Thu, 10 November, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.

Psalm 142

¹ With my voice I cry out to the LORD;
with my voice I plead for mercy to the LORD.
² I pour out my complaint before him;
I tell my trouble before him.

³ When my spirit faints within me,
you know my way!
In the path where I walk
they have hidden a trap for me.
⁴ Look to the right and see:
there is none who takes notice of me;
no refuge remains to me;
no one cares for my soul.

⁵ I cry to you, O LORD;
I say, “You are my refuge,
my portion in the land of the living.”
⁶ Attend to my cry,
for I am brought very low!
Deliver me from my persecutors,
for they are too strong for me!
⁷ Bring me out of prison,
that I may give thanks to your name!
The righteous will surround me,
for you will deal bountifully with me.

The superscript tells us this Psalm is by David and it speaks of when he was in the cave. In other words, David wrote this while he was in hiding, presumably from Saul who was seeking his life.

In the first three verses, David pleads with God for mercy in his situation. In verses three and four, David describes how he is trapped and without assistance. The rest of the Psalm, David states how he trusts in God, and looks for deliverance.

What do we learn from this?

As David is running for his life, he pours out his complaint before God. He cries out to God describing all that he is thinking and feeling. David prays about the situation, bringing it all to God.

We probably never will be running for our lives as we are hunted by a mad king who seeks to kill us. But we will face situations that deeply impact our lives. We will face things that make us afraid, and things that wall make us mad. We will face things that hurt us or drive us to despair. We will face financial problems, or possibly the loss of a job. We will face the betrayal by friends. We will face severe disease, and ultimately we will face death, both of those we love and of ourselves.

In all these things troubling things we face, God commands us to bring them to Him, and to take up His peace.

Where is Christ in this passage?

You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living. We flee to God, and He accepts us, as we are in Jesus Christ, for He will not turn away His Only Begotten Son.

Wed, 9 November, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.

Joel 1:1-3

¹ The word of the LORD that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:

² Hear this, you elders;
give ear, all inhabitants of the land!
Has such a thing happened in your days,
or in the days of your fathers?
³ Tell your children of it,
and let your children tell their children,
and their children to another generation.

What can we learn from what we have been through? What can we learn from what we are going through? How do I help my children to not fall into the things I have fallen into? How do I protect them from my mistakes? Can I learn from what my father has done? And from his father? In other words, can I learn from the previous generations? Can I learn from the people in the Bible?

Yes. We can all learn from those who have gone before us. But to do that, they have to tell us what happened to them. We have to tell our children. We have to listen to those who have gone before. And our children have to listen to us. As the Psalmist tells us:

Psalm 78:5-8

⁵ He established a testimony in Jacob
and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
⁶ that the next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
⁷ so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
but keep his commandments;
⁸ and that they should not be like their fathers,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
whose spirit was not faithful to God.

In verse 1, we have here the standard intro of a prophet. Joel does not bring his own word, but the word of the LORD.

The “elders” and the “inhabitants of the land” are called to pay close attention to the conditions they are currently in. God challenges them to think about what has gone before. Has anything like this ever happened before? The implied answer is, “No.” The plague of locust and the famine that is happening in Judah is worse than anything ever seen there before.

The prophet uses an interesting phrase for the people. He calls them the “inhabitants of the land.” This phrase is a common phrase in the Old Testament. What does the phrase “inhabitants of the land” usually mean in the Pentateuch and the history books? It usually referred to the pagans who inhabited the land Israel eventually would occupy.

Genesis 34:30

Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites….”

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Genesis 50:11

When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning on the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians.” Therefore the place was named Abel-mizraim; it is beyond the Jordan.

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Exodus 23:31

And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates, for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.

However, in the prophets, the phrase came to change in its meaning.

Jeremiah 1:14-15

¹⁴ Then the LORD said to me, “Out of the north disaster shall be let loose upon all the inhabitants of the land. ¹⁵ For behold, I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, declares the LORD, and they shall come, and every one shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls all around and against all the cities of Judah.

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Hosea 4:1

Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel,
for the LORD has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land.
There is no faithfulness or steadfast love,
and no knowledge of God in the land;

So, what does Joel mean when he refers to the “inhabitants of the land”?

