Tag Archives: God’s Word

February 24; Road Trip

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Leviticus 24-25

Many moons ago, children, if you were going on a road trip, and if you belonged to AAA, you could go and get what we called a TripTik. An agent would sit down with you, map and highlighter in hand, and help you plan your route.

He or she would look into their files and even tell you where you might run into road construction and delays. He or she would re-route you around busy city streets, tell you about tourist attractions you might want to see. And when it was all said and done, you would walk out with a highlighted map, books on restaurants, motels, and sites to see, and the spiral-bound TripTik itself, including fold-outs with detailed city maps.

You can’t know how fun and how satisfying it was to turn a page after the first 50 miles, then another, and another as your trip progressed. Guess you had to be there. But trust me, glancing at your phone is just not the same.

I read today how Moses, when an Egyptian/Jew blasphemed God, had the young man put in prison until God told Moses what to do. The law was plain about a Jewish person who blasphemed the Name. You stone him to death. But there was no specific direction for a guilty half/Jew. So Moses waited until he got the word from God.

I’ve often considered my Bible a roadmap. But when you think about it, it isn’t really. It’s not like a TripTik that gives you inch by inch directions, including detours. Warren Wiersbe tells us the Bible is more of a compass. It keeps us going in the right direction while we, “…walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7) (Be Holy; Published by David C. Cook; 1994; page 143)

My Bible is not a road map. But in its pages are everything we need for our journey. Everything we face in this life is addressed in Scripture. Every decision you need to make has a parallel in the Bible. But you have to know what the Bible says.

It takes a bit of maturity to recognize the treasure that is ours in the Bible. It’s not a quick-fix. It’s not a step by step instruction manual. It’s much more than that. It’s the living Word of God.

We have got to be prayerfully in God’s Word every day, listening to the direction God wants us to hear. It takes patience and intentionality. We may be detoured occasionally as God points out other truths He doesn’t want us to miss. But if we read it, if we use it, it will get us where we are going on this road trip called life.

And we’ll enjoy the journey!

 

 

 

February 7; Miracle Food

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Exodus 16-18

Did you eat breakfast this morning? I sure did. I can skip lunch, and an occasional dinner, not so much breakfast. Even if it’s just a bowl of cereal like this morning. I’ve been known to say my motivation for getting out of bed is breakfast! And if you see me in a restaurant that serves all-day breakfast, you’ll most likely see an omelet and bacon on my plate. What can I say. I love breakfast.

The chapters we read today introduce us to manna – the miracle food God provided for His people very morning while they were on their way to the Promised Land. Every day the people received exactly what they needed for the day at hand. Not too much. Not too little. And they could not live on the manna they had collected the day before. If they wanted nourishment, they had to gather the manna every morning.

Did you read your Bible today? It’s the miracle food God has provided for His children. The thing is, some of us are malnourished because we partake only occasionally, or not at all. We put ourselves on a spiritual diet and expect to be fed once a week by a preacher behind a pulpit. We are starving our souls.

Now I don’t believe morning is the only acceptable time for believers to read God’s Word. The Jews ate manna for lunch and dinner, too. But if you are like me, days can get busy. Schedules are interrupted on a regular basis. And often, time alone with God’s Word is the first casualty.

Let me suggest that you take the time every morning to open your Bible and hear God’s voice, read the words He wrote to you before you jump into your busy day. Even if it means setting your alarm fifteen minutes earlier. The Jews gathered the manna every morning, then used it throughout the day. Doesn’t that seem like a good pattern to follow when applied to time in the Word? Gather its treasure in the morning, then use it throughout your day.

I’m glad you are reading this post today. It humbles me to know you are taking time to read it. I know there are lots of great blogs, and books, and articles that enhance our understanding of God’s Word. But, dear one, there is no substitute for God’s Word. I’d rather you stopped reading what I write, if you use it instead of reading the Bible. Don’t live on snack food.

God’s Word is that miracle food that will give you exactly what you need for today. Don’t neglect it, don’t try to substitute it, don’t even nibble at it. Devour it. Every. Day.

January 1; Oh! That’s How It Goes.

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Genesis 1-3

I bet many of you either gave or received a gift this year that required assembly. And if you didn’t, I imagine most of us have had to put something together at some time in our lives. And I would further imagine that there were times when we just knew we could do it without reading the instructions. After all, we’re not stupid. How hard can it be?

If you’re like me, you get started with the project pretty easily. Maybe you even get it almost done, only to find that that last piece just doesn’t fit. Or you wind up with an extra piece and have no idea where it could go. Or it’s together, but you wouldn’t want to sit on it, or let a kid play with it for fear of having it fall apart.

