I thought about writing about Haggai, since we just finished discussing it in our youth group, but then God spoke to me in Zechariah 1:3.
Therefore tell the people: This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Return to me," declares the LORD Almighty, "and I will return to you," says the LORD Almighty.
That is possibly the greatest promise in the entire Bible. God will not reject you. God loves you.
As I read through Zechariah, I saw something completely different than pretty much everything I have read for the past month.
Up until this point, the prophets have all been speaking on behalf of God and declaring His impending (big word) punishment for their sins.
BUT... Zechariah is completely different. For the first time (in like 500 years), the Israelites are obeying God. And Zechariah is a book of God's blessings.
And it all changed in Haggai chapter 1. (Ok... I will talk a little about it) Haggai 1:14b says They came and began to work on the house of the LORD Almighty, their God...
For the first time in the Prophets, the people actually repented and followed God. (Ok maybe that's an exaggeration, but it sure seems like it) And God no longer punishes them. He blesses them.
And I have seen the same thing in my own life. Times when I am far from God and doing my own thing... God seems to let me just coast through life. But when I am close to Him and obeying Him and loving Him... God blesses me in countless ways.
DISCLAIMER: I think that if you read this post, you may get the wrong idea about God. God is not Santa Claus.
The difference between God and Santa Claus is that God gives us what we need... not what we want. People love Santa Claus because of his presents. They are "good" so that they can get more presents.
God is (should be) the opposite. I don't love God so that I can be blessed. I love God, because He loves me. There are benefits to loving God, but I would still love God if He never blessed me.
A lot of Christians (especially American Christians), love God for His stuff. The love the blessings. They are all about God's blessings. And to be honest, they really don't love God if all they care about is His stuff.
Imagine if I needed a million dollars and befriended Bill Gates. All I wanted from him was the money, so I was his friend until he gave me the money. After that, I could go back to my normal life.
That is how a lot of people approach God. The only want Him for His blessings.
If I only love God for His blessings, then I don't truly love Him.
That's why I choose to love God... with or without being blessed by Him.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Day 64: Amos 5-9, Obadiah, and Jonah
Jonah and the big fish is probably one of the most recognizable children’s Bible stories. It is top 10 most told in most churches.
It’s up there with Noah’s Ark, Daniel and the Lion’s Den, Joshua and the walls of Jericho, and Jesus’ life. And almost none of those stories are actually child appropriate. Other than Jesus, they are stories of disobedience and slaughtering.
But I digress… back to Jonah. Jonah is probably the most American-ish person in the Bible. You can make a case for the rich, young ruler… but I’m going with Jonah.
If we look at Jonah’s 4 chapter life:
- Chapter 1 – He runs away from God instead of obeying, He claims to be the follower of God and yet the other sailors are the only ones who fear God, and Jonah attempts suicide instead of obeying God
- Chapter 2 – Jonah is stuck in the fish, so He asks God’s forgiveness (it seems genuine… and most children’s stories would make this seem like he is repenting… I have my doubts)
- Chapter 3 – Jonah gives a 7 word altar call, he never says anything about God
- Chapter 4 – Jonah gets mad at God for forgiving Nineveh, he wants to see fireworks (Sodom and Gomorrah style), then he got mad when God’s blessing is taken away
Jonah is a quality hero of the faith. He is never seen in a positive light. BUT… we teach our children that he is a hero.
Why? Because he gets eaten by a fish? Because he gets spit out by a fish? Because God uses him to save 120,000 people?
And all this, through a terrible attitude.
Wow… does this sound like American church or what? We want God to use us… we claim to “follow” the One true, but when it gets hard… we run away.
How many times in my life have I run away instead of obeying God’s voice? Too many to count.
How many times has God done something great and I had a bad attitude about it? Too many to count.
I can remember one time very specifically. I was in Brazil on a mission’s trip. Our group was performing skits and giving testimonies. I had volunteered to share the gospel at the end and was all excited and had all these verses I was going to use.
Then, one by one the skits went and with each skit one of the teens gave a testimony. And get this, they used my verses. They started talking about MY verses.
So, finally I got up there after all the skits and testimonies and I went to share the gospel. The only verse I had left was Romans 6:23. So, I talked about my 1 verse and we sang a song.
