commanded us – Praying Pint

3.k. “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”

Ezra 4:1 Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel, they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here.” But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers’ houses in Israel said to them, “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”

Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

Nehemiah 6:9    For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will drop from the work, and it will not be done.” But now, O God, strengthen my hands.

Isaiah 35:3-4    Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.  Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”

Jeremiah 38:4   “for he is weakening the hands of the soldiers who are left in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm.”

The people came together and first built the altar for sacrifice to God. When this was completed they laid the foundation for the temple and people shouted with joy, though some wept, because of this great coming together with one purpose – to honor, glorify, and seek God in building His temple. People of the land heard of this and acted as though they wanted to help build but after being rejected they were malicious in discouraging and frustrating the people.

Not much has changed with mankind. We still see this happening, people with clear direction and leading from God are being criticized, challenged, and blasted from almost every angle. We shouldn’t think this is an attack on us but an attack on God’s plans and purposes. If we give any room to thoughts that these attacks are against us we will certainly become weary, afraid, confused, and without motivation. However, if we see this as God’s plans and purposes being attacked we can take comfort, strength, and courage because the battle is His. We know that He will always accomplish what He speaks and how He leads us in service to Him.

Keep your eyes on the task and do not become sidetracked by those in opposition. God is in control. No one can stop what God has put in place. Remain strong, remain faithful, remain obedient.

37. The Lord did not listen to your voice or give ear to you.

Deuteronomy 1:34 “And the Lord heard your words and was angered, and he swore, Not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, and to him and to his children I will give the land on which he has trodden, because he has wholly followed the Lord!’ Even with me the Lord was angry on your account and said, ‘You also shall not go in there. Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall enter. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. And as for your little ones, who you said would become a prey, and your children, who today have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there. And to them I will give it, and they shall possess it. But as for you, turn, and journey into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea.’

“Then you answered me, We have sinned against the Lord. We ourselves will go up and fight, just as the Lord our God commanded us.’ And every one of you fastened on his weapons of war and thought it easy to go up into the hill country. And the Lord said to me, Say to them, Do not go up or fight, for I am not in your midst, lest you be defeated before your enemies.’ So I spoke to you, and you would not listen; but you rebelled against the command of the Lord and presumptuously went up into the hill country. Then the Amorites who lived in that hill country came out against you and chased you as bees do and beat you down in Seir as far as Hormah. And you returned and wept before the Lord, but the Lord did not listen to your voice or give ear to you. So you remained at Kadesh many days, the days that you remained there.

Not doing what the Lord asks of us or doing what the Lord asks us not to do is the same thing. We either do not listen, can’t hear, or don’t care to be close enough to God to hear His voice speak into our lives through His word. The result is “doing what seems right” but it is not of God’s leading.

When we do something with the appearance of “good” we can come up with every excuse in the world as to why what we are doing is honoring God. Is the “good” you are doing a result of being led by God or because you think it seems the right thing to do or because society thinks you should? The question to ask your soul is; am I doing this to honor and glorify God alone, or am I doing this to make myself feel good, get some recognition for doing it, or earn God’s favor by doing it? God already has shown His favor, love, compassion, mercy, and grace through sending His son Jesus to redeem and call us to Himself. There is nothing more we can do but to surrender all of our being, heart, mind, and soul to humbly serve, worship, glorify, follow, obey, and honor to Him.

When we are complacent and neglectful our ears become dull or deaf to hearing God speak into our lives through His word or from others who speak His word into our lives. We seem to gravitate toward this as a natural default when things are going good and only return to seek and desire Him when things are troubling us. This does not honor God and He is not going to be mocked by this thinking. There must be a steadfast repentance and turning away from how we were and how we were thinking. This will never happen apart from gaining knowledge, understanding, and wisdom from His word. Peter said if you are not continuing to grow you are not standing still but rather you are drifting away. There is never a permanent position where we can say we have a full understanding and knowledge of God.

Does your heart ache for the way our culture is heading? Does your heart weep for the way our church body is leaning more and more toward the way of the culture/society? Do you see and hear the way of our society with the eyes and ears of man or God?

Be intentional in reading His word. Be intentional in listening to Him. Be intentional in honoring Him. Be intentional in obeying Him. Be intentional in growing in understanding, wisdom, and knowledge of Him.

Light shinning in the Darkness

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.”

“I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

John 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.”

Isaiah 42:6 “I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.

Isaiah 60:1 Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.

Malachi 4:2 But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.

Luke 1:78 because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Acts 13:47 For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

Job 33:28 He has redeemed my soul from going down into the pit, and my life shall look upon the light.’

2 Peter 2:4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;

How does the Light of the world shine into an individuals life? The word of God is this light. So how does this light shine in darkness? Scripture says 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. These are the places of darkness, full of sinful intent. The light we are seeking and if we are seeking comes from the word of God. His word does not return to Him void, it will accomplish His purpose. Think about being in darkness and having a flashlight but choosing not to turn on the light. If you are lost and trying to find your way in the darkness does this make any sense? Not being able to see the obstacles and pitfalls in front of us leaves us in danger. This is not a very good way to walk through life. Yet we choose to neglect the light and walk the paths of this world in darkness. Open up God’s word and read light into your life. Share the light with others. Give God honor, glory and praise with a thankful heart for this light.