Tag Archives: God’s Truth

Jan 7 -Useless Talk and More

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Job 14-16

The title my NASB gives for chapter Job 15:1-16 is, “Eliphaz says Job Presumes Much.”

In verse 3 of the chapter, Eliphaz asks: should a wise man argue with useless talk, or with words that are not profitable?

Then he continues with, “your guilt teaches your mouth.” (vs 5)

Now I know much of what Job’s friends tell him is off base. But I had to stop and consider Eliphaz’s question. Because I recognize that sometimes I let my opinions influence what I believe to be true. When that happens, my arguments are useless talk and nothing more. I need to be careful not to allow my guilt, my sin, justify my belief.

For example, if I over eat, I might adopt the opinion that gluttony isn’t that serious a sin – or not a sin at all. I can argue my point all day long, but my words are not profitable. And my truth is a fantasy.

Eliphaz also says, “Indeed, you do away with reverence and hinder meditation before God.” (vs4)

And that stopped me in my tracks. It’s one thing to rationalize my sin. It’s another to try to convince someone else of my lie. But when I realize that doing so comes between me and my Lord, I fall on my knees in repentance.

I don’t want anything to come between me and my God who loved me so much He died for me. I don’t want to mislead anyone with opinions I adopt to justify sin in my life. And I don’t want to misinterpret Scripture in order to make me feel good about myself.

Father God, I pray once again that I will be a student of your Word, that I would not have an opinion that is in any way contrary to Yours. I want to know the Truth as You have spelled out. And, Dearest Lord, I certainly don’t want to do away with the reverence I have for You. I worship You. I honor You. I bow before You. Let nothing hinder my meditation before You.

Jan 6 – I Will Trust God

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Job 10-13

Job is hurting. He’s at his wit’s end and doesn’t know how to make things better. He doesn’t even know why his life has turned out like it has. He feels alone, ridiculed, misunderstood. He wants to ask God some questions. He even says he’s ready to argue with God. And he can’t figure out why God is treating him like an enemy.

Sound familiar? Have you ever found yourself crying out to a silent God? Do you have the “why” questions that are not being answered? Does it feel like God has turned on you?

Job doesn’t know what we know: that his losses are of Satan, not God. He doesn’t have the privilege of opening God’s Word and reading God’s heart.

But we do.

The answers you are looking for aren’t found within you, or in some self-help book, or in Oprah. The answers are found in the pages of God’s Word.

I like Job’s point of view. He said, even if God kills me, I will trust Him.

There’s the answer you are looking for.

A mother tells her young son not to play in the street. Why? “Because I said so.” A father insists his teenage daughter be home by 11. “Trust me,” he says when she asks why.

Often, when we mature, we realize the answers to our “why” questions. And maturity comes from studying God’s Word, by getting to know God’s heart, and by trusting Him in every circumstance, allowing Him to prove He can be trusted.

Somehow, when our relationship with God is mature, the questions we have just don’t seem all that important. God replaces our uncertainty with Himself.

Then, with Job, we can say that no matter what comes, “I will trust God.”

Dear Father, I like being your child. But sometimes my curiosity, or my hurt finds me asking, “why?”. God, I want to trust you, even if I never have the answers I think I need this side of heaven. May I not let my questions get in my way of a close relationship with You. Because, Dear Lord, nothing is more important than the sweet fellowship I enjoy as your child.

Like A Child

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I wish we’d approach our Christianity more childlike more often. Too many of us analyze and question, dissect and twist what the Bible has to say about so many subjects. I was reading something recently and the author quoted Scripture, then proceeded to explain what he insisted it “meant”, because clearly the words of the verses he’d quoted said something that didn’t fit into his point of view.

My niece was driving, her two children safely strapped in car seats in the back. Colton, her four-year-old just started pre-school and they were talking about seasons. My niece was explaining that God designed summer sun to turn to the cooler, more colorful fall, fall to snowy winter, winter to spring and buds and flowers, spring to summer, and then it starts all over again. “Your birthday is in the winter,” she told him. “And Nora’s birthday is in the fall.”

In fact, we were celebrating his sister Nora’s third birthday that week. Colton gasped.

“Is it fall right now?” he asked. His mother told him it was.

“Call Daddy,” he commanded. “Call Daddy!”

“Why, Colton? Daddy’s at work. Why do you want me to call him?

“Daddy said we could have a baby in the fall!”

My great-nephew had overheard a conversation between his parents some weeks before. And he simply took what he’d heard his father say at face value. He’s too childlike to question or find a deeper meaning than the words his daddy had said. I think our Heavenly Father would be pleased if we’d do the same with his Words sometimes.