The whole evening, I was kind of ticked that everyone had stolen my thunder. They used MY verses.
2 women came forward and accepted Christ as their Savior that night. And while that was exciting, I was unhappy that it wasn’t ALL ME.
Then later, we were on the bus on the way back to the Santos’ home where we were staying. And Misti said something to me that I will never forget. She said “You didn’t get to do it all, because God used us all.”
And still I was not happy. This was my moment.
After about 20 minutes of being back at the Santos before our nightly devotions, I was on the toilet. (TRUE STORY) And I was thinking about what had happened and what Misti had said (which I wasn’t happy about).
And God basically punched me in the stomach. I realized how prideful and full of myself I was. I realized it’s not about me. It is all about God.
All I cared about was MY verses. It’s God’s Bible. It’s His Words. I just had the privilege of sharing them with these Brazilians.
I was Jonah. But, God changed my attitude. I can only hope that eventually God changed Jonah’s attitude.
As a youth pastor, I find myself falling into this trap still. It’s not MY ministry. It is GOD’s ministry that He allows me to lead.
It’s up there with Noah’s Ark, Daniel and the Lion’s Den, Joshua and the walls of Jericho, and Jesus’ life. And almost none of those stories are actually child appropriate. Other than Jesus, they are stories of disobedience and slaughtering.
But I digress… back to Jonah. Jonah is probably the most American-ish person in the Bible. You can make a case for the rich, young ruler… but I’m going with Jonah.
If we look at Jonah’s 4 chapter life:
- Chapter 1 – He runs away from God instead of obeying, He claims to be the follower of God and yet the other sailors are the only ones who fear God, and Jonah attempts suicide instead of obeying God
- Chapter 2 – Jonah is stuck in the fish, so He asks God’s forgiveness (it seems genuine… and most children’s stories would make this seem like he is repenting… I have my doubts)
- Chapter 3 – Jonah gives a 7 word altar call, he never says anything about God
- Chapter 4 – Jonah gets mad at God for forgiving Nineveh, he wants to see fireworks (Sodom and Gomorrah style), then he got mad when God’s blessing is taken away
Jonah is a quality hero of the faith. He is never seen in a positive light. BUT… we teach our children that he is a hero.
Why? Because he gets eaten by a fish? Because he gets spit out by a fish? Because God uses him to save 120,000 people?
And all this, through a terrible attitude.
Wow… does this sound like American church or what? We want God to use us… we claim to “follow” the One true, but when it gets hard… we run away.
How many times in my life have I run away instead of obeying God’s voice? Too many to count.
How many times has God done something great and I had a bad attitude about it? Too many to count.
I can remember one time very specifically. I was in Brazil on a mission’s trip. Our group was performing skits and giving testimonies. I had volunteered to share the gospel at the end and was all excited and had all these verses I was going to use.
Then, one by one the skits went and with each skit one of the teens gave a testimony. And get this, they used my verses. They started talking about MY verses.
So, finally I got up there after all the skits and testimonies and I went to share the gospel. The only verse I had left was Romans 6:23. So, I talked about my 1 verse and we sang a song.
The whole evening, I was kind of ticked that everyone had stolen my thunder. They used MY verses.
2 women came forward and accepted Christ as their Savior that night. And while that was exciting, I was unhappy that it wasn’t ALL ME.
Then later, we were on the bus on the way back to the Santos’ home where we were staying. And Misti said something to me that I will never forget. She said “You didn’t get to do it all, because God used us all.”
And still I was not happy. This was my moment.
After about 20 minutes of being back at the Santos before our nightly devotions, I was on the toilet. (TRUE STORY) And I was thinking about what had happened and what Misti had said (which I wasn’t happy about).
And God basically punched me in the stomach. I realized how prideful and full of myself I was. I realized it’s not about me. It is all about God.
All I cared about was MY verses. It’s God’s Bible. It’s His Words. I just had the privilege of sharing them with these Brazilians.
I was Jonah. But, God changed my attitude. I can only hope that eventually God changed Jonah’s attitude.
As a youth pastor, I find myself falling into this trap still. It’s not MY ministry. It is GOD’s ministry that He allows me to lead.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Day 57:Ezekiel 6-20
Today's post has nothing to do with today's reading. It has to do with yesterday's reading. I just can't get this picture out of my head.