The prophets are referring to the Israelites who are living in the land, but are no longer faithful to the God who gave them the land. Thus, they are not different than the people they dispossessed, and they can be referred to with the same name. Just as the Canaanites were the “inhabitants of the land”, so the rebellious and disobedient Israelites were now the “inhabitants of the land”. The Israelites apostatized and became no different than the people they drove out.

In verse three, Joel commands them to tell their children what has happened. This severe judgment you are facing can serve to teach you and your children. It can teach those who follow after you.

Matthew Henry comments on this passage:

Tell you your children of it; let them know what dismal tokens of the wrath of God you have been under, that they make take warning, and may learn obedience by the things which you have suffered, for it is designed for warning to them also. [Matthew Henry Commentary, p1203]

So we see the prophet is calling his hearers to consider how they have fallen into apostasy and become like the heathen they dispossessed. They are challenged to look at their condition, and to realize it is a direct result of their disobedience and rebellion. And they are commanded to pass this information down through the generations, so that we too can learn from their misfortune.

What do we learn from this?

In the memory of many now living, previously faithful mainline churches have departed from preaching the gospel in an attempt to be more “relevant”, to have a greater “impact” upon the culture, and to draw greater numbers. These churches left their calling, and are now so completely pagan that about the only Christian thing about them is the name carved in the stone of the church buildings. They have become the “inhabitants of the land”, indistinguishable from the world around them, and they are suffering under God’s curse.

We need to learn the lesson from these formerly faithful denominations that went down the tubes by compromising the preaching of the gospel in order to attract more people.

In our own lives, we need to learn the lessons that God is teaching us as we go through discipline from sin and difficulties of living in a sinful world. There are times that we are being punished for our disobedience. We had better pay attention to the Holy Spirit’s conviction in those cases, and learn what God has to teach us.

But it doesn’t end with our learning the lessons God has for us. We also need to teach our children the lessons we have learned, from scripture and from our own experience. Don’t let them have to learn these things first hand if we can spare them the pain and suffering. Joel is here to help us. He is relating what has happened to the people of his time. May we learn from Joel, and from the other Biblical prophets, that we can avoid the pitfalls they fell into.

We need to learn to look to God in faith, even in the midst of the worst trials. Joel tells of the terrible plague of locusts and famine, one unequaled in the history of the land of Israel. But Joel, like the other prophets, in the midst of the recounting of the terrible things that are happening and that will come, gives clear promises of blessing and hope. We see in chapter 2 the promise of the coming Holy Spirit. In chapter 3 we see the promises of God’s coming blessing on his people. We need look to God in faith, for He will do what is right. He never inflicts more upon us than what will be for our good and for His glory. It is difficult, but we need to learn to trust in God, even in the midst of our difficult times.

Where is Christ in this passage?

In the first chapter, Joel explains that the current disaster Israel faced was a cause to call them to repentance. It was a cause for them to consider their standing before God, to repent of their sins, and to cry out to Him.

We understand from the whole of scripture that as we cry out to God for salvation from our sins, we are coming to Him based upon the person and work of Jesus Christ. It is because of His perfect righteousness given to us, and our sins punished upon Him that we are justified and adopted. It is because of Jesus Christ that we can be forgiven of our sins.

Tue, 8 November, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.

Hebrew 3:12-15

¹² Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. ¹³ But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. ¹⁴ For we share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. ¹⁵ As it is said,

“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

God led the Israelites out of Egypt in the Exodus. They saw numerous miracles from God, from the plagues that caused the Egyptians to drive them out, to the parting of the Red Sea that gave them final deliverance from Egypt. They saw God provide for their needs from manna feeding them every day, to water from the rock. Yet even as they saw these great signs of God’s power and His care for them, they did not have faith in Him, and so died in the wilderness.

What do we learn from this?

Considering the unbelief of the Israelites under Moses, the writer to the Hebrews reminds us of this fact: We can be a part of a church and see God’s blessing all around us, and still be separate from God and lost in our unbelief. The writer to the Hebrews challenges us to take great care to make sure we do not have an evil, unbelieving heart, like Israel at the time of the Exodus.

So what does the writer to the Hebrews suggest we do to avoid the same terrible tragedy? How do we avoid dying in rebellion against God like the Israelites in the wilderness?

