Tag: broken spirit

41.n. “I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment.”

 

 

Exodus 6:1  But the LORD said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.”

God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the LORD. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. Say therefore to the people of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the LORD.’” Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.

Carrying the story from the previous chapter, Moses was discouraged by what he thought was God’s lack of action and help. God’s reply to Moses showed that He wanted him to know that the Lord was in control of it all. Moses was discouraged because he was too impressed by Pharaoh and not impressed enough by God. God reminded Moses of the great name of God (Yahweh), He confirmed that he remained the covenant-making and covenant-keeping God, who would absolutely fulfill His promise to Moses. (Guzik)

“When all human help has failed, and the soul, exhausted and despairing, has given up hope from man, God draws near, and says, I AM.” (Meyer)

Though the patriarchs knew God Almighty, they did not know Him as extensively and intimately as He would reveal Himself to Moses and his generation. They knew the power of God but didn’t have the same personal relationship and revelation Moses would come to know. For us, God wants to be more than God Almighty – He wants us also to know Him as a personal, promise making and promise keeping God, whom we can trust in everything. Believers should ask themselves if they really know God. Moses was called to remember his God.

In even separate I will promises, God said, “I’m going to do it. You can count on me.”

· I will bring you out.

· I will rescue you from their bondage.

· I will redeem you.

· I will take you as My people.

· I will be your God.

· I will bring you into the land.

· I will give it to you as a heritage.

“Each of these verbs are in the Hebrew past (i.e., perfect) tense instead of the future tense, for so certain was God of their accomplishment that they were viewed as having been completed.” (Kaiser) As is all of God’s promises!

After Moses spoke what God told him the children of Israel were still stuck in miserable unbelief. They probably would have said that they did not doubt God, but they doubted the messenger – Moses. Because of their anguish, this is why Israel doubted both God and His messenger. Their centuries of slavery made them think like slaves instead of people of the covenant. Pharaoh was bigger in their eyes than God was.  Ezekiel 20:5-9 shows why God was so small and Pharaoh was so big in Israel’s heart during this time. Ezekiel explained that they trusted the gods of their oppressors, worshipping the gods of the Egyptians. This is why they didn’t trust God, and His messenger Moses. The reason why God did not judge Israel at the time was because He didn’t want His name profaned among the Gentiles.

Many Christians find themselves in the same place. They find it hard to trust God and believe that He is for them. This is why Paul says we must not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:1-2). The children of Israel needed their minds renewed, and we do also. (Guzik)

106. Warning them persistently, even to this day, saying, Obey my voice.

1 Samuel 15:22  “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.

Psalms 51:16-17     For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Proverbs 21:3    To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

Isaiah 1:17    learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.

Jeremiah 7:22-23     For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.  But this command I gave them: ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’

Hosea 6:6    For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Micah 6:6-8     “With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?  Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”  He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Ecclesiastes 5:1      Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.

Jeremiah 11:7    For I solemnly warned your fathers when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, warning them persistently, even to this day, saying, Obey my voice.

God is clear about obedience. Obey My voice, I desire steadfast love and knowledge of God, love justice, love kindness, walk humbly with God, draw near, guard your steps, broken spirit and contrite heart.  He says obedience is far and above sacrifice.  So how do we know if we are being obedient?????  This is a good question to ask and a good question to answer.

To understand how to be obedient we should know how God speaks into our life.  He speaks through His word.  Hebrews 4:12; “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” He gives the Holy Spirit to indwell those who believe in, trust in, cling to, and rely on Jesus Christ. John 14:16 “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever.” And He speaks through what He has shown and continues to show us Romans 1:19  “For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”

His word brought our heart and mind to the place of knowing sin, repentance, and forgiveness so that may know we have been saved from the judgment of sin and have been given eternal life through Jesus Christ.  This is given to all who believe and is rightly called being born again.  Born not of flesh and blood but of God.  John 1:13 “who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”   

The first step of obedience has 4 parts, first is belief,  second confessing sin, third is repentance, fourth is trusting in/relying on/clinging to Jesus Christ and the sacrifice He made on the cross. This initial act of obedience led to a new birth and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

A life of obedience is a desire/choice to listen, a desire/choice to follow, a desire/choice to act/obey.  There is little chance of obedience when there is little desire for His word in your life.  There is little chance of being influenced and directed by the indwelling Holy Spirit when there is little desire for His word in your life.  We cannot honor Jesus Christ without desiring to be obedient.  Without His word and a deep desire to know, understand, and humbly serve, honor, follow, and obey Him we deceive ourselves into thinking we are obedient.  His word is to be the bread of life, living water, and the air that we breathe.  I fear our society/culture has influenced us to the point we cannot see that we are starving, dehydrating, suffocating, and either dead or close enough to being dead that the depth of His word has no place in our heart, mind, and soul, and the understanding of obedience has been diluted to non-existence.