Ezekiel 3... God calls Ezekiel to be a prophet to the Israelites.
In God's calling of Ezekiel, He says "they won't listen to you." Guess what Ezekiel, God is calling you to a ministry that WILL NOT SUCCEED. You will fail.
Wow... I can't wait for God to call me to be a failure in my ministry.
In fact, God says that if He had given Ezekiel a message to another language group, then those people would listen. But the Israelites will not listen. They are too hard-hearted.
This sounds like the best possible life choice for Ezekiel.
But the fun goes on... later on in Ezekiel 3, God says that Ezekiel must warn sinners that God is going to take their life, but they still won't listen. And if Ezekiel doesn't, then he is guilty of their blood.
Sign me up for that ministry. I get to tell people that God is going to kill them for their sins, and they aren't going to listen... and if I don't, then I am guilty of their blood. Exciting ministry.
God is setting Ezekiel up to fail in His ministry. He is making Ezekiel's life miserable. But for some reason, Ezekiel says yes. Oh yeah... because Ezekiel saw God.
I think if we all truly understood God and saw God, we would all sign up for anything. The problem is that the "god" we worship lives in a box that we can understand. It isn't the god of the Bible. Yahweh/Jehovah/God is sooooo much more than the small "god" that we worship.
But that isn't where I want to go with this post...
Let's turn the page of this failing ministry to chapter 4... to possibly the most disgusting thing that I have ever heard/read. I can't get this picture out of my head.
God says to Ezekiel in verse 12... Eat the food as you would a barley cake; bake it in the sight of the people, USING HUMAN EXCREMENT FOR FUEL.
Yes, you read that correctly. Set some human poop on fire to cook your bread. First off, I didn't realize that poop burns so well.
And Ezekiel gets all spiritual in his response (I am sure hoping that God will change His mind), and says that he would never defile himself in such a manner.
So verse 15... "Very well," he said, "I will let you bake your bread over cow manure instead of human excrement."
Hmm... this ministry opportunity just keeps getting better and better. God changes human poop to cow poop.
My guess is that Ezekiel doesn't have many (if any) friends. The guy tells people that God is going to kill them. He eats food cooked with poop as a fuel source. And pretty much all of today's reading is Ezekiel prophesying the exile. But thankfully, no more poop cooking.
I asked a question this Sunday in Sunday School... "what are you willing to do for God?" Are you willing to move away from your family and friends? Are you willing to live in India where you don't use toilet paper? Are you willing to be homeless?
I think I have a new question... Are you willing to eat food cooked over burning cow manure for Jesus? Ezekiel was and did. The real question is am I?
I don't know the answer. I want that I could say "yes." But, I just don't know.
There are so many things that I have said "no" to for Christ in my life. I fear that it would be a "no." Pray that God would give me strength and reveal Himself to me.
I want to say "yes." But I need to mature in my faith. I need to pass the little, everyday tests. Then, I will be able to handle the bigger tests.
Pray that God will test me. Pray that I will pass. Pray for my maturity as a believer and follower of Jesus. I need your prayer. Please pray.
Ezekiel 3... God calls Ezekiel to be a prophet to the Israelites.
In God's calling of Ezekiel, He says "they won't listen to you." Guess what Ezekiel, God is calling you to a ministry that WILL NOT SUCCEED. You will fail.
Wow... I can't wait for God to call me to be a failure in my ministry.
In fact, God says that if He had given Ezekiel a message to another language group, then those people would listen. But the Israelites will not listen. They are too hard-hearted.
This sounds like the best possible life choice for Ezekiel.
But the fun goes on... later on in Ezekiel 3, God says that Ezekiel must warn sinners that God is going to take their life, but they still won't listen. And if Ezekiel doesn't, then he is guilty of their blood.
Sign me up for that ministry. I get to tell people that God is going to kill them for their sins, and they aren't going to listen... and if I don't, then I am guilty of their blood. Exciting ministry.
God is setting Ezekiel up to fail in His ministry. He is making Ezekiel's life miserable. But for some reason, Ezekiel says yes. Oh yeah... because Ezekiel saw God.
I think if we all truly understood God and saw God, we would all sign up for anything. The problem is that the "god" we worship lives in a box that we can understand. It isn't the god of the Bible. Yahweh/Jehovah/God is sooooo much more than the small "god" that we worship.
