“LISTENING???”

Since a lot of churches are doing since “Social Distancing”, which has been strongly encouraged by our government, our fellowship has a Sunday message by the pastor with a few songs to get us through the week posted on Social Media.  This weeks message had one verse that really stood out for me.  It was Mark 1:35 which says “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, HE (JESUS) departed and went out to a desolate place, and there HE prayed”.  

While ruminating over this verse my mind could not get past the fact that GOD IN THE FLESH (JESUS) evidently yearned to be alone with GOD so much that HE got up early in the morning and departed to a desolate place and prayed.  Scripture doesn’t say that HE sang choruses or hymns, it doesn’t say that HE played the favorite instruments of the time, only that HE PRAYED!  Why can’t we SEE that GOD chiefly wants our attention, and after HE gets that, then HE will direct our praises!  

Our pastor also shared a story today about Mother Teresa being interviewed by Dan Rather.  The story goes like this.  “Dan Rather, CBS anchor, once asked Mother Teresa what she said during her prayers. She answered, "I listen." So Dan turned the question and asked, "Well then, what does God say?"  Mother Teresa smiled with confidence and answered, "He listens." For an instant, Dan didn't know what to say. "And if you don't understand that," Mother Teresa added, "I can't explain it to you.”

Exodus 14:14 is a verse that I often quote.  It states “The LORD will fight for you, and YOU HAVE ONLY TO BE SILENT."  We spend so much time and resources trying to present the perfect offering of praise to GOD, and all HE wants is for us to listen to HIM!  We might be more convinced that “the LORD will fight for us” if we would JUST BE SILENT?  

GOD has orchestrated events to allow us plenty of time to LISTEN to HIM.  We think we NEED to get back to work and get the economy roaring again.  But we may need to TRUST GOD for our provision and spend time LISTENING TO HIM???

“FEW ARE CHOSEN!”

Matthew 22:1-14                                                    (ESV)

“1 And again JESUS spoke to them in parables, saying,

2 "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son,

3 and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.

4 Again he sent other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, "See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast."'

5 But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business,

6 while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.

7 THE KING WAS ANGRY, and he sent his troops and DESTROYED THOSE MURDERERS and BURNED THEIR CITY.

8 Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy.

9 Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.'

10 And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, BOTH BAD AND GOOD. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.

11 "But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had NO WEDDING GARMENT.

12 And he said to him, 'Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?' And HE WAS SPEECHLESS.

13 Then the king said to the attendants, 'Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

14 For many are called, but “FEW ARE CHOSEN”."

JESUS had a knack for using parables to get a point across to people, sometimes even HIS disciples!  HEARING HIS message and SEEING HIS point is a GIFT from GOD.  In John 12:40 the passage of Isaiah 6:10 is referred to which says “Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; LEST THEY SEE with their eyes, AND HEAR with their ears, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEARTS, and TURN AND BE HEALED." 

Not everyone has the UNDERSTANDING to accept the THINGS OF GOD.  The people that JESUS spoke of in Matthew 22:1-14 were some of such people.  As a matter of fact, JESUS says in verse seven “THE KING WAS ANGRY, and he sent his troops and DESTROYED THOSE MURDERERS and BURNED THEIR CITY”.  It appears that these people were so caught up in “doing their own thing” that they could not SEE, nor HEAR, nor UNDERSTAND what their invitation was all about.  Life was moving so fast for them that the WORD OF GOD wasn’t allowed the opportunity to take root and bring forth fruit! 

It is apparent that is the case in today’s society.  We are so engrossed with keeping up with the so-called “demands” of “this world” that we can’t allow GOD to grow us into that which Glorifies HIM.  JESUS warned us through this parable that would cost us one day.  The WRATH OF GOD will be unleashed on this world and HE will send HIS troops to “DESTROY THOSE MURDERERS and BURN THEIR CITY”.  