Repent. Now. Repent today. God has given us this day. Yesterday is over and done. You can no longer repent then. We have no guarantee that tomorrow will come for us. We can’t count on there being a tomorrow when we will be able to repent. All we have is today. Repent today. Do not harden your heart, but turn to God in faith today.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Today we are to repent of our sins, and turn to God to seek the salvation He provided for us in Jesus Christ. When we come to God trusting in Him for our salvation, then as the writer to the Hebrews says, we share in Christ. He is our salvation.

Mon, 7 November, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.

2 Kings 20:1-11

¹ In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.’” ² Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, saying, ³ “Now, O LORD, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. ⁴ And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him: ⁵ “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people, Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD, ⁶ and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.” ⁷ And Isaiah said, “Bring a cake of figs. And let them take and lay it on the boil, that he may recover.”

⁸ And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What shall be the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the LORD on the third day?” ⁹ And Isaiah said, “This shall be the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he has promised: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?” ¹⁰ And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow to lengthen ten steps. Rather let the shadow go back ten steps.” ¹¹ And Isaiah the prophet called to the LORD, and he brought the shadow back ten steps, by which it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz.

Good king Hezekiah has the bad news from Isaiah: he is going to die. It is a time of great uncertainty, as the violent Assyrians are growing in power and are conquering their neighbors. With this threat to the land, Hezekiah will no longer be the leader of Judah.

What is not stated in the text, but we learn from 2 Kings 21:1 is that Hezekiah has no heir to sit upon the throne. After Hezekiah is granted a reprieve and dies fifteen years later, his son Manasseh takes the throne at twelve years old. Hezekiah’s heir to the throne, Manasseh, had not been born yet at the time of Isaiah’s news.

God had made a promise that a son of David would sit upon the throne. But king Hezekiah has no son. Presumably, there would be some other descendent of David who would have taken the throne. Perhaps Hezekiah had a brother, uncle or cousin who would be next in line. But it wouldn’t be Hezekiah’s line. The next king who will have to face the Assyrian threat won’t be Hezekiah’s son if he dies.

With all this uncertainty, Hezekiah pleads with God for more years of leading Judah. God graciously grants his request and relents. Hezekiah is given fifteen more years.

Not only that, but God also promises that He will defend Jerusalem from Assyria. He will grant additional years to Hezekiah and will protect Judah.

What do we learn from this?

Hezekiah prays his concerns to God. He pleads for his people as his loss would be difficult when facing the expanding Assyrian empire. He pleads for himself as his line would end if he died then. He brings his prayer to God with tears as he pours out his fears to God. And God hears and answers his prayer.

Again we have another example of how we are to bring our cares and concerns to God. He has commanded that we pray about the things that are troubling us, and He will give us peace. In this case, God gives Hezekiah peace by granting his request.

Where is Christ in this passage?

We learn from Matthew’s genealogy that the line to the Christ goes through Hezekiah to Manasseh. If Hezekiah died before Manasseh’s birth, the line to the Messiah would have been broken. So when God granted Hezekiah’s request and extended his life, God was also being gracious to us.

Sun, 6 November, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.

Psalm 135:1-12

¹ Praise the LORD!
Praise the name of the LORD,
give praise, O servants of the LORD,
² who stand in the house of the LORD,
in the courts of the house of our God!
³ Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good;
sing to his name, for it is pleasant!
⁴ For the LORD has chosen Jacob for himself,
Israel as his own possession.

⁵ For I know that the LORD is great,
and that our Lord is above all gods.
⁶ Whatever the LORD pleases, he does,
in heaven and on earth,
in the seas and all deeps.
⁷ He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth,
who makes lightnings for the rain
and brings forth the wind from his storehouses.

⁸ He it was who struck down the firstborn of Egypt,
both of man and of beast;
⁹ who in your midst, O Egypt,
sent signs and wonders
against Pharaoh and all his servants;
¹⁰ who struck down many nations
and killed mighty kings,
¹¹ Sihon, king of the Amorites,
and Og, king of Bashan,
and all the kingdoms of Canaan,
¹² and gave their land as a heritage,
a heritage to his people Israel.

In this Psalm, the Psalmist exhorts everyone to praise God. In the first four verses, he urges the servants of the Lord to praise Him. Then in verses five through seven, the Psalmist reviews how God is all powerful. Verses eight through fourteen deal with the Exodus, how God redeemed His people from Egypt and how He gave them the land of the Canaan. Verses fifteen through eighteen tell of how ridiculous it is to worship idols. And the Psalm ends with a call for the people of Israel and their spiritual leaders to praise God.