But that isn't where I want to go with this post...
Let's turn the page of this failing ministry to chapter 4... to possibly the most disgusting thing that I have ever heard/read. I can't get this picture out of my head.
God says to Ezekiel in verse 12... Eat the food as you would a barley cake; bake it in the sight of the people, USING HUMAN EXCREMENT FOR FUEL.
Yes, you read that correctly. Set some human poop on fire to cook your bread. First off, I didn't realize that poop burns so well.
And Ezekiel gets all spiritual in his response (I am sure hoping that God will change His mind), and says that he would never defile himself in such a manner.
So verse 15... "Very well," he said, "I will let you bake your bread over cow manure instead of human excrement."
Hmm... this ministry opportunity just keeps getting better and better. God changes human poop to cow poop.
My guess is that Ezekiel doesn't have many (if any) friends. The guy tells people that God is going to kill them. He eats food cooked with poop as a fuel source. And pretty much all of today's reading is Ezekiel prophesying the exile. But thankfully, no more poop cooking.
I asked a question this Sunday in Sunday School... "what are you willing to do for God?" Are you willing to move away from your family and friends? Are you willing to live in India where you don't use toilet paper? Are you willing to be homeless?
I think I have a new question... Are you willing to eat food cooked over burning cow manure for Jesus? Ezekiel was and did. The real question is am I?
I don't know the answer. I want that I could say "yes." But, I just don't know.
There are so many things that I have said "no" to for Christ in my life. I fear that it would be a "no." Pray that God would give me strength and reveal Himself to me.
I want to say "yes." But I need to mature in my faith. I need to pass the little, everyday tests. Then, I will be able to handle the bigger tests.
Pray that God will test me. Pray that I will pass. Pray for my maturity as a believer and follower of Jesus. I need your prayer. Please pray.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Day 52: Jeremiah 1-13
Other than Jeremiah being really sad and depressing I don't have much to say.
I did find Jeremiah 3:10 to be a very interesting verse. "In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did no return to me with all her heart, only in pretense," declares the LORD.
The people of Judah (literally) prostitute themselves to every other god imaginable. AND they do it in God's Temple.
Then, Judah "repents" of their sin. I put repent in quotations, because apparently they only repented in their words.
So what does this verse actually say? It is saying that (get this) God doesn't want to hear my platitudes. God wants my life.
This goes back to the verse that says God isn't interested in my sacrifice or worship, He wants my obedience.
And obedience is much harder than my praises. My praise is easy. God already knows how Great He is. God wants to know how much praise will affect my life.
When my praise affects my life, then (and only then) is it called WORSHIP.
Worship is not singing. Worship is not dancing. Worship is not prayer. Worship is not Bible reading.
Worship is OBEDIENCE. Everything else should come from obedience. Everything is a part of obedience.
Judah said "we're sorry" and then went right back to what they were doing.
And to be honest, that is almost exactly what I do in my life. I truly am sorry for my sins. I don't want to be a sinner. I don't know how anyone can read Leviticus and not be sorry for their sins (or John for that matter)(or any of the Bible).
So, I sin and I "repent." I am sorry. I really, really don't want to commit the same sin again, but I do over and over and over again.
I can remember for about 5 straight years asking God for forgiveness for the exact same sin... fighting with Alyssa. Seriously, I knew it was wrong. I did not want to fight with her.
BUT... for 5 years, we fought all the time. I still don't know why I did it. I can make excuses, but the reason is this... that sin of fighting with Alyssa had me and I couldn't stop. I would "repent," but never truly repent.
That's Judah. And that's me, even today.
My sins are more mature. I'm full of myself. I am unwilling to submit to God. I constantly tell God "no" when the Holy Spirit is speaking to me. I'm full of myself. I'm lazy. I lie. I think I'm better than everyone else. I'm full of myself.
Too much honesty to be writing on the Internet. I need prayer. I need to repent. I mean truly repent. Not just say "I'm sorry," but change. I need to more Christlike.
Life is hard.
I did find Jeremiah 3:10 to be a very interesting verse. "In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did no return to me with all her heart, only in pretense," declares the LORD.
The people of Judah (literally) prostitute themselves to every other god imaginable. AND they do it in God's Temple.