Then finally, with no-one looking, we pull out the instructions and read what the manufacturer says to do. Oh! That’s how it goes.

I hope you had a Christmas blessed with family and friends as you celebrated the birth of our Savior. And I trust you had a good New Year’s celebration, and ate all that food that will supposedly give you “good luck” in 2019. I found out yesterday that you aren’t supposed to do laundry on January 1 because that means you’ll just have to work all the harder in the new year. What?

I’m excited about my time in God’s Word this new year. As I shared before, I’ve decided to read through the Bible chronologically in the NIV. I’m kind of like a kid with a new toy, even though I’ve read these words over and over. I love how God can speak to me every time I read what He inspired so many men to write so long ago. This book is God’s love letter to me. And I never get tired of hearing what He says.

So I read it this morning and thrilled at how God created the heavens and the earth. I don’t know HOW He did it. The Bible only tells me that He DID.

Then this afternoon I was having a conversation with some friends and all of a sudden someone said he read someone found the fossil of a horse that is 400 million years old. I said, “Well, we know that’s not true.”

Someone else reminded me that a day to God is like a thousand years, so why can’t creation have taken billions of years to happen? “Well,” I said. “How much Hebrew do you know?”

Ken Ham tells us that the word for “day” used in the original Hebrew text of Genesis 1 is “yom.” And when it is accompanied by the words, “evening” or “morning,” it specifically means a twenty-four hour period. The word “yom” accompanied by a number also indicates a twenty-four hour day. In the creation account, God is qualifying times four, a twenty-four hour, six day creation:

There was EVENING, and there was MORNING, the FIRST DAY.

I appreciate what Ken Ham has to say about this. For instance, in one of his videos he reminds us that the whole of 2 Peter 3:8 says:

…With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

Kind of ruins that argument, doesn’t it? Besides, Ken Ham asked a question I hadn’t thought about before. Why is the “day” in Genesis the only “day” we question? Why don’t we question the days Jonah was in the belly of the fish? I’ve never heard anyone speculate that Jonah was in there three thousand years. It’s the same word, “yom.”

(Millions of years with Ken Ham, YouTube Video; Ken Ham’s Foundations: In Six Days, YouTube Video)

We can try to figure things out on our own, we can go to other scholars, or scientists, or friends and get their input. But that’s like trying to put together that Christmas present without looking at the instruction manual.

I figure I will always let God’s Word be the final authority. He invented life. He created this world. And when I finally go and look at what He says about it, I say, “Oh! That’s how it goes.”

It does matter what you believe about creation. I pray that you will let God’s Word speak to you, let Him be your final authority. When you read the creation account as He inspired the writer, you will be in awe of this great God who loves you so much He died to save you. That God. That Creator. That Savior.

 

Jeremiah 21-25; It’s That Serious

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God has quite a lot to say to shepherds in these chapters of Jeremiah, doesn’t He? But before you think you’ve dodged a bullet because you aren’t a pastor or teacher in your church, remember God commanded all of us to “Go,” to share the Gospel with our world. What Jeremiah writes to the shepherds of God’s flock, applies to all of us who are called by Jesus’ name: Christian.

We have a message from God to tell. And God takes it very seriously that our message be truly His. The only place you will find His message is in the pages of the Bible. Not the Bible plus anything. Not someone’s opinion of what the Bible says, not a new revelation. God has given us all the Truth we need to know right here in these precious pages.

We need to know what it says. Because not only does God place a great deal of responsibility on the tellers of His Truth, He places responsibility on listeners as well. Yes, false prophets, preachers, and teachers will pay dearly for their lies. But those who follow them will not get a free pass, either. The Bible is clear. You either believe God or you don’t. Believing anything other than what God has given us is a death sentence.

It’s that serious.

Dear one, we have got to be in God’s Word every day. We’ve got to be memorizing it, thinking about it, testing everything we hear according to what is in there. We’ve got to recognize a lie and reject it, not go along with it because it sounds good, and everybody else is following it.

Satan can be pretty subtle. His lies often sound Biblical. His lies can sound like love, and tolerance, and compassion, and praise, and success, and happiness, and health. His lies often are accompanied by a Scripture or two.

But they are still lies. And if you go along with those lies you will be held accountable. If you spread those lies God will show no mercy.

I’m honored that you read my post today. But if this is the extent of your “devotions,” I’d rather you didn’t. Instead, pick up your Bible. Put all the other books and blogs away. Turn off your TV or radio preachers. And get in God’s Word. YOU get in God’s Word.

Because you are going to be held accountable for what is in there. It is that serious.