This “time of disengagement” from a tiny virus may have a purpose which is not easily SEEN, nor HEARD, nor UNDERSTOOD by those who refuse to do things BY THE BOOK, otherwise known as the HOLY BIBLE!  Before July 09, 2007 I was just as guilty as the next person, trying to do what I THOUGHT was best.  GOD used a Brain Hemorrhage to slow my life down and get me in a position to SEE, HEAR, and UNDERSTAND HIS Message.  

“Many are called, but “FEW ARE CHOSEN” is not a slogan for a branch of the military.  There are a very limited people who are CHOSEN to be used by GOD.  Are you one of those, or are you one of the many who will be BURNED IN THEIR CITY?  The “FEW ARE CHOSEN” are set aside by a HOLY GOD to be different.  Which group do you identify with???

“AN EVIL TIME?”

Amos 5:12-15                                          (ESV)

“12 For I know how many are your transgressions and how great are your sins- you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and turn aside the needy in the gate. 

13 Therefore he who is prudent will KEEP SILENT in such a time, for it is “AN EVIL TIME”. 

14 SEEK GOOD, and NOT EVIL, THAT YOU MAY LIVE; and so the LORD, the GOD of hosts, will be with you, as you have said. 

15 HATE EVIL, and LOVE GOOD, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the LORD, the GOD of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”

It can be hard to KEEP SILENT when you observe EVIL being evidenced by the actions of others.  “Spiritual Immaturity” is something that I have displayed over the course of my life, and admitting it is certainly not the most glamorous thing I have experienced.  But Spiritual Immaturity is rampant in “the church” today.  There are those who have been Believers for a number of years, yet they don’t act like they have been through the wilderness for more than a day!  It makes you appreciate the forty years that the Israelites wondered escaping Egypt???

GOD is telling me in the passage above that HE KNOWS me, “how many are your transgressions and how great are your sins”, yet HE wants to BLESS me and use me for HIS Glory.  Why would GOD use a sinner like me when others appear more worthy?  GOD typically uses the least (Deuteronomy 7:7) for HIS Glory, and I am qualified to be the least!!  Although we live in “AN EVIL TIME” we may need to KEEP SILENT and let GOD work in other people’s lives without our interference.  HE doesn’t require us to accomplish HIS Plan, HE uses us when HE chooses, not when we choose!  

Seeing others who still have growing to do does not indicate that they are beyond GOD’s ability to modify their behavior.  HE has a track record of using the LEAST to accomplish HIS Plan.  They might be in the Spiritual oven having their bread baked for HIM?  

1 Corinthians 7:17 states “Only let each person lead the life that the LORD has assigned to him, and to which GOD has called him. This is my rule in all the churches”.  Living in such “AN EVIL TIME” will reveal a lot about others, but chiefly it will reveal exactly where we are in our own Spiritual Maturity.  It is one thing to observe the actions of others, but when WE try changing their actions instead of praying that GOD change them, we risk becoming Pharisaical.  

FATHER, cause me to get the BEAM out of my own eye before trying to help get the splinter out of my brothers eye!!!

“AN EVIL TIME!”

Amos 5:12-15                                          (ESV)

“12 For I know how many are your transgressions and how great are your sins- you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and turn aside the needy in the gate. 

13 Therefore he who is prudent will KEEP SILENT in such a time, for it is “AN EVIL TIME”. 

14 SEEK GOOD, and NOT EVIL, THAT YOU MAY LIVE; and so the LORD, the GOD of hosts, will be with you, as you have said. 

15 HATE EVIL, and LOVE GOOD, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the LORD, the GOD of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”

It can be hard to KEEP SILENT when you observe EVIL being evidenced by the actions of others.  “Spiritual Immaturity” is something that I have displayed over the course of my life, and admitting it is certainly not the most glamorous thing I have experienced.  But Spiritual Immaturity is rampant in “the church” today.  There are those who have been Believers for a number of years, yet they don’t act like they have been through the wilderness for more than a day!  It makes you appreciate the forty years that the Israelites wondered escaping Egypt???

