Tag Archives: Bible

They Deserved It

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Genesis 34-35

Rather than repenting of their sinful act of revenge, Simeon and Levi justified the murder of hundreds of men with, “They deserved it.”

It’s tempting to think the same when we hear that guy at work who took credit for your idea is getting a divorce, or when that reckless driver who lives down the street gets in a car accident, or when that childhood bully who made seventh grade miserable for you gets cancer. These days there are some who think people deserve to have their cars blown up, or an assassin’s bullet aimed at a man’s head simply because they have different opinions than their’s. Wanting revenge isn’t a new phenomenon. But it gets a lot of press these days.

Remember when your mom used to tell you, “Two wrongs don’t make a right?” She wasn’t wrong! That scale never levels out. The question still remains: who made you judge and jury?

Bad things happen in this life. There are bad people in the world. There are crimes that should be punished according to Scripture and the law of the land. But there is only one ultimate Judge. And you are not He!

God will judge every individual with righteousness according to His character. Some people will deserve His wrath and the punishment for their unrepented sins. Others, like me and I hope you, will face the judge wearing His own righteousness and hear Him declare that our sin debt is paid in full.

Life is too short to plan to get even with someone, or to even waste time hoping something bad happens to someone who you think has wronged you. It’s not your job to try to balance a scale that cannot be balanced. It’s not your job to dole out punishment to someone who has hurt you.

Honestly, I think the best way to handle the hurt you feel or the wrong that has been done against you, according to Scripture, is submit to God. Take a step back from the situation. Breathe. Pray. And trust God who does all things well. My experience is that when I turn it over to the Lord, I am free. A burden is lifted. Thoughts of revenge are replaced by peace. And whether or not that person gets what I think he or she deserves doesn’t matter any more.

Whew!

In fact, my prayers become, “Lord, Don’t give her what I think she deserves. I pray that Jesus will get what He deserves, and that is her heart.”

In the end, it’s not about what we think anyone deserves. It’s about what God deserves for dying on the cross for our sins… and the sins of the people we are struggling with. He will get what He deserves in the end. And that’s the way it should be.

The Ripples

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Genesis 16

Every sin comes with a consequence or two or more. We might think only the “big” sins are serious, but that’s not true. Yes, we are absolutely still dealing with Abraham’s big sin of sleeping with Hagar. It’s been war between Jews and Arabs since the moment Isaac was born. But that sin didn’t happen in a vacuum.

It started with the sin of self, of pride, of Sarah’s desire to appear “blessed” in the eyes of others by having a baby. It began with the sin of doubting God was going to accomplish what He’d promised.

It’s like throwing a pebble into a lake. That tiny rock can produce ripples that grow bigger and bigger, and wider and wider, and reach farther and farther. Once those ripples are set in motion, you will find you are unable to stop them.

Sarah’s sin began with a thought. Just a thought in her head that no one heard but her, and no one would be hurt by what she simply thought. It was private. But Sarah allowed that thought to fester, to grow into feelings that she eventually took to Abraham. Once she threw that pebble into the water, the ripples were unleashed.

Those ripples touched Abraham who then threw his own rock into the water, unleashing his own ripples that continue to reach out thousands of years later.

The truth I’m wrestling with today is the seriousness of the first sin: the thought, the glance, the anger. It’s the moment I pick up the pebble. Am I going to toss it into the water? Or am I going to hand it over to God and ask Him to take care of it? Am I going to repent, turn from that sin, or am I going to hold onto it, maybe feed it until it grows from a pebble into a boulder before tossing it into the water, then watch the ripples reach out and touch my life and everyone’s life around me?

My prayer is that at the moment I (and you) pick up the pebble of a sinful thought or feeling, we will pray, ask God to forgive us, and let it end there.

And I pray that if any of us are feeling the ripples of sins we’ve committed in the past, we will ask God to forgive us and intervene. He might not stop the ripples. But He can and will work for the good of we who love Him. We know that what Satan intends for evil God can use for our good and His glory.

I also pray that God will give us the desire to turn every pebble over to Him before we ever throw it into the water. I pray that we will recognize the seriousness of every sin and deal with it before we have to live with ripples of regret.

A Sure Foundation

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Genesis 1-11; Matthew 7:21-27

I finished Warren Wiersbe’s BE BASIC study today. (Be Basic; David C Cook Publisher; 2010). The first eleven chapters of Genesis are foundational to the Christian faith.