Then, Judah "repents" of their sin. I put repent in quotations, because apparently they only repented in their words.
So what does this verse actually say? It is saying that (get this) God doesn't want to hear my platitudes. God wants my life.
This goes back to the verse that says God isn't interested in my sacrifice or worship, He wants my obedience.
And obedience is much harder than my praises. My praise is easy. God already knows how Great He is. God wants to know how much praise will affect my life.
When my praise affects my life, then (and only then) is it called WORSHIP.
Worship is not singing. Worship is not dancing. Worship is not prayer. Worship is not Bible reading.
Worship is OBEDIENCE. Everything else should come from obedience. Everything is a part of obedience.
Judah said "we're sorry" and then went right back to what they were doing.
And to be honest, that is almost exactly what I do in my life. I truly am sorry for my sins. I don't want to be a sinner. I don't know how anyone can read Leviticus and not be sorry for their sins (or John for that matter)(or any of the Bible).
So, I sin and I "repent." I am sorry. I really, really don't want to commit the same sin again, but I do over and over and over again.
I can remember for about 5 straight years asking God for forgiveness for the exact same sin... fighting with Alyssa. Seriously, I knew it was wrong. I did not want to fight with her.
BUT... for 5 years, we fought all the time. I still don't know why I did it. I can make excuses, but the reason is this... that sin of fighting with Alyssa had me and I couldn't stop. I would "repent," but never truly repent.
That's Judah. And that's me, even today.
My sins are more mature. I'm full of myself. I am unwilling to submit to God. I constantly tell God "no" when the Holy Spirit is speaking to me. I'm full of myself. I'm lazy. I lie. I think I'm better than everyone else. I'm full of myself.
Too much honesty to be writing on the Internet. I need prayer. I need to repent. I mean truly repent. Not just say "I'm sorry," but change. I need to more Christlike.
Life is hard.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Day 50: Isaiah 41-53
Guess what is back? That's right more poetry.
So... I'm just going to get right into it today. Isaiah 53 is perhaps the most famous book of Isaiah. It's up there with Isaiah 6 and Isaiah 40 (and possibly Isaiah 7 can be included).
But, as I think about Isaiah 53, I doubt it was very famous until about 34 AD. You see, this chapter is a prophecy of the life, death, and burial of Jesus Christ.
I cannot imagine myself being a BCE Jew. I cannot imagine what it would be like to live waiting for the Messiah to arrive (oh wait... yes I can).
I don't think that most Jews would understand Isaiah 53 at all. In fact, I am pretty sure that they didn't.
You see it over and over again in the gospels of how the Jewish leaders and even the disciples do not understand at all how Jesus MUST die as a sacrifice.
Then, we look at the Old Testament and see how it is prophesied over and over and over that Jesus is coming to die. But, nobody understands it.
And I guess for me, the question it brings up is... what does this mean for His second coming?
Whether you are pre-trib, post-trib, amillenial, post-millenial, pre-millenial... none of us know for sure what is coming.
We have passages in Scripture that we base our opinions and doctrines around, but we don't know for sure what will happen.
I mean if you look at Jews for thousands of years... they read the same OT that we read and their expectation of the Messiah was completely wrong.
They expected an emperor to lead Israel to be the rulers of the world like a Caesar or Alexander the Great. But Jesus came as a humble sacrifice to save the world from sin... not from "evil empires."
So, the question I have is... what are we missing for the second coming?
We have a small advantage... we have Revelation. We have God revealing some of His future plans. We know the "end" of the story.
But with our extreme obsession with End Times, do we ever stop to realize that WE KNOW ALMOST NOTHING?
I mean seriously... let's make a list of what we KNOW.
- 7 years of tribulation
- God wins
- Satan losses
- Jesus is going to reign for 1000 years
Other than that, we don't really know a whole lot. We speculate on whether Christians will be here or not during the tribulation. We have Bible passages that we use to make our points, but there are just as valid Bible passages to make the opposite points.
To be fair, I believe in a pre-tribulation rapture. But I am by no means going to argue with someone who believes in post-trib... because we don't KNOW.
We speculate on when Christ's 1000 year. When it will happen. Whether it will be a literal 1000 years with Him sitting on David's throne in Jerusalem. Who will be on earth at this point.