GOD is telling me in the passage above that HE KNOWS me, “how many are your transgressions and how great are your sins”, yet HE wants to BLESS me and use me for HIS Glory.  Why would GOD use a sinner like me when others appear more worthy?  GOD typically uses the least (Deuteronomy 7:7) for HIS Glory, and I am qualified to be the least!!  Although we live in “AN EVIL TIME” we may need to KEEP SILENT and let GOD work in other people’s lives without our interference.  HE doesn’t require us to accomplish HIS Plan, HE uses us when HE chooses, not when we choose!  

Seeing others who still have growing to do does not indicate that they are beyond GOD’s ability to modify their behavior.  HE has a track record of using the LEAST to accomplish HIS Plan.  They might be in the Spiritual oven having their bread baked for HIM?  

1 Corinthians 7:17 states “Only let each person lead the life that the LORD has assigned to him, and to which GOD has called him. This is my rule in all the churches”.  Living in such “AN EVIL TIME” will reveal a lot about others, but chiefly it will reveal exactly where we are in our own Spiritual Maturity.  It is one thing to observe the actions of others, but when WE try changing their actions instead of praying that GOD change them, we risk becoming Pharisaical.  

FATHER, cause me to get the BEAM out of my own eye before trying to help get the splinter out of my brothers eye!!!

“I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT WITHIN YOU!”

Ezekiel 36:27-32                                         (ESV)

“27 And “I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT WITHIN YOU”, and cause you to walk in MY statutes and be careful to obey MY rules.

28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be MY people, and I will be your GOD.

29 And I WILL DELIVER YOU FROM ALL YOUR UNCLEANNESS. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you.

30 I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations.

31 Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and YOU WILL LOATHE YOURSELVES for your iniquities and your abominations.

32 IT IS NOT FOR YOUR SAKE that I will act, declares the LORD GOD; LET THAT BE KNOWN TO YOU.  BE ASHAMED and CONFOUNDED for your ways, O house of Israel.”

Most people can’t SEE how great the sacrifice paid on our behalf by JESUS on Calvary.  When JESUS said in Matthew 19:26 “With man this is impossible, but with GOD all things are possible”, HE was removing ALL limitations on GOD, only we couldn’t SEE it adequately.  For the most part, we STILL can’t SEE what GOD is capable of, and that HIS limits are immeasurable.  

When GOD had Ezekiel write “I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT IN YOU”, HIS Words were foretelling what JESUS CHRIST would accomplish on the cross.  When I SEE myself compared to THE PERFECT SACRIFICE, in fact I do LOATH MYSELF!  Being ASHAMED and CONFOUNDED doesn’t even begin to describe the guilt I have for causing the death of JESUS.  HE had to cover my sin in order to DELIVER ME FROM ALL MY UNCLEANNESS!  I am so vile, yet HE IS SO PURE!  Yet “I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT IN YOU” was precisely what HE accomplished on Calvary!

John 17:23 says “I in them and YOU in ME, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that YOU sent ME and loved them even as you loved ME.”  Approximately 600 years before JESUS was born, the prophet Ezekiel wrote “I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT IN YOU”, and that is exactly what JESUS did through HIS life, death, and victorious resurrection!  Am I worthy?  Not hardly.  But I am CHOSEN by GOD to reflect HIS LOVE to a lost and dying world.  HIS mercy has no boundaries, and I am so grateful that HE CHOSE me to exhibit “I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT IN YOU” in my life!!!

“I CHOSE YOU!”

Ephesians 1:3-6                        (ESV)

“3 Blessed be the GOD and FATHER of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, WHO has blessed us in CHRIST with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,

4 even as HE CHOSE US in HIM BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, that we should be HOLY and blameless before HIM. In love

5 HE predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through JESUS CHRIST, according to the purpose of HIS will,

6 to the praise of HIS glorious grace, with which HE has blessed us in the Beloved.”

John 15:16                                 (ESV)

“YOU DID NOT CHOOSE ME, but “I CHOSE YOU” and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the FATHER in MY name, HE may give it to you”.  