Jesus said He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no one goes to the Father except through Him. John 3:16 says God loved the whole world so much that he sent Jesus to the cross, “that WHOSOEVER believes will not perish but have everlasting life.” Romans tells us ALL have sinned, all fall short of God’s standards. And many verses tell us if we believe in Jesus, we’ll be saved.

The Bible clearly tells us there is a heaven and there is a hell. Both are real. Both are eternal. One is what we deserve. One is given when we accept Jesus and receive his grace.

Oh, I recognize that there are times when the words we read require thought, even questioning. The Bible is not “Dick and Jane”. There are times when interpreting Scripture requires reading more Scripture in order to understand it. There may be times when knowing the culture and times when passages were written gives us a clearer view. But I honestly think that’s not as necessary as often as some would believe. Sometimes the words in front of us just mean what they say.

You may be saying, well Colton took his father’s words at face value, and he was wrong. There isn’t going to be a baby in the family this fall. And you would be right to say that.

But I hope you are reading God’s Word every day, any way. In fact, I hope you are reading and re-reading the entire Bible. I would challenge you to approach it as a child, not reading so much into it, not trying to fit it into some theological box. Read it as though your Father was talking to his child. What would he say to you today?

I believe God’s words will excite you as much as fall excited my sweet great-nephew. And the truth of the matter is, we just found out that next August, we’ll be welcoming a little addition to this dear family!

Dear Author, thank you for lovingly inspiring men to write down everything you want us to know this side of heaven. Thank you for the privilege we have of reading your Word, of studying it, memorizing it, talking about it. May we prayerfully open its pages every day, expecting to hear from you. Give us discernment. Give us understanding. And draw us to you as we spend time learning what our Daddy would say to us through your Word.

How Much Is Too Much?

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It seems a bit excessive. Sure, many people wanted Paul dead for preaching Jesus, and 40 men devised a plan to ambush and murder him. But deploying 470 troops to take him to Governor Felix might have been overkill. (Acts 23)

Yet how much is too much when protecting the Gospel? I doubt protecting the Gospel was on the mind of the commander when he went to such lengths to get Paul out of town. He was probably more concerned about his own skin should Paul be killed while in his custody.

I thank God that, when we read his Word, he nudges us at certain truths. The Bible is alive, active, powerful!

God’s nudge today finds me asking myself to what extremes am I willing to go to protect the Gospel? There are those who are planning to ambush the Church, destroy Christianity, eliminate Christians. Satan seems to be on a roll!

Am I prepared to protect the Truth of Scripture? At what cost? When I think about it, no effort can be too excessive if it will keep the truth of Jesus Christ still changing lives.

Dear Father in Heaven, once again I am amazed at how alive your Word is, how it can speak to us every time we open its pages. God, I don’t know the answer to the question you seem to be asking me this morning. I don’t know what I am willing to do to stand firm on your Truth. I’d hope that there would be no limit to what I’d be willing to do. I’d like to think I would stop at nothing to preserve the Gospel. But I don’t always reach out to my neighbor when you prompt me to. I don’t always visit or call that one who you have laid on my heart. I don’t always pray as I should. Am I waiting for the Great Tribulation or something before I begin to battle the enemy? I want to be part of the army that’s protecting the Gospel. May you find me faithful. We have some work to do, don’t we Lord?

If you say it often enough…

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Saying something doesn’t automatically make it true. In Acts 19 we see that during a riot, the city clerk stood up and said:

“Men of Ephesus, what man is there who does not know that the city of Ephesus is temple guardian of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Zeus? Therefore, since these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rashly.” (NKJV)

Is it a fact that some god named Zeus fashioned a statue in the clouds and dropped it in Ephesus? Is that what the city clerk said cannot be denied? Do you believe that to be true?

How often have you heard the earth is billions of years old stated as a fact that can’t be denied? What about the statement that life does not begin at conception? Or that homosexuality is a viable lifestyle? Have you heard it is possible to change your gender stated as fact? Or that marriage isn’t restricted to a union between a man and a woman? Some people even preach God is a god of love and accepts all of us just the way we are.

And they keep saying it, and saying it, and saying it.

The sad truth is, if you tell someone something often enough, very often they’ll begin to believe it.

But I’m here to tell you I can certainly deny that city clerk’s story about the statue. I know for a fact that the earth is thousands, not millions of years old, that there is nothing normal about homosexuality, and abortion is murder. I stand on the truth that God is not only a God of love, he is Holy and demands holiness of his children.

And none of that is true just because I say it is.