There is so much we don't know... and yet, we will probably be sitting in eternity someday looking at the Bible saying "duh." Look at all these prophecies throughout the entire Bible.
It is just like the Christians looking back at the Old Testament seeing tons of prophecies about Jesus death on the cross. Even though the Jewish experts read the same passages 1000s of times and never saw these as prophetic.
I guess the whole point of this post is that I don't know what is going to happen. You don't know what is going to happen. That pastor on TV doesn't know what is going to happen. The author of that book doesn't know what is going to happen.
I don't think that there is anything wrong with being excited about eternity. I am just as excited as the next person.
I think where we go wrong is when we "know" what is going to happen, and when we "know" the day that Jesus will return.
We don't KNOW much. All I KNOW is that God wins in the end, so I want to be on God's team.
And in the end, there are only two things that matter:
1. Does God KNOW you?
2. Who did you bring with you?
So... I'm just going to get right into it today. Isaiah 53 is perhaps the most famous book of Isaiah. It's up there with Isaiah 6 and Isaiah 40 (and possibly Isaiah 7 can be included).
But, as I think about Isaiah 53, I doubt it was very famous until about 34 AD. You see, this chapter is a prophecy of the life, death, and burial of Jesus Christ.
I cannot imagine myself being a BCE Jew. I cannot imagine what it would be like to live waiting for the Messiah to arrive (oh wait... yes I can).
I don't think that most Jews would understand Isaiah 53 at all. In fact, I am pretty sure that they didn't.
You see it over and over again in the gospels of how the Jewish leaders and even the disciples do not understand at all how Jesus MUST die as a sacrifice.
Then, we look at the Old Testament and see how it is prophesied over and over and over that Jesus is coming to die. But, nobody understands it.
And I guess for me, the question it brings up is... what does this mean for His second coming?
Whether you are pre-trib, post-trib, amillenial, post-millenial, pre-millenial... none of us know for sure what is coming.
We have passages in Scripture that we base our opinions and doctrines around, but we don't know for sure what will happen.
I mean if you look at Jews for thousands of years... they read the same OT that we read and their expectation of the Messiah was completely wrong.
They expected an emperor to lead Israel to be the rulers of the world like a Caesar or Alexander the Great. But Jesus came as a humble sacrifice to save the world from sin... not from "evil empires."
So, the question I have is... what are we missing for the second coming?
We have a small advantage... we have Revelation. We have God revealing some of His future plans. We know the "end" of the story.
But with our extreme obsession with End Times, do we ever stop to realize that WE KNOW ALMOST NOTHING?
I mean seriously... let's make a list of what we KNOW.
- 7 years of tribulation
- God wins
- Satan losses
- Jesus is going to reign for 1000 years
Other than that, we don't really know a whole lot. We speculate on whether Christians will be here or not during the tribulation. We have Bible passages that we use to make our points, but there are just as valid Bible passages to make the opposite points.
To be fair, I believe in a pre-tribulation rapture. But I am by no means going to argue with someone who believes in post-trib... because we don't KNOW.
We speculate on when Christ's 1000 year. When it will happen. Whether it will be a literal 1000 years with Him sitting on David's throne in Jerusalem. Who will be on earth at this point.
There is so much we don't know... and yet, we will probably be sitting in eternity someday looking at the Bible saying "duh." Look at all these prophecies throughout the entire Bible.
It is just like the Christians looking back at the Old Testament seeing tons of prophecies about Jesus death on the cross. Even though the Jewish experts read the same passages 1000s of times and never saw these as prophetic.
I guess the whole point of this post is that I don't know what is going to happen. You don't know what is going to happen. That pastor on TV doesn't know what is going to happen. The author of that book doesn't know what is going to happen.
I don't think that there is anything wrong with being excited about eternity. I am just as excited as the next person.
I think where we go wrong is when we "know" what is going to happen, and when we "know" the day that Jesus will return.
We don't KNOW much. All I KNOW is that God wins in the end, so I want to be on God's team.
And in the end, there are only two things that matter:
1. Does God KNOW you?
2. Who did you bring with you?
Monday, October 5, 2009
Day 49: Isaiah 28-40
Isaiah (and most of the prophets) is a very depressing book. Israel won't stop sinning, so God continues to punish and punish and punish them.