Did I CHOOSE GOD, or did HE choose me?  Ephesians 1:4 says “HE CHOSE US in HIM BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, that we should be HOLY and blameless before HIM”.  1 Peter 2:9 says “But YOU ARE A CHOSEN RACE, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of HIM WHO CALLED YOU OUT of darkness into HIS marvelous light”.  Since GOD CHOSE me before the foundation of the world, I must have had nothing to do with being selected, for “HE CHOSE ME”!  

Why would HE CHOOSE ME, out of the multitudes of people HE has created?  Deuteronomy 7:6-7 explains it rather succinctly, “For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.  It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and CHOSE you, for you were the FEWEST of all peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt”.  

All I can say is that GOD must save the least to demonstrate that HE is a loving, gracious and forgiving GOD WHO CHOOSES to redeem the seemingly unredeemable.  The Apostle Paul wrote in his first letter to Timothy, verse 15 of the first chapter, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that CHRIST JESUS came into the world to save sinners, OF WHOM I AM THE FOREMOST”.  

GOD CHOSE me, even though I am the least deserving, the greatest of sinners!  HE CHOSE me to display HIS love to others and to be used by HIM in whatever way HE deems best. HIS WORD says “I CHOSE YOU” to be a witness of MY love for others, because it took the LOVE of GOD to reach me in the depths of my sin!

“IT WAS THE WILL OF GOD TO CRUSH HIM!”

Isaiah 53:10                                                  (ESV)

“Yet “IT WAS THE WILL OF THE LORD TO CRUSH HIM”; HE has put HIM to grief; when HIS soul makes an offering for guilt, HE shall see HIS offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.”

Since GOD is Sovereign (and we KNOW HE is) HE must have (at least) given HIS approval for the COVID-19 virus to become the tragedy it has become.  There are those who say that a loving GOD would NEVER allow something so vile and destructive to mankind for HIS Glory, but you needn’t look any further than the cross at Calvary to quiet that view.  

The 24 hours just before the crucifixion of JESUS was carried out.  One commentary states “Scourging was not normally a form of execution, but it certainly was brutal enough to be fatal in many cases. A person certainly could be beaten to death by the scourge if that was desired. Its purpose was not only to cause great pain, but to humiliate as well. To scourge a man was to beat him worse than one would beat a stupid animal. It was belittling, debasing, and demeaning. It was considered such a degrading form of punishment that, according to the Porcian (248 B.C.) and Sempronian (123 B.C.) laws, Roman citizens were exempt from it.  It was, therefore, the punishment appropriate only for slaves and non-Romans, those who were viewed as the lesser elements in Roman society. To make it as humiliating as possible, scourging was carried out in public.”

GOD permitted HIS ONLY SON to be brutalized beyond what most men would have normally died from, to pay the price for the sins of an ungrateful world.  The sins that I commit everyday.  The sins that you commit everyday.  This just doesn’t make sense to me.  But Isaiah 55:8-9 reminds me that “For MY thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways MY ways, declares the LORD.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are MY ways higher than your ways and MY thoughts than your thoughts”.  Just because GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD!!!

The COVID-19 virus has killed just over 100,000 people as of the writing of this devotional.  One would say that GOD would NEVER allow such evil to exist.  Tell that to Joseph in Genesis 37.  However, we are set straight in Genesis 50:20 when Joseph tells his brothers who sold him into slavery “As for you, you meant evil against me, BUT GOD meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today”.  We don’t need to SEE ourselves higher than we are.  We are NOT GOD, regardless of what some think!  “IT WAS THE WILL OF GOD TO CRUSH HIM”, HIS SON, so we could spend eternity with HIM!  As for me, I do not have the capability to suggest what GOD would offer....either through MERCY or JUDGMENT!  All I know is “IT WAS THE WILL OF GOD TO CRUSH HIM” for my sake, and I am eternally grateful that HE did!!!