16
Jeremiah 20
Romans 5; 6

“WE REJOICE IN HOPE” 

Our chapters in Romans [5 and 6] need to be read and digested slowly - like rich food!  Paul proclaims that believers “having been justified by faith … have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ …  have also obtained access by faith in to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” [Romans 5:1-2]

This causes a wonderful peace of mind - the result of our faith in God’s word - like those who have lived before, such as Noah who “being warned by God concerning events yet unseen” acted “in reverent fear” [Hebrews 11:7]   We rejoice because we are convinced that God is “a living God” ready to be involved in our lives so that “we feel sure of better things - things that belong to salvation” [Hebrews 6:9, note also Hebrews 6:11-12]    Let us “rejoice in hope” sustained by this hope when times are difficult, but usually not as bad as they were at times for Paul.  Note his words, “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed” [2 Corinthians 4:8-9]

There is a graphic account of this in our Jeremiah chapter [20] when “Pashur the priest … who was chief officer in the house of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.  Then Pashur beat Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks …” [Jeremiah 20:1-2] Jeremiah then prophesies - “you Pashur and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity … and there you shall die” [Jeremiah 20:6]

Then Jeremiah has anxious thoughts, comparable in some ways to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, he writes, “For the word of the LORD has become for me a reproach and derision all day long.  If I say, ‘I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,’ there is in my heart a burning fire … I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.” [Jeremiah 20:8-9]  We pondered Jeremiah 20:12, “O LORD of hosts, who tests the righteous. Who sees the heart and mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you I have committed my cause.”

Do we desire to see God’s vengeance poured out on today’s Godless world?  Well God will decide whether we live to see it or not - or whether there is a brief period of rest until we awake and, through his grace, rejoice to have a part in the endless wonder of his kingdom, the great and wonderful thing is that “we rejoice in hope.” -------
- DC


Thought for the Day

30 July 2014

"God’s face sets hard as flint against the obstinate and stiff-necked. But He is gentle and easy to be intreated of the humble, and His steadfastness reveals itself in a purpose which does not fail, a help which is not withdrawn as long as it is asked for, and a bright vision of the goal which can inspire an unflagging onward march by His servants."

- A.D. Norris
Steadfastness (1950)

TFTD - 29 July 2014 - Thoughts from Today's Bible Readings

29 July 2014

2 Samuel 15
Jeremiah 19
Romans 3; 4

“IF I FIND FAVOUR”

We are now reading of the more serious developments in the life of David: the full extent of the trouble that Nathan the prophet had said would come upon him as a result of his sins of adultery and murder.  His son Absalom has a conspiracy to seize the throne and David flees from Jerusalem saying, “If I find favour in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me back … but if he says, ‘I have no pleasure in you , behold here I am, let him do what seems good to him.”  [2 Samuel 15:25-26]

Then “David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went” [2 Samuel 15:30]. We note how the Mount of Olives also features in the life of David’s ‘greater son,’ Jesus, “it was his custom” to go there [Luke 22:39].  Jesus ascended to heaven from here and will return there [Acts 1:11-12] and cause it to split in two [Zechariah 14:4] and surely that last event will be a key factor in God’s physical judgements on our godless world! The vision in Revelation invites us to read it as a literal event, for together with the reference to “Armageddon” we read, “…there were flashes of lightning , rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake.” [Revelation 16:18]

The last verse in our chapter in Jeremiah [19] is also relevant to our thoughts, “Thus says in LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I am bringing upon this city and upon all its towns all the disaster that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their neck, refusing to hear my words”   Today, God’s word is available to be read in every language, but how many “hear” by properly reading it?  In God’s perception of humans today, nearly all are stiff-necked!  Let us make sure we are not.

Let us become like Abraham of whom we read today in Romans 4; “No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.   That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.”  But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also.  It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead, Jesus our Lord.” [Romans 4:20-24]  May no distrust, no disbelief make us waver - but instead may we “grow strong in faith” and so “find favour.”
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- DC


Thought for the Day

29 July 2014

"Christian love, since it is inspired by the love of God, is selfless, not self-seeking, strives not for its own satisfaction but for the good of others, is quietly persistent, not intermittent, is all-pervading, not limited in time or place, and is never contaminated by evil things such as jealousy. It is like that because the love of God is like that. God’s love sought us not because we had any merit or anything to commend us in the sight of God but because God is love. Our love needs to be quickened by that which gives it pleasure and satisfaction but God’s love is not so, for “God commends his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)"

- E.J. Newman
The Life We Share (1962)