Category: ‘man of God’

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EXODUS 33 Moses speaks with God

Let God speak

God had chosen Moses to lead His people but they were a stiff necked people. What does that phrase bring to mind but a people who were disobedient and proud and rebellious. The Israelites were familiar with that expression as one speaks of an ox who refuses to obey. Imagine being compared to that? God is saying you are no better than the animal I created. When the people heard that they humbled themselves and removed their ornaments.

A second thing noteworthy was how the people showed their humility after that rebuke from God. When Moses passed by on the way to the Tent of Meeting, as he called it, they rose at the door of their tent and worshiped. We stand in reverence when the scripture is read as a sign of respect and humility. 

A third noteworthy thing to see is that Moses and God spoke face to face while the pillar of the cloud stood over the tent. How bold was Moses to speak what was on his mind to the Lord God Almighty. Am I that bold to speak to God as Moses spoke? 

A fourth thing from this passage is that after leaving God to return to the people, his face shone. Does my face shine after being in His presence? 

Great lessons just from this chapter. 

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Spiritual warfare

Stay alert

Ps 56 and 57 I don’t know about you but I have experienced true spiritual warfare and it seems like the Psalmist has as well. He takes pen to paper and records what this is like. Listen to his words which graphically describes what this is like when you are in the throes of the battle. One author wondered if Daniel had remembered these words while he lay amongst the lions. 

I am surrounded by lions;

I lie down among those who want to devour me,

men whose teeth are spears and arrows,

whose tongues are sharp swords.

Sometimes that is how I feel when I am in the midst of the words and actions of Satan who seeks to kill and destroy. His words to me are like those spears and arrows but my God is greater. The psalmist asked what can men do to me? The Hebrews author noted this as well: “so that we confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?” [Heb 13:6] This is how we face those battles. 

O Exalted One, come alongside each of us who are your children today and be our sword to wield against our foes. 

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Jehovah Sabaoth

You can trust God

Psalm 46 One of my favorite titles of Yahweh or Jehovah is this because it reminds me that He is the General of the Lord’s armies and He will fight for those He calls His own…and that includes me. Can you say that too? You can if you know Him, not just know of Him but know Him. So what is it that encourages you and I from the words of this Psalm? 

Jehovah. Sabaoth is our refuge in times of trouble, whether big or small. He is the one standing as Joshua saw Him with a drawn sword. [Josh 5:13]He asked him if he was for them or against them and the man replied: “Truly I am the commander of the Lord’s army.” [Josh 5:14]This is the God we serve and he is battle ready to serve and to be our strength and protection. “For this reason we do not fear…” [ Ps. 46:2]. 

Today, whatever you are facing, call upon the man, the commander of the Lord’s army, Jehovah Sabaoth, to be with you in the battles you are facing. Trust him as Prov 3:5-6 says with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, acknowledge Him and He will direct your path. 

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Instructions

Be a Joshua!

Joshua 1-4 The man Joshua was born in Egypt. He followed Moses through the desert for over 40 years faithfully. When Moses went into the tent to talk to God, he stood guard outside. When Moses was done and went to speak to the people, Joshua remained behind at the door of the tent of meeting. He saw the Red Sea open and the manna from heaven. He was one of two scouts out of the twelve that returned with a good report about the land they were to enter. Because Joshua, along with Caleb, was faithful, he would live to enter the Promised Land after a long 40 yrs of wandering. Joshua was tested and found faithful.
Now God is instructing Joshua as the new commander to lead the Israelites. As Moses closed Deuteronomy, he had one set of instructions: be strong and courageous. God would repeat those exact words over and over and over so Joshua would not hesitate to lead.

What instructions has God left you and me? It is this: follow God; be strong and courageous. The prophet Isaiah many years later, wrote these words: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you.” [Is 43:2]

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Sheepherder or Ph.D.?

Amos had a message and he shared it

Amos 1-3 Simple but profound

Two days ago, my childhood friend passed from this earthly life to sit at the feet of Jesus. Her mother washed my diapers, and my mother did the same. That is how long we have been childhood friends. She was not a theologian of the Bible, but her life was a theology lesson in her deeds. She was, in some ways, the Ruth to her Naomi and her mom. Then her Boaz served her when she slipped into Alzheimer’s. It was fitting that God chose him, for he was an undertaker by profession. In some ways, that is sort of ironic, isn’t it? Just like “sort of like” Amos was a sheepherder. Who would have chosen a sheepherder from Tekoa to care for His sheep? But God needs shepherds and God needs us.

We say Amos was “just” a sheepherder, but God chose him out of all the Ph.D.’s and the others to tell the nations of His plans. How often do we feel like Amos because we don’t have a pedigree, or do we feel like Jeremiah thinking some other person will tell them? But, God has chosen what the world thinks foolish to shame the wise and what the world thinks weak to shame the strong. [1Cor 1:27]

So what does that have to do with our study today? Amos shared this truth: the Sovereign Lord does nothing without first revealing his plan. [Amos 3:7] And that truth is: God is not willing that any should perish, but all come to repentance. [2Peter 3:9] God uses sheepherders and those who have a Ph.D. God uses ALL of us to be His conduit to a lost and dying generation. God had a simple warning message: For three things…no make that four was his repeated refrain.