What do we learn from this?

Dealing with the Psalm up to verse twelve, we see that the Psalmist seeks to inspire the people to praise God by reminding them of the power of God, and of His act of choosing and redeeming them as His people. Verse four says, For the LORD has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel as his own possession. The Psalmist reminds us in verse six that Whatever the LORD pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps. He is sovereign, and His sovereignty includes whom He chooses as His people. Perhaps to make the point clearer, the Psalmist reminds us of what God did to Egypt, the Amorites, and the Canaanites. They were not His people, and He struck them down for His people for the sake of His people.

God is sovereign in salvation. He chooses whom He will save and He chooses whom He will pass over for salvation. He does whatever he wants, including choosing a people as His own for salvation.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Since God’s people are saved based upon Christ’s life and death, God saves them by bringing them to faith in Jesus Christ, who is their provision for salvation.

Sat, 5 November, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.

Hosea 11:1-9

¹ When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.
² The more they were called,
the more they went away;
they kept sacrificing to the Baals
and burning offerings to idols.

³ Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk;
I took them up by their arms,
but they did not know that I healed them.
⁴ I led them with cords of kindness,
with the bands of love,
and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws,
and I bent down to them and fed them.

⁵ They shall not return to the land of Egypt,
but Assyria shall be their king,
because they have refused to return to me.
⁶ The sword shall rage against their cities,
consume the bars of their gates,
and devour them because of their own counsels.
⁷ My people are bent on turning away from me,
and though they call out to the Most High,
he shall not raise them up at all.

⁸ How can I give you up, O Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, O Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
How can I treat you like Zeboiim?
My heart recoils within me;
my compassion grows warm and tender.
⁹ I will not execute my burning anger;
I will not again destroy Ephraim;
for I am God and not a man,
the Holy One in your midst,
and I will not come in wrath.

God describes His love for Israel as the love of a father for his son. God called the nation of Israel out of Egypt in the Exodus. He loved them and brought them out, as His son. But Israel was unfaithful to God and sacrificed to idols.

How could they have turned their backs on God? He points out that His care for Israel was like the care of a father who teaches his child to walk. He loved them dearly and provided for them the things they needed. But after all He had done for them, how could Israel turn their backs on Him?

And so God says that they will not return to Egypt. They will not go into the bondage of slavery like they were before God had brought them out as His people. In other words, He will not abandon them as His people. Instead, they will go to Assyria. The distinction seems to be that God will not completely reject them as His people. Instead, the Assyrian captivity will for the purpose of disciplining His people with the goal of restoring them fully.

In fact, Hosea ends this portion we are quoting with God saying explicitly that He will not completely abandon them. He will not destroy them in His wrath, due to His compassion for them.

What do we learn from this?

God’s people can and do disobey Him. This is not pleasing to God. But, if they truly are God’s people, they will continue to be His people, even in their sin. God has set His love upon them, and that is the basis for their conversion and adoption into His family. As such, when they disobey, He will discipline them, but He will not disinherit them. They still are His children, and He loves them with an unchanging love.

Where is Christ in this passage?

We’ve all sinned. The punishment for sin is death. That is what we deserve. The only way we can avoid God’s wrath being poured out upon our sins is if someone takes that penalty and pays it on our behalf.

That is exactly what Jesus Christ did upon the cross. When Hosea quotes God as saying He will not come in wrath, Hosea is not saying that Israel is sinless. He is telling us that the wrath of God has been turned aside. It has been taken by Jesus Christ.

As we come to Jesus Christ in faith, He takes the wrath of God so that we don’t have to.

Fri, 4 November, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.

Titus 3:1-7

¹ Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, ² to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. ³ For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. ⁴ But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, ⁵ he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷ so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Paul is wrapping up his letter to young Titus, encouraging the pastor in his duties.

In dealing with sinning people, Paul reminds Titus to remember his pre-conversion life of sin. He, like Paul, had lived a sinful life prior to his conversion. But God had changed him, and has changed his desires.

What do we learn from this?

Paul is warning Titus against a very real problem we can have as Christians. We can become very “holier-than-thou” in our attitude towards others. We act as if we never sinned in the past and never sin now, and therefore we despise those non-Christians around us who do sin.

