“YOU HAVE ONLY TO BE SILENT!”

 Exodus 14:10                 (ESV)

“[10] When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and THEY FEARED GREATLY. And the people of Israel cried out to THE LORD.”

Exodus 14:14                 (ESV)

“[14] THE LORD will fight for you, and “YOU HAVE ONLY TO BE SILENT”.”

Exodus 14:30                 (ESV)

“[30] Thus THE LORD saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and ISRAEL SAW the Egyptians dead on the seashore.”

GOD is NOT limited by how or whether humanity can fathom the OPERATIONS HE has PROMISED to us!!  

How many times in my life have I begun an OPERATION with no guarantee of the success of that endeavor?  The Children of Israel had just been delivered from a 430 year Egyptian period of captivity, and most assuredly they were just happy to be FREE!  

Imagine escaping the Egyptians and then finding out that the Promised Land (just over a seven day walking journey) was going to take them FORTY YEARS???  The PROVING of the FAITH of the Children of Israel was going to be a big endeavor, but nothing that was TOO BIG FOR GOD!!!  HE could have just killed the unbelievers off with hunger, but HE provided them with “manna”(Exodus 16), taking care of their needs.  

SEEING HIS PROVISION is very evident…..from 3,500 years ago!  But what about our (my!) FAITH in current situations??  IT IS WRITTEN over 100 times throughout Scripture that HE will NEVER leave us nor forsake us, so why do we fret about anything when THE CREATOR is on our side???

Nobody should KNOW HIS TRUTHS as clearly as this humble servant!  HE was there when I was where I was unable to even breathe on my own…..HE has NEVER left me for ONE SECOND!!! Although I may not be able to SEE precisely how HE will do it, “THE LORD will fight for you, and “YOU HAVE ONLY TO BE SILENT”!!!

“I WILL ACCOMPLISH ALL MY PURPOSE!”

Isaiah 46:8-10                 (ESV)

    “[8] “REMEMBER THIS and STAND FIRM,

        recall it to mind, YOU TRANSGRESSORS, 

    [9]     remember the former things of old;

    for I AM GOD, and THERE IS NO OTHER;

        I AM GOD, and there is NONE LIKE ME, 

    [10] declaring the end from the beginning

        and from ancient times things not yet done,

    saying, ‘MY COUNSEL SHALL STAND,

        and “I WILL ACCOMPLISH ALL MY PURPOSE”,”

Sometimes the circumstances we SEE are greatly influenced by the trials that person is going through! The TESTIMONY of my wife regarding July 09, 2007 and the following days, weeks, months and years is something that I still have to lean on for her memory, for mine still isn’t very reliable!!!  She tells me that there were some nights driving home during my hospital stay that she doesn’t remember the acts of driving, rather she would get to our house and she would have to “turn it over” to GOD, day after day after day!!  

The song GOD IS IN CONTROL was on the radio one evening during her trip to our home.  Twila Paris was the artist performing the song, but it was if GOD ALMIGHTY was letting “us” know that “I WILL ACCOMPLISH ALL MY PURPOSE”!  Of course, her FAITH never wavered and 52 days later I walked out of the Rehabilitation Hospital to the applause of most of the staff!!!  Their applause surely wasn’t for me, but ultimately for THE HEALER WHO was performing just some of HIS WORK!!!

There are OVER eight BILLION people in today’s world, and every single one of them have to have oxygen to breathe!!  ALMIGHTY GOD “grants” us all the air we need to continue living in “this world”!  But how many of those people THANK THE LORD before they get out of bed everyday for the privilege of living another day on the earth?  Worse still, what about this Brain Hemorrhage survivor???  You would think that I would be THE FIRST person to NEVER FORGET WHO permits me to continue to exist???

One thing is FOR CERTAIN, when GOD told Isaiah “‘MY COUNSEL SHALL STAND, and “I WILL ACCOMPLISH ALL MY PURPOSE” HE didn’t forget like humanity does!!!  HIS MEMORY IS FAR BETTER than mine and “I WILL ACCOMPLISH MY PURPOSE” WILL BE COMPLETED”in the not too distant future!!!

 

“WAIT ON THE LORD!”

 “WAIT ON THE LORD!”