What simple message has God given you to share? And more importantly, are you going and telling?

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The Mystery is Revealed…or is it?

Daniel's vision

Daniel 10-12 Daniel’s Vision

Daniel receives a vision and is troubled. Would I be the same? How often do I read something in the Word and am troubled because I do not understand? God, in His graciousness, sends relief and help to Daniel, but others with him are so frightened they fade away, and only Daniel is left to see and hear. The vision is clear: there will be wars and rumors of wars, but the end is not yet. Evil men will arise to do damage to the Holy Land but only for a time. God will protect His people and His land.

More than once, Daniel is assured that he is beloved and blessed. Even though he has lived in a foreign land for over 70 yrs., he has remained faithful, and God is pleased. God was willing to send an angel to assure him that his time here on earth was ending. Soon, he will stand before the God he loves and has served these many years. Daniel’s words will be left to us now and in the future so that we might see and understand that God has a plan and will fulfill it.

When I am in a quandary, I turn to the Holy Spirit, my resident teacher, to explain what I do not understand. Sometimes He explains, and other times He allows me to be disturbed until I search out the answer.

How about you?

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Choosing God’s Way

Making wise choices

Daniel 1 Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the King’s food. Choices begin in the heart, which Jeremiah tells us is “deceitful and desperately wicked,” [Jer 17:9 (the NET says mind)] So how did Daniel become so wise, cunning, and perceptive to make the right decision? Like him, we must choose to align our hearts with God’s. Daniel saw a need for a renewed heart as a Temple student, and God heard and responded. King David also went through this exercise: “Create in me a pure heart, O God. Renew a resolute spirit within me.” [Ps 51:10] Therefore, when faced with a decision to obey the King or God, Daniel knew the right decision was to choose God’s way. Daniel found favor not to eat the King’s food when God touched the heart of Ashpenaz, the head eunuch. We can learn much from this straightforward exercise. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” [Rom 8:31] Also, “The fear of man is a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted.” [Prov 29:25]

Today we are being challenged to fear men more than God, and we can take a page out of Daniel’s diary to learn how to appeal and see God bless us for choosing His way. What choices are you facing today? Will you choose God’s way or man’s way?

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Watchmen warn

Ezekiel 33 and Titus 3 God called Ezekiel to be a watchman on the wall; he was to be a lookout, an observer. As he saw the danger approaching, he was to blow the trumpet and warn the people of impending judgment. The trumpet was a ram’s horn or a shofar. It was used in Bible times of Ezekiel and also at the feast of trumpets. It was so strong that the people who heard it trembled. If one heard the trumpet, he was to heed the warning. If he did, he would find safety, but if not, he would not be able to save his life. Ezekiel was to be God’s watchman, not with a shofar but with his voice. God placed His voice in Ezekiel’s life to use him as a trumpet to remind people of their sins.

God has called us to be a watchman to the unsaved. We have God’s Word and the truth that the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared in the life of His Son, Jesus Christ. We are to remind them that salvation is not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit whom he poured out on us in full measure through Jesus Christ our Savior. [Titus 3:4-6]

Where are we fulfilling that role in real-time?

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Two types of people

Integrity or honesty

Proverbs 19-22 There are people with integrity and those who are the scorners/scoffers. Maybe like me, you too struggle with these people. They draw my ire, and I find them to be despicable.

Now, sometimes as we read, we come across a pithy saying that tells us what God is really looking for in a person. He says scoffers bring about contention and strife, so drive them out! [Prov 22:10] and Prov 19:1 “Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity than one who is perverse in his speech and is a fool.” So we see the truth, but just as Jesus taught with examples, we also find teaching examples,

For example, King Ahab and his wife Jezebel were biblical characters that lacked integrity. They also were scoffers who scoffed at God. In sharp contrast was Naboth, the vineyard keeper, a poor man but a man of integrity. He lived next door to the palace, and he tended his land because it was his ancestral inheritance, and he would not relinquish it even for a penny—even to a king! It was not the money, but it all boiled down to integrity. But King Ahab wanted Naboth’s vineyard, so he stooped to deceit and murder to get it. God told Elijah to tell Ahab that He would bring disaster upon his ancestral line because of his sin of murder and his lack of integrity. He lacked the honesty of Naboth through and through.

The lesson for us is in the proverb: God looks for someone who exemplifies integrity, like Naboth. Am I a Naboth or King Ahab? OUCH!

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Nehemiah: A Good Role Model

Nehemiah our role model

Nehemiah 7 to 9 The Marks of a Good Leader     

The marks of a good leader are the ability to see ourselves as God’s servant whose sole desire is for a heavenly, not an earthly reward and a sure focus on the task God has presented to us as a “great work.”  

Nehemiah governed through wisdom and practical means. As we read more about him, we can see that he was a man chosen by God because he demonstrated real honor and submission to Him. We can learn much from his example of persistence and wisdom, which is applicable today in our present-day culture. His excellence is one to follow for the church as well as in the secular world.

We need men like Nehemiah. These men are faithful with a proper belief in God; devoted to the interests of God, along with faithfully discharging the duties of his office. Nehemiah is an example to follow as he governed according to the laws as well as taking care of the interests of pure religion. He acted in all things as one who had a fear of God continually before his eyes.

Are we good leaders?

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