I’ve read the Bible from cover to cover several times. And each time I do, the more I realize I cannot deny it is true. It has so many checks and balances. This book, written by many writers over many years, clearly presents God as Creator, Almighty, True, a God who loves each and every one of us, a God who demands our obedience and deserves our worship.

In its pages we see Him proving He is who He says He is. And not just once. He chose the physical nation of Israel, and then the Church, to show us exactly what he expects, the consequences of disobedience, the blessings of faith in Him, and the grace that is ours through Jesus. You have to admit that the fulfilling of so many prophesies is hard to deny. Who else but God could bring that about?

I have learned to check what I am hearing with what is written in God’s Word. The voice of Satan is loud and repetitive. And if I’m not carefully guarding my heart, I might begin to assume he’s telling the truth.

Dear one, let’s determine to depend on God’s Word to be our plumb line. Let’s allow God to be the Cornerstone from which everything is measured. Don’t fall for “popular opinion” or you might start believing a statue fell from heaven…

Figure What Out?

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It seems some people think God gave us the law just to trip us up, to prevent us from having fun, to condemn us, or to test us. I was reading Romans 2-4 this morning and heard Paul tell us God gave us the law because he loves us.

My sister is a science teacher. God has gifted her with the ability to help the students in this small Christian school experience God’s creation, not just learn about it. She has been a successful teacher for over 20 years and has touched the lives of thousands of people.

Recently, her principal gave her a new assignment: Teach church history. There is no curriculum for you to use, and I don’t want you to teach it the way you normally teach. I want you to teach it the way I would teach it, but that’s all the help you are getting from me. I know you studied science, not Bible. I know you never had a class on church history. Figure it out. Oh, and by the way, I am basing my evaluation of you as a teacher on how well I think you handle this assignment.

I wish I was exaggerating, but I’m not. This assignment is neither fair, nor loving.

Thankfully, God hasn’t done that to us. He gave us an assignment: Be holy as I am holy. Then he spelled it out in words we can understand, and prompted Moses to write it down. He gave us the curriculum, so to speak, so we can refer to it at any time.

Next he showed us examples of obedience and disobedience in the lives of the Jewish people. He blessed and punished, and prompted men to write it down, again so we can refer to it any time.

Then he sent Jesus to live with us. Jesus demonstrated holiness, he spoke about sin, the law, obedience, forgiveness. Then he went to the cross and showed us with his own blood what the penalty of disobedience looks like. And God prompted men to record the life of Jesus on paper so we can read it for ourselves two thousand years later.

He also inspired the likes of Paul, and Peter, and John, and others to teach us through their letters how to be the people God would have us be.

And he has been demonstrating this every day since creation.

Why the law? God didn’t make up some random rules after he got Adam and Eve in the Garden. God is Truth, and he is Holy, so those things have been around as long as he has. What he did by giving us the law, was to put it all out there. He is as honest with us as he wants us to be with him. These are my rules, he says. Let me help you obey them so we can have fellowship now and in eternity.

My sister’s job depends on how she handles her assignment. Friend, our lives depend on how well we handle the assignment God has placed before us. Holiness? Me?

Read God’s curriculum and see that he offers his own holiness to us. He is willing to place his righteousness on our shoulders. And he’s able to do that because he’s already paid the price our sins require. I’m not going to give you chapter and verse because I want to challenge you to read it all. Spend time in God’s word. Let him tell you how much he loves you, what he expects of you, and what he has already done on your behalf.

You don’t have to figure it out on your own. It’s right here in black and white.

Open Minds and Open Bibles

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I love what Scripture tells us about the Bereans in Acts 17. It says they were open-minded when they listened to Paul talk about Jesus. Then they studied Scripture themselves to see if what Paul was saying was true.

I think that’s a recipe all Christians should follow. Everything we read or hear should be checked and double checked to see if it aligns with what is already written in the Bible. Not just in a verse or two, but in the entire Bible as the complete Word of God. People can sound religious, spiritual, even Christian when they pull a verse out of the Bible to support some notion. But that doesn’t necessarily make it true.

Let’s face it. There is always something to learn. It’s impossible for us humans to know everything there is to know about God. He is constantly revealing more of himself, answering questions as we are ready for answers.

But some of us have closed our minds toward any further revelation. We go to church and listen to the teaching, read a blog, watch a TV preacher, or hear a song on the radio, and we either accept what is said without question, or we filter it through what we’ve already been taught.

I wonder how many of us open the pages of the Bible and study it to find out if what we’re hearing or reading is really the truth. I wonder how many of us allow a preacher or teacher to do the studying for us and just accept whatever it is they say. I wonder how many blessings we’ve missed, how much of God we’ve missed because of it.