Psalms 27:14                 (KJV)

“”WAIT ON THE LORD”: be of good courage, and HE SHALL STRENGTHEN THINE HEART: wait, I say, on the LORD.”

“MY RIGHTEOUS RIGHT HAND!”

 

Isaiah 41:8-10                 (ESV)

    “[8] But you, Israel, MY servant,

      Jacob, whom I HAVE CHOSEN,

        the offspring of Abraham, MY friend; 

    [9] you whom I took from the ends of the earth,

        and called from its farthest corners,

    saying to you, “You are MY servant,

        I HAVE CHOSEN YOU and NOT cast you off”; 

    [10] fear not, for I am with you;

        be not dismayed, FOR I AM YOUR GOD;

    I will strengthen you, I will help you,

        I will uphold you with “MY RIGHTEOUS RIGHT HAND!”  

While “scrolling” on social media recently I listened to the song “GOD WALKS THE DARK HILLS”.  It speaks about how GOD WALKING THROUGH the trials of our lives, but it never mentions how HIS Children walk along beside HIM, other than HIM LEADING US as a guide!!

Then my brain damaged mind went back to the FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND poster that one of my sisters had hanging on their wall while we were growing up.  It sends with “The LORD replied, "MY son, MY precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I Carried You."

While I was in the seventeen day coma in 2007, I was TOTALLY “out-of-control”!!  Even my breathing was controlled by a machine!  My condition was bleak, putting it mildly!  

Since my recovery (almost NINETEEN YEARS AGO!!), my condition for the most part has been what I would describe as a  Biblical “sheep”, almost having to be LED by the MASTER!  But ALMIGHTY GOD tells me in Isaiah 41:10 “I will uphold you with “MY RIGHTEOUS RIGHT HAND!””  There is NOTHING more comforting than to have “MY RIGHTEOUS RIGHT HAND” leading you when you know that you are afflicted!!!

“GOD CHOSE!”

 

1 Corinthians 1:18-31                 (ESV)

CHRIST the WISDOM and POWER of GOD

“[18] For the WORD of the cross is FOLLY to those who are perishing, but TO US WHO ARE BEING SAVED it is the POWER of GOD. [19] For it is written, 

    “I will DESTROY the wisdom of the wise,

        and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

    [20] Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? HAS NOT GOD MADE FOOLISH the wisdom of the world? [21] For since, IN THE WISDOM OF GOD, the world DID NOT KNOW GOD THROUGH WISDOM, it pleased GOD through THE FOLLY OF WHAT WE PREACH to save those who believe. [22] For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, [23] but WE PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, [24] but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, CHRIST the POWER of GOD and the wisdom of GOD. [25] For the FOOLISHNESS of GOD IS WISER THAN MEN, and the WEAKNESS of GOD IS STRONGER THAN MENi.

[26] For consider your CALLING, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. [27] But “GOD CHOSE” what is FOOLISH IN THE WORLD to shame the wise; “GOD CHOSE” what is WEAK in the world to shame the strong; [28] “GOD CHOSE” what is LOW and DESPISED in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, [29] so that NO HUMAN being might boast in the presence of GOD. [30] And because of HIM you are in CHRIST JESUS, WHO became to us WISDOM from GOD, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, [31] so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, BOAST IN THE LORD.”

John 1:3                 (ESV)

“[3] ALL THINGS were made through HIM, and without HIM was not any thing made that was made. “

John 14:6                 (ESV)

“[6] JESUS said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. NO ONE comes to the FATHER except through ME.”

James 5:16                 (ESV)

“[16] Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”

KJV states that “the effectual, FERVENT (Having or showing great emotion or zeal; ARDENT) prayer of a righteous man avaleth much”!  

Being CALLED by OUR CREATOR is not something that we should “boast” about!!  “GOD CHOSE” is the only thing that matters to we to whom “GOD CHOSE”, but ONE DAY ALL EYES WILL BE OPENED!!!

“HE WHO RAISED CHRIST JESUS FROM THE DEAD!”

 

Romans 8:11                 (ESV)

“If the SPIRIT of HIM WHO raised JESUS from the dead dwells in you, “HE WHO RAISED CHRIST JESUS FROM THE DEAD” will also GIVE LIFE TO YOUR MORTAL BODIES through HIS SPIRIT WHO dwells in you.”