What do I believe about Creation, the sanctity of life, sin, the consequences for sin? What do I believe about God? Were Adam and Eve real people who lived in a real garden, walked with God, and spoke to a serpent? Did the flood really cover the whole earth? Did the different nationalities and languages start at Babel? And was Abraham a real man chosen by God to be the instrument by which we can know God and be saved from the consequences of our sin?

The answer to these questions are foundational to our faith. If we don’t believe what we read in Genesis, we make God out to be a liar. Who wants to put their faith in a liar?

You might say you believe in God while rejecting the God-breathed creation account. You might teach Sunday School or sing in the choir, yet doubt the flood really happened. You might say you have faith in God, but unless your faith is built on the God of Genesis 1-11, you might stand before Him one day and hear the words, “I never knew you.”

I would challenge you to read Genesis 1-11 and take an inventory of what you really believe about it. To build your faith on the absolute truth of these chapters is to build your faith on the Rock of the one true God. To believe anything else is a faith built on sand, and it won’t stand at the final judgment.

I agree with Wiersbe. It might be time to get back to basics.

The Work

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Genesis 6:14-22

Warren Wiersbe, in his study on Genesis entitled Be Basic, talks about some things we can learn from Noah. Yesterday I shared about the fact that Noah was a believing man who walked with God. What a privilege we have of that same walk with God as we believe on HIs Son.

Today I concentrated on the second of Noah’s attributes that are imitation-worthy. Wiersbe says Noah was a faithful man who worked for God. I’d like to described as a faithful woman who works for God.

Throughout Scripture we are told that faith and works go together. James tells us faith without works is dead, meaning that if you aren’t actively working for the Lord, you’d better check your faith-pulse.

But we’re also told that we are saved through faith and not our works. I think Noah is a great example of the truth if it.

It started with Noah’s faith. God didn’t find favor with Noah because Noah was a nice guy. Noah was the only person (and by extension his sons and family) in the world who still honored God. Noah demonstrated his faith to the world by obeying God’s instruction to build a big boat on dry land. Not just a big boat, mind you. Probably the biggest structure built my any man at that time.

Plus… it had to be seaworthy.

For 120 years Moses dragged lumber, mixed pitch, pounded nails, all the while explaining the importance of what he was doing to the masses who simply laughed at him. Regardless of their opinions, Noah kept working for God. God was providing the means of salvation for anyone who would believe. And Noah would not be deterred from being instrumental in that work.

You say you’ve placed your faith in God. What does that look like? God has provided the means of salvation for anyone who believes. Are you being instrumental in HIs work?

Moses could have had all the faith in the world. But without doing the work God had given him, things would look quite differently today. Have faith in God. Then get to work.

Compromise

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Genesis 6:1-8

Wiersbe uses the word “compromise” in his commentary on these verses in his Be Basic study series. Before the flood, godly people began marrying ungodly people. The godly people knew better.

Maybe they told themselves, “you can’t help who you love.” Maybe they thought, “my body, my choice,” or “God wants me to be happy.” Oh, they knew that joining together with God’s enemies was wrong according to the Law given them by God. But they did it anyway.

They might have convinced themselves that through their bond with them, the ungodly people would recognize their wickedness and cross over to the godly side. But a good apple never makes a barrel of rotten apples good. In fact, a good apple tied to a rotten apple doesn’t even make that one rotten apple good.

You and I, as children of God through the blood of His Son Jesus, are called to be a holy people, separate from the world, standing firm in our faith and on the Word of God. One compromise isn’t insignificant.

Compromise is just a dressed up word for sin.

Smart Enough

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Genesis 3:1-6

When you were young and your mother told you the red coil on top of the stove was hot so you shouldn’t touch it or you’d get burned, you had a choice. Some of us took our moms at her word and avoided the red coil. Some of you might be wearing the scars from the burn, or at least remember the pain you felt when you questioned the truth of what Mom said, and decided to find out for yourself.

One criticism of Christianity is that we simply believe the Bible as true without questioning it. The critics imply that we are not intellectual or just gullible or that we are missing out on the enlightenment of the universe (or some such nonsense).

Consider what questioning God’s Word did for Eve. Satan planted a seed of doubt. But instead of going back to the Word of God, she began to use her own logic. The seed of doubt grew to rejecting God’s Word, and to sin.

I will not apologize for believing the infallibility of God’s Word. I will not be intimidated by the intellectual sounding arguments of some. I will not even consider any other so-called truth.

I don’t need to touch the hot stove to see if what Mom said was true.