Let’s determine to be like the Bereans. Let’s soak up the teaching, the music, the inspirational books with open minds, knowing there are things for us to learn. But let’s not stop there. Let’s dig into Scripture and find out what the final authority has to say about it before we accept it as truth.

But I’m Not A Preacher

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Peter and Paul are the two names most associated with the early church. Both were powerful speakers who performed many miracles. But all of the apostles had a part in those formative years.

Take Philip.(Acts 8) He also went from town to town sharing the Gospel. He was as obedient as Peter and Paul, maybe just a bit quieter about it. Obeying God, he spoke with a eunuch and led him to the Savior. I wonder what the eunuch thought when Philip disappeared. I wonder what Philip thought!

God is reminding me today that every believer has a job to do, and he honors obedience. A eunuch might not have seemed all that important to Philip, but that eunuch was important to God.

God is not asking most of us to stand before a large congregation and preach the Gospel so thousands are saved. But he is asking each of us to be obedient to speak to that one person he’s laid on our hearts.

God adds people to his kingdom one soul at a time. He’d like you to share in the responsibility, the honor, and the joy of leading one soul to their Savior.

Will you be obedient today? Will I?

Another “How To Read The Bible” Post

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The Pharisees wanted Jesus dead. These men knew the Old Testament Scriptures like no one else, and here right before their eyes was the very One the Old Testament writers talked about. They knew how many prophecies were being realized in Jesus. But Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath. And for that, the Pharisees wanted to kill him. (Matthew 12, Mark 3, Luke 6)

Sounds a might drastic to me.

But the Pharisees had convictions, they believed they knew the mind of God and they would not consider the possibility they were wrong.

If we read the Bible in an attempt to find verses to support our beliefs, we are like the Pharisees. We try to make God’s Word conform to our idea of right and wrong. We need to read God’s Word with an open heart and mind and allow the Holy Spirit to teach us through these precious pages.

Someone I love asked me if I didn’t think that opens up the possibility of misinterpretation and heresy. Don’t we need to supplement our study of God’s Word with the wisdom of those who have published books on the subject to keep us in check?

How incompetent do we think the Holy Spirit is?

Sure, if I need to read the Bible so that it lines up with the theology of my church or denomination then, yes, I guess I need those commentaries. But if I read the Bible in its entirety, depending on God to reveal himself, I’m pretty sure he can.

I have many commentaries and Bible studies in my library. But none of those are the final authority. And, yes, I believe that the Bible is all we need to know God, and understand what he wants us to know about this life and eternity.

We just need to read it, study it, think on it, love it, memorize it, and talk about it. We need to approach our time in the Word bathed in prayer, with an open heart and mind, and allow God to teach us exactly what it is we need to know for today. We need to put aside our preconceived notions and ask God to show us the Truth according to His Word. And we need to be willing to let the Holy Spirit break down some walls if they need destroyed, to convict us when conviction is necessary, and to build us up to be the people he needs us to be in a world that is lost without him according to Scripture.

You Lie

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I was reading in Jeremiah 42 this morning the account of yet another time Israel disobeyed and God punished. As I read, my mind kept wandering toward pictures of things happening in the US today. Are we any different than those in the Old Testament who blatantly sinned, told God to back off, and were so prideful they thought they knew more and were stronger than God?

God’s warning through Jeremiah was: repent or die. Their response: You lie.

Today, Christians are still saying: repent or face the consequences. The world’s response: You lie.

They tell us we lie if we say Jesus is the only way to the One True God. They say we lie if we tell them homosexuality is a sin, that abortion is murder, that God created this universe with a word, that marriage between a man and a woman is a sacred union before God and meant to last a life time.

The list goes on and in many cases, Christians are portrayed as liars and haters. In some countries, there will be Christians TODAY who are tortured and murdered for speaking the Truth. The temptation to keep quiet is certainly there for many of us, in order to avoid the labels or the danger.

Oh Christians, and I know there are many of us out there, let’s determine to be heard with firmness and in love. Let’s use our voices to proclaim the Truth of Scripture with unwavering boldness. Read the newspaper, watch the news on TV, know what’s happening in our world and in our country. Vote intelligently. Run for office. Pray.

Pray.

The things we do – or don’t do – today will determine the future. Will our children and grandchildren face persecution because we sat in our recliners and did nothing? Will we face persecution because we were afraid someone would call us out, call us liars? We who know the Truth have a responsibility and a calling to proclaim that Truth whether they want to hear it or not.

May God find us faithful.