John 10:30                 (ESV)

“I and the FATHER are ONE.”  (JESUS)

It is extremely familiar for me to refer to JESUS when remembering the “miraculous” healing that was delivered to me in July of 2007. My medical records quote my doctor as saying “However, he has had a remarkable recovery that could ONLY be defined as a MIRACLE from GOD”!  

Is JESUS the ONLY REASON that I survived the Brain Hemorrhage in July of 2007???  In this humble servant’s brain damaged opinion, the ONLY viable explanation is precisely how my doctor remembered in September of the same year.  

WHO else could have placed me in a drug induced coma for seventeen days, kept me off work for a few days short of two years, then given me back the insurance agency that I had sold eleven months prior…..PLUS another agency!!!  HE then orchestrated the ownership for just over fifteen years when I retired from selling insurance!

Why did I NOT HAVE “deficits” that would have precluded me from performing as an insurance agent?  Why did I NOT wind up as a paraplegic vegetable?  Why did I NOT die and be ushered into HIS PRESENCE for eternity?  The ONLY reason I could offer is because HE WASN’T through with me yet!!!

HE HAS A PLAN, and I am HIS TOOL to continue that PLAN!  “HE WHO RAISED CHRIST JESUS FROM THE DEAD” has TOTAL CONTROL and HE is capable of DOING WHATEVER HE desires with my life!!!

“THE STAFF OF AARON!”

 

Numbers 17:6-7                  (ESV)

“[6] Moses spoke to the people of Israel. And all their chiefs gave him staffs, one for each chief, according to their fathers’ houses, twelve staffs. And “THE STAFF OF AARON” WAS AMONG THEIR STAFFS. [7] And Moses deposited the staffs before the LORD in the TENT OF THE TESTIMONY.”

Numbers 17:10                 (ESV)

“[10] And the LORD said to Moses, “PUT BACK “THE STAFF OF AARON” before the testimony, TO BE KEPT AS A SIGN FOR THE REBELS, THAT YOU MAY MAKE AN END OF THEIR GRUMBLING S AGAINST ME, LEST THEY DIE.”

The next two paragraphs are taken directly from a commentary regarding “THE STAFF OF AARON”:::

“THE STAFF (OF AARON) is placed in the ARK OF THE COVENANT, serving as a perpetual reminder of GOD’S AUTHORITY and the legitimacy of the Levitical priesthood.  

Aaron's staff is rich in symbolism, REPRESENTING GOD’S POWER, AUTHORITY, and THE LEGITIMACY OF THE PRIESTHOOD. It serves as a TANGIBLE REMINDER of GOD’S  intervention in the history of Israel and HIS ESTABLISHMENT OF THE LEVITICAL PRIESTHOOD. The staff's TRANSFORMATION into a serpent, its role in the plagues, and its miraculous budding all underscore the divine endorsement of Aaron's leadership and the special status of the tribe of Levi. Throughout biblical history, Aaron's staff remains a POWERFUL EMBLEM of GOD’S PRESENCE and HIS covenant with Israel.”

ALMIGHTY GOD PERFORMS (sometimes what we call MIRACULOUSLY!) things to REVEAL HIMSELF to HIS PEOPLE!  We readily SEE that Moses was not worthy of being a “leader” of the nation of Israel (Exodus 2:11-13)!  Aaron was also “flawed”!  Although Moses “stuttered”, he had the education and attention to detail to write the first five books of the BIBLE (Torah) for humanity to explore about THE CREATOR!  

GOD is GRACIOUS enough to PROVIDE HIS GUIDANCE throughout HIStory!  In this timeframe, GOD used “THE STAFF OF AARON” as a “go-between” for HIMSELF and HIS sheep.  HE came to earth in the FORM of JESUS as the ULTIMATE REVELATION OF HIMSELF slightly more than 2,000 years ago!  

We NEED to SEE that JESUS was in “THE STAFF OF AARON”, just as HE is in Genesis 1:1 and Revelation 22:21!  JESUS tells Nicodemus in John 3:16 “FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD, that HE GAVE HIS ONLY SON, that whoever BELIEVES IN HIM should NOT PERISH but have eternal life.”  Whether JESUS was recognized IN THE FLESH while HE was on earth, or in “THE STAFF OF AARON” so many years ago, HE deserves to be recognized as KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS!!!