Even when Israel/Judah does something right, they end up screwing it up and taking the glory for themselves.
Chapters 28-35 are prophecies and then (for the first time since Job) Isaiah 36 starts with a narrative.
Don't get me wrong. Poetry is much "faster" to read (only because it's not in paragraphs which makes it less words per page). But, narrative has a flow to it. And I like flow.
So, King Hezekiah (one of the few good kings after Solomon) and Judah are being attacked by the Assyrian empire.
Assyria is just wiping out everybody... kind of like Israel back in Joshua/David/Solomon's reigns. Nobody can stand up against Assyria or their king, Sennacherib. (I just wanted to use his name because its long)
Assyria walks up to Jerusalem and gets ready to attack them. Everyone in Jerusalem and all of Judah are scared.
Everyone except Isaiah and Hezekiah. For once (or so it seems), they choose to trust God. And possibly the biggest Godly massacre in the Bible happens.
185,000 Assyrians die in their sleep from the angel of God. God once again delivers His people.
This passage is a clear "Prodigal Son" story. His people run away from Him. His people don't trust Him. The natural punishment of sin comes to their doorstep, and they turn to God and He saves them.
And we see this over and over and over again in the Bible. God is there waiting for me to return to Him. God is waiting for you to return to Him.
And I think where most of us get this wrong is that God is not somewhere else waiting. He is right behind us begging us to turn around.
He is putting stop signs in front of us. He is throwing guard rails in front of us. He has His lights flashing. He is honking His horn trying to get our attention.
But we keep walking the other way. Eventually (hopefully), we repent. We turn around. We look back at God.
We change our direction.
I think the one part of the Prodigal Son parable that we get wrong is that we think the Son has to "get back home."
We have all heard the phrase "God helps those who help themselves." This is the idea that we have to take the first step towards God.
But this is COMPLETELY WRONG!!!
God helps those who ask for it. And God sometimes helps those who don't.
The most accurate picture is that we are falling in a pit and God is holding out His hand waiting for you to grab it. You grab His hand and He is there.
All Hezekiah had to do was trust God's promises and God protected Judah. All I have to do is grab His hand and He is with me.
Even when Israel/Judah does something right, they end up screwing it up and taking the glory for themselves.
Chapters 28-35 are prophecies and then (for the first time since Job) Isaiah 36 starts with a narrative.
Don't get me wrong. Poetry is much "faster" to read (only because it's not in paragraphs which makes it less words per page). But, narrative has a flow to it. And I like flow.
So, King Hezekiah (one of the few good kings after Solomon) and Judah are being attacked by the Assyrian empire.
Assyria is just wiping out everybody... kind of like Israel back in Joshua/David/Solomon's reigns. Nobody can stand up against Assyria or their king, Sennacherib. (I just wanted to use his name because its long)
Assyria walks up to Jerusalem and gets ready to attack them. Everyone in Jerusalem and all of Judah are scared.
Everyone except Isaiah and Hezekiah. For once (or so it seems), they choose to trust God. And possibly the biggest Godly massacre in the Bible happens.
185,000 Assyrians die in their sleep from the angel of God. God once again delivers His people.
This passage is a clear "Prodigal Son" story. His people run away from Him. His people don't trust Him. The natural punishment of sin comes to their doorstep, and they turn to God and He saves them.
And we see this over and over and over again in the Bible. God is there waiting for me to return to Him. God is waiting for you to return to Him.
And I think where most of us get this wrong is that God is not somewhere else waiting. He is right behind us begging us to turn around.
He is putting stop signs in front of us. He is throwing guard rails in front of us. He has His lights flashing. He is honking His horn trying to get our attention.
But we keep walking the other way. Eventually (hopefully), we repent. We turn around. We look back at God.
We change our direction.
I think the one part of the Prodigal Son parable that we get wrong is that we think the Son has to "get back home."
We have all heard the phrase "God helps those who help themselves." This is the idea that we have to take the first step towards God.
But this is COMPLETELY WRONG!!!
God helps those who ask for it. And God sometimes helps those who don't.
The most accurate picture is that we are falling in a pit and God is holding out His hand waiting for you to grab it. You grab His hand and He is there.
All Hezekiah had to do was trust God's promises and God protected Judah. All I have to do is grab His hand and He is with me.
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