God, who created me, inspired His Words to be written down so that I can hear and accept the warning, so that I could hear and accept His grace. His Words are true because God is true.

I’m certainly not smarter than God. But I”m smart enough to take His Word for it.

The Sabbath

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Genesis 2:1-3

Today is Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. Many Jews won’t pick up a napkin or turn on a light today. Many, I am told, depend on non-orthodox or non-Jewish friends to do that kind of “work” for them as needed.

It’s true that of all the days of Creation, the seventh day is the only day God blessed and made holy. It’s the only day He didn’t create something. He rested.

So why am I not going to church today? Am I breaking God’s Law if I put the breakfast dishes in the dishwasher today?

I am going to share from what Warren Wiersbe wrote in Be Basic, (David C. Cook Publisher; Second Edition; 2010; pages 40-43). He speaks of three Sabbaths found in the Bible.

First we see a personal day of rest of the Lord. God rested on the seventh day, not because He was tired (Isaiah 40:28), but because Creation was complete. (pay attention you who want to believe in evolution.) In the Creation account as recorded in God’s Word, there is no mention of “evening and morning” on day seven, indicating God’s rest from the act of Creation will never end. Creation was completed in six days. The Sabbath rest is the period at the end of the sentence.

Secondly we see a national Sabbath of Israel. The Sabbath became a commandment for the people under the Law, those people God chose in order to reveal Himself to the world. The seventh day was commanded by God to be a day off work, a day devoted to Him. It separated the Israelites from the rest of the people.

The seventh year was a Sabbath year of no planting so even the land had rest from production. It was the Law. If you wanted God’s favor, you followed the Law.

But we don’t live under that bondage any more. We are free from those chains of the Law by the grace of the One who commanded adherence to the Law!

Which brings us to the third Sabbath in Scripture, according to Wiersbe: the spiritual Sabbath of Christian believers. Jesus demonstrated that spiritual Sabbath repeatedly while living on earth as a man. The Jewish Sabbath symbolizes the old creation, the old covenant that none of us can obey perfectly.

But the old has passed away. The new has come!

Jesus changed everything when He paid the punishment for our sin and made us new creations through the New Covenant of grace!

Here’s the thing: I don’t have to wait until a Saturday or a Sunday to experience a Sabbath. I can rest in Jesus every moment of every day. In fact, we are told to not be anxious about anything, to cast all our cares on Him because He cares for us. We are told by Jesus Himself to come to Him, “all who are weary (and who isn’t weary?)… and I will GIVE you rest!”

It is in Jesus we find rest for our souls, I don’t believe one day is more important than any other. But I will go to church tomorrow to worship God shoulder-to-shoulder with people I love. I will take a break from my week because my body needs time off, my soul needs refreshed, and I as a human I need to have my batteries recharged for the days ahead.

But I will rest in my relationship with God through Jesus every day… because I can! I don’t live under the Law. I live under grace. I can breathe. I can find comfort. I can rest. In Jesus is everything I need or want.

Jesus is my Sabbath.

In The Beginning God…

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Genesis 1:1

Happy New Year, 2025. Praying that God will be glorified in you, and that you will know the joy that comes from an honest relationship with your Savior. What a privilege we have to know our Creator as our friend.

This year, instead of reading the Bible through, I’ve chosen to do a topical series of studies written by Warren Wiersbe known as the “BE Series.” I’m starting with “Be Basic,” a study on Genesis 1-11. Not sure what this will look like, or how often I’ll post my thoughts. But my plan is to read the study along with God’s Word every day, journal my thoughts, and meditate on the beauty of Scripture as led by Rev. Wiersbe.

Today I was challenged to considered the first four words of the Bible: “In the beginning God…”

What does it mean to me that God is eternal? I can’t wrap my mind around “always existed.” I think I can imagine eternity future, never ending. But eternity past? How long did God exist before He created anything? What did He do all that time?

And there’s my answer. Words like “always,” or “future,” “ending,” “past,” “before,” and “time” are words bound by time. God exists outside of time. He exists in a perpetual “now.”

It’s not that He was or will be. It’s that He is. He just is. He even identified Himself as such when He told Moses, “I AM.” The disconnect comes with me, with my finite mind, limited understanding.

It’s like standing inches away from the Mona Lisa, gazing at it through a paper straw. If I tried to describe what I saw, or tried to imagine the whole, I would fail miserably. I would only be seeing the painting in part, I would not be able to understand the beauty of it. I would be limited by the lens through which I was looking.