An obedient life must have a continual daily desire to be in, listen too, and act on His word for the sole purpose of humbly serving, honoring, glorifying, following, and obeying Jesus Christ.  Live obediently. Seek and desire His word each day with a heart seeking to honor Him.

21. Broken Spirit

Exodus 5:22 Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.” But the Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.” God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. Say therefore to the people of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.’” Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.

We can easily see why the people would not listen to Moses.  He, through Aaron, had gone before the people and proclaimed what God had told him.  He had done signs in sight of the people and they believed, bowed their heads and worshiped.  Then after Moses spoke to Pharaoh their slavery became immediately worse.  They thought they were being delivered from their bondage but ended up worse.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for and evidence of things not seen.  What is it that diminishes your hope and faith?  We have all been there, where we have are close to God, He speaks to our heart through promises in His word, and we find hope, peace and rest in what He revealed to us.  Then what happens?  Time happens.  Our anticipation, hope, peace, and rest in the promises of God got tested by time.  Our expectation left no room for time to happen.  Our expectation of God’s promises left no room for His purpose and plans.

Our dependence and reliance on God’s promises are not dependent of our expectation of the time when we expect our situation to change.    The moment God speaks promises into our heart and soul nothing changes from the aspect of what God will do.  Nothing. 

Now add time to our situation and soon we think God has changed.  Our faith was wasted.  Our hope was wrong.  Our thought of what He can and will do was abandoned.  Yet, God never changed, He will never leave us or forsake us, He will guide us, He will strengthen us, He will bless us, He will lead us, and He will give us courage for each new day. 

The next time doubt enters your mind say this “forgive my doubt, I TRUST YOU.  If you have to say this a thousand times do it and you will find the doubts soon turn into praises of faith and hope.

I acknowledged my sin to you

Psalms 119:25   My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to your word!  When I told of my ways, you answered me; teach me your statutes!  Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works.  My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word!  Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law!  I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your rules before me.  I cling to your testimonies, O LORD; let me not be put to shame!  I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart!

Psalms 71:17     O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.

Psalms 78:4     We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.

Psalms 32:5     I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

Psalms 38:18    I confess my iniquity; I am sorry for my sin.

Psalms 51:1-19    Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.  Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!  For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.  Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.  Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.  Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.  Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.  Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.  Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.  Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.  Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.  Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.  O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.  For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.  Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem;  then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

“Can each one of us now say, in this sense, ‘I have declared my ways’ to the Lord? For this should be done, not only at our first coming to him, but continually throughout the whole of our life. We should look over each day, and sum up the errors of the day, and say, ‘I have declared my ways,’ — my naughty ways, my wicked ways, my wandering ways, my backsliding ways, my cold, indifferent ways, my proud ways.’” (Spurgeon)

Sin seems to find new and creative ways into our heart and mind. None of us are immune to it.  None can stand before God and declare I have no sin. Turning a blind eye to God’s word, leading, whispers of teaching, warning, insightful revealing of His word should give no sense of calm to our soul.  Neglect and complacent approach to His word allows a thick cloud to form over wisdom, understanding and knowledge of God, His holiness, and our purpose – “To humbly serve, honor, follow and obey.”

God’s word speaks to the heart and soul of those who will listen.  It has the power to open our eyes to holiness and sin, forgiveness and renewal,  weakness and power, sadness and joy, helplessness and courage,  anxiousness and peace, wisdom and understanding, humbleness and pride, all for the purpose of knowing, serving, honoring, following and obeying God.

Clean Heart

“Who can say, “I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin”?

Psalms 51:7  Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Isaiah 1:18   “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

1 John 1:7   But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

Hebrews 9:13  For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh,  how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Ezekiel 11:19   And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,

2 Corinthians 5:17   Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Ephesians 2:10    For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Colossians 3:10    and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Ephesians 4:22  to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,  and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,  and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness

What does it mean to be cleansed from sin? Why is this important to be cleansed from sin?  Sin is doing what is wrong or not doing what is right according to God’s rules.  Not knowing these rules or laws or commandments or warnings or promises does not eliminate the wrong being done in our lives.  Neglecting God’s word, lack of desire for His word, and no interest listening for His leading, no deep want to please God are not good indicators of a person who (through no work of their own has been cleansed from all the wrongs they have ever done) desires to humbly serve, honor, follow and obey God.  A person who knows their sin is like scarlet and wants to be made right before God, has a different heart.  In their heart, mind, and soul they have chosen their course in this life to be God honoring. Their heart and mind are not clouded over with cultural concept of sin, doing right, doing wrong as  means to be made right before God.  They absolutely know their is nothing (works) they can do to be made right in God’s eyes because it can not be earned.  They know it is by faith in the redemptive work of Christ on the Cross. Their life  is fueled by God’s word, and desire to serve, honor, follow and obey Hm. Choose to hear His voice.  Choose to obey it.  Choose to humbly serve Him each day over self.  Choose to read His word.  Choose to give.  Choose to be kind.  Choose to have patience.  Choose to …… for the single purpose of honoring God in your life.