 

Isaiah 28-30; Obstinate

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Obstinate: Stubbornly adhering to an opinion, purpose, or course in spite of reason, argument, or persuasion. (Mirriam-Webster)

Someone close to me began accepting the so-called “progressive” view of religion. When I tried to engage in conversation about spiritual truth I was told, in effect, that they would not talk to me about that because, “You are not going to  change my mind.” (those words haunt me yet today)

God, through Isaiah, says:

Woe to the obstinate children… to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin. (30:1)

As I read Isaiah I pray that God will speak to me about my own walk with him here in 2018. When Isaiah speaks about enemies, I am reminded Satan is mine. When Isaiah says, “Woe to…” I want to be sure that if he’s putting a finger on sin in my life, I’m quick to repent.

Today I’m asking myself if there are things I’m stubbornly holding on to that God is asking me to change. Are there things He wants to teach me, ways in which He wants to grow me, but I’m being obstinate while holding on to what I’ve always done or thought?

In verse 10, when talking about children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction, Isaiah says:

They say to seers, “See no more visions!” and to the prophets, “Give us no more visions of what is right!” Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions.”

Now I know this is a problem in our society, rampant in many churches, and it would be easy to shake my head and lament over the state of things in our world. But God isn’t interested in talking to me about the world. God’s not asking me to change the world. He’s demanding to change me.

So I ask myself, when I open His Word, am I sincere about being taught? When I go to church do I want to be uplifted or broken? Do I want to hear the truth, or am I looking to hear only pleasant things? Because often the truth hurts. Growth hurts. Conviction is never pleasant.

Now there is one thing I will adamantly adhere to: that is the Truth of Scripture. The Bible is like no other book. It is God breathed, and therefore 100% trustworthy. It’s not my opinion. The Bible proves itself over and over.

Last night in Prayer Meeting, the pastor shared that recently he was sharing the Gospel with someone who wanted to know what the pastor thought about abortion and homosexuality. The pastor was quick to tell this person, “My opinions are only opinions. Let’s look at what the Bible says.”

Can you say the same? Or are you obstinately holding on to your opinions as some kind of truth, with the attitude, “You’re not going to change my mind.”

I’m not just talking about conversations with loved ones. I’m talking about your quiet time, every time you open the precious pages of God’s Word. Are you teachable? Are you pliable? Moldable?

Or obstinate?

Proverbs 13-16; How Do You Know?

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The proverbs repeatedly differentiate between wisdom or righteousness with foolishness and sin. Many proverbs speak of gaining wisdom and understanding, acting out of knowledge, holding to this truth.

But how do you know what is true?

I am convinced, as I read these verses, of the absolute necessity of Bible study for each of us. There are so many made-up definitions of truth out there, so much advice that tells us to look out for number one at any cost, so many ungodly examples of people treating one another with anger, dishonesty, violence, and hatred while we call it entertainment.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. (14:12)

There is a flip side to that verse. There is a way that is right, and in the end it leads to abundant life here in this life, and everlasting life when we leave this earth.

What is right? What is true? What is advice you can bank on every time?

Read your Bible. It’s in there.

 

Psalm 118-122; A Treasure

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Have you spent enough time in God’s Word to get it? When you read a passage that refers to another passage, do you recognize it? Like, did 118:25-28 remind you of anything?

I will say I look forward to reading God’s Word every day. Being retired, I have the luxury of opening the Bible any time of the day or night. It’s already 10:30 in the morning and I’m sitting here with a cup of coffee, pouring over Scripture and praying. What a privilege.

Over the years I have highlighted some verses in Psalm 119 that spoke to me. You probably know this psalm is about God’s Word to us. The psalmist loves Scripture with a passion. Verse after verse talks about this amazing gift we have in God’s written Word. I’d like to share some of the verses that I’ve highlighted at various times in my life:

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. (vs 11)

Your statutes are my delight; they are my counselors. (vs 24)

My comfort in my suffering is this; Your promise preserves my life. (vs 50)

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. (vs 105)

You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word. (vs 114)

This book is a treasure. In it is everything we need to know, every answer to every question. It’s a love letter straight from the heart of God.

Take time to read it today… and tomorrow. Love it. Use it. You won’t want to miss precious verses like these:

I lift up my eyes to the hills — where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. (121:1-2)

 

 

Psalms 12-16; Using A Plumb Bob

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When my dad first got a CB radio for his pickup, he had to come up with a “handle,” something that would identify him to other CB radio users without using his name. Dad was a plumber. His name was Bob. And he adopted the handle “Plumb Bob.”

Do you know what a plumb bob is? It’s a weight, usually with a pointed end, tied to a string. When you hold the string end and drop the weight, it will form a perfectly straight vertical line. No matter how many times you drop the weight, it will always create that perfectly straight line. Perfectly straight. Every time.