We are to point out the sins of the unsaved and the punishment that will come upon them outside the forgiveness found in Jesus Christ. But we must always remember that we have been where the unsaved now are, and our salvation isn’t due to our superiority in any way. It is due only to God’s mercy and grace. A Christian isn’t saved because he is better than a non-Christian, and we should never treat others as if we think that their sin makes them have a lower status than we do.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Salvation is the gift of God bestowed upon those whom He chooses, not due to the works they have done, but based solely upon His grace. According to Paul, we are cleansed from our sins and regenerated by the work of the Holy Spirit. And the work of the Holy Spirit is done through the riches of Jesus Christ our Savour. Jesus Christ is the one who as our High Priest has mediated our salvation by being both the Priest and the Sacrifice, so that our salvation comes through Him.

Thu, 3 November, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.

2 Kings 16:10-16

¹⁰ When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a model of the altar, and its pattern, exact in all its details. ¹¹ And Uriah the priest built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Uriah the priest made it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus. ¹² And when the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar. Then the king drew near to the altar and went up on it ¹³ and burned his burnt offering and his grain offering and poured his drink offering and threw the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. ¹⁴ And the bronze altar that was before the LORD he removed from the front of the house, from the place between his altar and the house of the LORD, and put it on the north side of his altar. ¹⁵ And King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, “On the great altar burn the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering and the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. And throw on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice, but the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.” ¹⁶ Uriah the priest did all this, as King Ahaz commanded.

In this short chapter, the author of Second Kings tells of the life of Ahaz, the wicked king of Judah. We learn that Ahaz became king when he was 20 years old, he reigned 16 years, and then died when he was 36. As an example of how depraved Ahaz was, the author tells us Ahaz offered his son as a burnt offering to one of the pagan gods. It boggles the mind to realize how low in sin a person can go to do such a thing, but this descendent of David who sat upon the throne of Judah killed his own son as a sacrifice.

The author tells us that after Ahaz gained relief from Syria by making an alliance with Assyria, Ahaz makes a trip to Damascus to meet the delightfully named Tiglath-pileser who is king of Assyria. While there, Ahaz was so impressed by the pagan altar of the defeated Syrians that he makes detailed instructions for the priests in Jerusalem to build one just like it for use in the temple worship.

This new altar is no trivial matter. God had given explicit instructions on how the ceremonial worship was to be conducted, and this instruction included the altar. Ahaz set aside the official altar to use something he personally found to be more appealing. Ironically, he was attracted to the altar of a defeated enemy. This is an altar that had proved to be useless to its own adherents, yet Ahaz decides to use it because it looks impressive.

What do we learn from this?

It is not at all unusual for people to set aside God’s approved and commanded means of worship and instead to replace them with things they find to be attractive and appealing. Usually they will give the excuse that they are replacing these “outdated” means of worship with things that will work better, and will attract more people. The implied criticism is that the ways of worship laid out in Scripture are outdated, and will not keep modern people interested anymore. We need things that are faster paced, more visual and more exciting. There are a lot of other entertainment options out there, and if the church is to compete, we have to increase the level of excitement on Sunday mornings.

Ahaz was a wicked king who did not care at all about the worship of God, and so he freely incorporated things from the pagan world into his depraved worship. But unfortunately, we behave like Ahaz when we seek to make our worship more exciting and appealing by bringing the things of the world into our worship. Too often we look to David Letterman and Jay Leno as our pattern to follow. Instead, we should look to the scriptures and seek to limit our worship to just what God has commanded.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Ahaz despised the sacrifice. He replaced the true altar with one of his own choosing, and so showed that he would come to God on his own terms and not on God’s terms. God was not his concern, and he was not trusting in God’s provision for his salvation. In despising the sacrifice, Ahaz was despising the one to whom the sacrifices pointed. He was despising Jesus Christ.

Wed, 2 November, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.

Psalm 125

¹ Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be moved, but abides forever.
² As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the LORD surrounds his people,
from this time forth and forevermore.
³ For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest
on the land allotted to the righteous,
lest the righteous stretch out
their hands to do wrong.
⁴ Do good, O LORD, to those who are good,
and to those who are upright in their hearts!
⁵ But those who turn aside to their crooked ways
the LORD will lead away with evildoers!
Peace be upon Israel!