Right now we can only know God in part. Our lens is like that of a paper straw. I love what I see through that straw, in nature and in His written Word. But if what I see of Him is limited by time and space, the whole of Him must be spectacular!

Even in my limited view of God, I see Him as all-powerful, all-knowing, kind, compassionate, faithful, true, righteous, and holy, singularly worthy of my worship. I can face the New Year with confidence, not because of who I am or what I’ve accomplished, or how determined I am to become a better person. I can face 2025 with confidence because of WHO GOD IS!

I can stand on the truth of, “In the beginning God…” because it’s THAT God I depend on.

Stay On The Ship

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Acts 27

I was talking to my pastor yesterday about how easy it can be to believe a lie. If you take time to listen to people who reject God, you being to understand their point of view. That can be a good thing, and I hope we are all investing ourselves in people we love and who are rejecting God. But when our understanding of their viewpoint becomes acceptance, we have a problem.

Paul was heading to Rome to be tried for bogus crimes the Jews made up to get rid of him. The ship he was sailing on got caught in a hurricane-force storm that pummeled them for weeks. The soldiers did everything they knew what to do to save the ship from being torn to pieces. They naturally feared for their lives, so Paul encouraged them with a word from God:

But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost, only the ship will be destroyed. Last night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me and said, “Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar, and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.” So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. (Acts 27:22-25)

In other words, stay in the ship and God has promised me you will be saved. Some of the sailors panicked, however. In their minds, and from what they believed about ships and storms, they determined the better option was to escape to land by lifeboats. They began to lower the lifeboats with the intention of abandoning the ship, in opposition to the Word of God.

When Paul saw what they were doing, he said to the centurion guarding him:

Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved. (Acts 27:31b)

So the ropes were cut, the lifeboats dropped empty into the raging sea. And although the ship was lost, not one of those men lost his life.

I think the moral of the story is the Word of God. Do you believe it or not?

We must sift everything we hear through the words God spoke. We must shape our world-view, our morality, our stand on what is right and what is wrong, our definition of sin and its punishment, our understanding of grace and mercy and love, through the lens of Scripture.

We all hear things from time to time that sound reasonable, maybe even scriptural. And maybe we think: “Ok. I can see their point. Maybe they have something there.”

BUT WAIT!

Before you go any further with that thought you better ask yourself: what does Scripture say? Not just a random verse taken out of context. What does God really say, how did it play out in the lives of the Old Testament Jews, how did Jesus embody the words spoken by the prophets?

Dear ones, there is one Truth. Anything that veers from that Truth is merely opinion and is nothing to stand on. Anything that is not Truth is a lie.

There is one salvation. There is one ship. To attempt to save yourself any other way is death.

I can confidently say that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and no one goes to the Father without going through Jesus. I can say you must be born again. I can say that faith comes through hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

I can tell you that Scripture is God-breathed and it is the first and final authority.

I can say those things unapologetically, having built my life on the truth of it, because those words are in the Bible and the truth of them is demonstrated in those precious pages, and in my life.

Again I ask you concerning to the Word of God: do you believe it or not? Your life depends on your answer.

Don’t Judge?

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Matthew 7:1-5; Luke 6:37-42

This whole “do not judge” thing is out of control these days, and entirely contrary to what Jesus actually said. He certainly wasn’t saying we shouldn’t call sin sin, or turn a blind eye to sin in ourselves or others. Scripture is pretty clear about that, if you take time to read it.

Jesus wasn’t implying that everyone is entitled to their own truth. Remember, He’s the same One who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one goes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6) Jesus is THE Truth. Not just one of many truths.

If you read these chapters Jesus is telling us to confront and restore a fellow believer who is sinning. Just don’t be a hypocrite about it. Recognize and confess your own sin before trying to address someone else’s sin.

Jesus didn’t say, “Because you’ve sinned, you have no right to point out someone else’s sin.” In fact, He’s saying that BECAUSE we are sinners saved by grace, we have a responsibility to address the plank in another’s eye.

Pointing out sins according to Scripture isn’t trying to judge them. Their actions judge them. You aren’t the judge. But you are the Judge’s voice, His arms and legs, when you have the ability to be used by Him to restore a sinning brother.

Satan’s interpretation of these verses has made Christians weak and stupid. We should be less concerned about being accused of “judging” and more concerned about being accountable to the Judge. Because one day, we all will face Him. I pray that when we do, we’ll be able to look Him in the eye and say, “I did what you told me.”