I thought about that today as I read these psalms. David speaks of “flattering tongues,” manipulation, outright lies passed off as truth. He talks about people who say God doesn’t exist, others who are evil and lure God’s people away to destroy them.

We live in a society where we are told truth is fluid, that it is personal, relative, subjective. And those who will tell you that often also say if you don’t agree with them, then you are a fool, or intolerant, or a hater.

How do you even know what is true any more? Or is there truth at all?

Let me get one thing straight. Truth is NOT fluid. Truth is NOT subjective. Truth cannot, by definition, be one thing for you and another for me. Opinion can be. But opinion and truth are not synonymous. Do not mistake that fact.

12:6 says, “And the words of the Lord are flawless…”

And there’s your plumb bob. Whatever you hear, whoever you hear it from, no matter with how much authority it’s said, check it out with the Truth of God’s Holy Word, the Bible.

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one goes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

And that’s the Truth.

 

Judges 17-18; What You Believe

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What do you believe about God? On what or whom do you base your theology? Is it church doctrine? Are your beliefs based on the writings of a Bible scholar you like? A dynamic speaker, or your own pastor? Is what you believe about God based on your own thoughts and desires?

We read about Micah, his mom, and some Danite thugs, and they all seem to call on the God of their Fathers. But their religion cannot be described as one based on the Word of God.

The key to this account is the fact there was no king in Israel at the time. Everyone did as they felt was best for themselves. (18:1) So it was not unheard of that someone like Micah might fashion a religion to his own liking, one that appears to acknowledge God, yet in reality denies Him.

I am burdened for those here in 2017 who have fallen for the same deception as Micah did; religions that acknowledge God, or a higher power, or a supreme being, yet place idols around their homes and in their hearts. I am burdened for people who use God’s Holy Word as a suggestion rather than the complete and utter Truth.

Dear one, I would encourage us to put away the commentaries, the self-help books, the opinions of men and women for a while. Turn off the TV and radio, quit reading blogs, (including mine) and open up the Bible. Read it. Pray about it. Meditate on it. Open your heart and mind to the Holy Spirit. Let God speak to us through His Word, as He longs to do.

I’m not saying we should never read study guides and enrich our beliefs with the opinions of others. I hope you’ll come back to reading my blog after you’ve spent time in the Word.

But I am convinced we shouldn’t be reading those things until we are first and foremost firmly grounded in the Bible. If our theology isn’t based on the Truth of Scripture, with no add-ons or take-aways, then we have acted as though there is no King, and have fashioned a religion to our liking.

And that, my friend, is not a religion, or a belief system God will honor.

 

Leviticus 10; Lessons From Scripture

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I was a bit bothered by the fact that Nadab and Abihu were struck by God and killed immediately for disobeying Him, yet Aaron, who didn’t eat the sacrificed meat like the Law said he was supposed to, got a free pass. So I started digging.

One trusted commentator suggested it was a matter of intention. Nadab and Abihu wanted glory for themselves. Aaron meant no harm. That confused me more because I don’t see anywhere else in Scripture where God overlooks the disobedience of people who have good intentions.

So I went to another source and read that Nadab and Abihu died because they were drunk while performing the duties of a priest. We can assume they had been drinking because of God’s instruction to Aaron after the fact. But is this account intended to be an argument against alcohol? The author seemed to think so. I wonder.

Matthew Henry reminded me that God had actually included instructions for the priests as to what to do with leftover meat from the sacrifice. (Leviticus 7) The meat that wasn’t eaten could not be given to anyone else, could not be put on ice for the future. If it was not eaten by the priests and their families, it was to be burned outside the camp.

Aaron had just watched two of his sons die. He obeyed God in that he didn’t tear his clothes and make a public display of mourning. But I’m sure the man had no appetite. The meat had done it’s job on the altar as the sacrifice. It was given to the priests “to take away the guilt of the community by making atonement for them before the Lord.” (vs17) And the priests did that.

Aaron assured Moses that they had sacrificed their sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord (vs19).  Moses realized that was true, and was satisfied with that response.

I think God is telling me today to let Scripture define Scripture. When I question what I read, and I do often, I ultimately need to let God’s Word speak for itself. I’m thankful that Henry pointed me in the right direction. It’s easy to get caught up in causes by reading into things, like whether or not a preacher should be allowed to drink alcohol. I want to be careful that when I infer truth, I don’t do it on the basis of a solitary verse or story.

Nadab and Abihu died because they disobeyed. It doesn’t matter their intentions. They sinned, and God is reinforcing the truth that the wages of sin is death. That’s a truth that is repeated often in Scripture. And that’s the lesson from this story I want to take with me today.