We have moved from Psalm 119 and are now in the Psalms of ascent. In this Psalm of ascent, the Psalmist sings of God’s protection of those who place their trust in God.

What do we learn from this?

In the first verse we see that God promises blessings upon those who trust in Him.

When we talk about blessings on obedience, we don’t mean that we earn our salvation. But we do obey in response to what God has done. We obey out of thanksgiving for His grace. As we obey, God does bless us. As we disobey, God brings discipline upon his people.

The blessing we see listed here that flows out of our obedience is stability. Those who trust in God are stable. They are fixed and can’t be moved, like Mount Zion.

Jesus says that people who hear all that He said in the Sermon on the Mount and do not obey it are unstable. They have no firm foundation in the time of trouble. That is the picture of the foundation on shifting sand. But the ones who obey have a firm foundation. The troubles don’t destroy them.

Matthew 7:24-27

²⁴ “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. ²⁶ And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. ²⁷ And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

Jesus says that people who hear all that He was saying in the Sermon on the Mount and do not obey it are unstable.

James 1:5-8

⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. ⁶ But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷ For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸ he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

James says that people who doubt are unstable. In our Psalm, those who trust are firm, like a mountain. In James, those who doubt are like a wave on the sea. A raging storm can’t shake the person who is trusting in God, but the person who is not trusting in God is tossed all over by the wind.

One of the things that should distinguish Christians from the non-Christians is their ability to handle the difficult times. When something goes bad, we shouldn’t fall apart. Our lives are grounded upon a firm foundation, and we don’t collapse with the rainstorms.

This is easy to say, but much harder to live. However, it is extremely important for us to understand this concept. We must work this out before the tragedy strikes in order to be prepared for the hard times. If we try to work out the issues with God’s providence in a world where bad things happen to Christians, then we have really made it much more difficult for us to trust in God in those difficult times. We will not be thinking clearly at the time of crisis. God has made a promise to us. If we trust in God, we are fixed and stable, like a mountain.

The Psalmist says that those who are trusting in God are firm, fixed, and stable, like Mountain Zion.

Where is Christ in this passage?

We are to trust in the Lord for our very lives, for our salvation. When we come to God trusting in His provision of salvation for us, we are trusting in Jesus Christ, who is the substitute for our sins. He is the sacrifice that atones for our guilt and turns away God’s wrath.

Tue, 1 November, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.

Hosea 7:11-16

¹¹ Ephraim is like a dove,
silly and without sense,
calling to Egypt, going to Assyria.
¹² As they go, I will spread over them my net;
I will bring them down like birds of the heavens;
I will discipline them according to the report made to their congregation.
¹³ Woe to them, for they have strayed from me!
Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me!
I would redeem them,
but they speak lies against me.

¹⁴ They do not cry to me from the heart,
but they wail upon their beds;
for grain and wine they gash themselves;
they rebel against me.
¹⁵ Although I trained and strengthened their arms,
yet they devise evil against me.

¹⁶ They return, but not upward;
they are like a treacherous bow;
their princes shall fall by the sword
because of the insolence of their tongue.
This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.

The northern tribes of Israel are trusting in the nations around them as protection. They make alliances, and pay tribute, and put their trust in their arrangements. Because of this choice to seek protection on their own apart from God, God calls Israel a silly dove. They are acting without sense.

What do we learn from this?

In what do you trust? When the day is over, and you put your head on your pillow, what are you counting on for your salvation? Are you trusting in the good things you have done that day? Are you trusting in the fact that you belong to a good church, or that you were born into a Christian family? In what are you trusting? Or are you trusting in God and the provision He has made for you salvation?

Israel was trusting in their works, and not in God. As such, there was no salvation for them, because God promises them He will bring them down. They have strayed from Him and rebelled against Him rather than returning to Him, and so He promises to destroy them.

In the same way, if we are trusting in our own works, we will have no salvation either.

Where is Christ in this passage?

God promises that He would redeem Israel if they would but come to Him, trusting in His provision for their salvation.

And God will redeem all those who come to Him in faith, trusting in His provision for their salvation. He has provided redemption for all who come to Him in faith through the person of Jesus Christ. He lived the perfect life to earn the righteousness we need, and He died on the cross to pay the price for the sins we have committed. We need to come to Him in faith, trusting in Jesus Christ.